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Touch-Based Attribution Dashboards in Marketing Intelligence
The Touch-Based Attribution dashboards show how marketing interactions contribute to conversions across the customer journey. Unlike funnel-based attribution, which measures progression through predefined journey stages, touch-based attribution measures the contribution of individual marketing interactions to conversions. Use these dashboards to compare attribution models, evaluate channel and campaign performance, and understand how interactions influence outcomes.
Key concepts
- Touchpoint
- An individual marketing interaction a user has before converting, such as clicking an ad, opening an email, or visiting a landing page.
- Attribution model
- A method for assigning conversion credit to touchpoints across the customer journey. Different models distribute credit in different ways. Common models include First Touch, Last Touch, Linear, Time Decay, and U-Shaped.
- Conversion credit
- The portion of a conversion attributed to a specific touchpoint or channel, as determined by the selected attribution model.
- Conversion event
- The outcome used to measure success, such as a purchase or form submission. Each conversion event generates a separate dashboard.
- Lookback window
- The period before a conversion event during which touchpoints are considered for attribution. Interactions outside this window are not included.
What the dashboard shows
The dashboard reflects your selected conversion event, attribution model, and lookback window. Use the dashboard to:
- Compare attribution models: See how conversion credit shifts across models such as First Touch, Last Touch, Linear, Time Decay, and U-Shaped.
- Evaluate channel contribution: Understand how different channels influence conversions at different points in the customer journey.
- Analyze campaign performance: Compare how individual campaigns contribute to conversions under different attribution models.
- Assess efficiency: Evaluate performance relative to spend to identify which channels and campaigns deliver the strongest return.
- Track performance over time: Identify trends in conversions across channels.
- Understand paths to conversion: Explore how users move through marketing interactions before converting and identify common conversion paths.
When to use
Use the Touch-Based Attribution dashboard when:
- You want to compare how conversion credit is distributed across attribution models, such as First Touch, Last Touch, or U-Shaped.
- You need to evaluate which channels or campaigns influenced conversions, not just where users dropped off in a sequence.
- Your analysis focuses on individual interactions across the full customer journey rather than movement through defined stages.
- You want to assess channel and campaign efficiency relative to spend across multiple attribution perspectives.
Use case
Sarah, a marketing analyst, wants to understand which channels are driving conversions for a seasonal campaign. She has been allocating budget based on last-touch attribution but suspects that earlier touchpoints also contribute to conversions.
She opens the Touch-Based Attribution dashboard and compares how conversion credit shifts across First Touch, Linear, and U-Shaped models. She sees that paid social receives significantly more credit under First Touch and U-Shaped models than under last touch, suggesting it plays a stronger role in initiating and shaping the customer journey than previously recognized.
Based on this analysis, Sarah adjusts her budget allocation to better reflect the full role each channel plays across the journey.
