Imagine tracking how someone finally decides to buy from you but only giving credit to the last thing they saw before clicking “purchase.” That’s last-touch attribution in a nutshell. So, if someone discovers your brand through a LinkedIn post, gets nurturing emails for months, sees your ads, but ultimately clicks a Google Ad before buying – that Google Ad gets all the credit.
It’s like giving the final waiter at a restaurant complete tips, even though the chef, sommelier, and host made the entire experience unforgettable. Sure, it’s simple to track, but it completely ignores all the groundwork that convinced the customer to convert. Another option is multi-touch attribution, which assigns credit across a sequence of touches to provide a panoramic view of customer experience.
What makes last-touch attribution valuable
- Over 60% of marketers still use last-touch attribution because of simplicity.
- 44% of digital ad conversions are measured using last-touch attribution, despite concerns about over-crediting bottom-funnel interactions.
- Companies using multi-touch attribution see an 18% increase in marketing ROI compared to those relying solely on last-touch attribution.
- By 2025, AI-driven attribution models will reduce reliance on last-touch attribution by 30%, helping businesses better understand the customer journey.
Food for thought
It’s useful for spotting patterns – like which CTAs work best – but I’ve found it more valuable when combined with multi-touch insights to see the full journey.
Last-touch attribution typically lacks complete insight into customer journeys. Last-touch attribution alone may often ignore early influences. Therefore, a combined approach becomes more effective in understanding customers’ behavior.
Real-life case studies
Amazon uses the last-touch attribution in its advertising to measure the impact on conversion.
Amazon grants full credit for the last ad click before the sale, prioritizing PPC campaigns. Amazon sellers rely on sponsored products and display ads, where the conversion is credited to the last clicked ad. Amazon’s A9 algorithm prioritizes ads that convert rapidly, optimizing spend for top products.
The results? Amazon advertisers increase their sales by 20-30% using last-touch attribution for PPC campaigns. Driven by data-backed last-touch ad tracking, Amazon’s ad revenue surged to $38 billion in 2023.
Nike also uses last-touch attribution in its affiliate marketing to track which influencer or publisher provides sales to them.
Nike pays its affiliate partners based on last-click conversions. It uses trackable discount codes and referral links to monitor purchases caused by every influencer. Nike maximizes partnerships by doubling on affiliates who have continually provided final-touch conversions.
Nike increased affiliate revenue by 25% in 2023, focusing on last-touch referral partners driving conversions. Influencer campaigns with last-click conversions received higher commission rates and engagment rates to ensure ROI-driven partnerships.
Solving the biggest problem with last-touch attribution
The biggest problem with last-touch attribution is that it does not consider all previous touchpoints of a customer’s journey. It causes the business to underinvest in top-funnel strategies essential in conversion, such as content marketing or brand awareness.
A solution for this is integrating multi-touch or AI-driven attribution models that distribute credit across multiple touchpoints. Companies using Google’s data-driven attribution or multi-touch analytics observe more realistic returns tracking by 15-20%. Besides, integrating last-touch with engagement metrics ensures that early-stage interactions, organic search, or social media are not undervalued.
Your guide to last-touch attribution
- Google Analytics and CRM tools allow users to track conversions through various channels and integrate such data into their CRM platforms.
- Reduce bias by testing weighted attribution models alongside last-touch tracking.
- Record the touchpoints that lead to a sale, even if they don’t get the final attribution.
- Allocate spending on last-click data and the entire customer journey.
- Ensure tracking reflects all marketing efforts correctly so resources are not incorrectly placed.
