Humans are definitely complex beings, so it’s no surprise that our online buying journeys can be quite complicated as well. We may visit our favorite social media channels, do some Google searches, visit some deal sites, compare prices, see what some influencers have to say, and check out some online reviews before finally deciding to make a purchase. Sometimes we may take only a few of these steps, and in other cases, our buying journey can be quite labyrinthine. With so many different touches, which are most important? The first one? The last one? Or something that happened in between those two?

Let’s look at some of the pros and cons of some of the most popular attribution models:

First-touch (or first-click)

As the names imply, the first touchpoint gets all the credit for the eventual sale. Measuring the first click is a simple attribution method but underestimates all the touchpoints that happen after that, including the all-important one that prompts the consumer to actually commit to the purchase. Definitely a major drawback.

Last-touch (or last-click)

The last-touch method, like first touch, is simple, straightforward and easy to calculate. And you could argue that the last online interaction must be the most important because it’s when the consumer made the purchase. Unfortunately, it’s not always the tipping point. Last-touch is a great baseline, but the big downside to this attribution model is that it tends to undervalue some touchpoints and overvalue others — much like the first touch method does.

Multitouch

Here’s our favorite type of attribution model. This one recognizes that consumers have multiple touches on their buying journey and that each touchpoint has a different value on the path to a conversion. It’s not perfect by any means. But it can help e-commerce companies home in on the sources that provide that extra push toward a conversion and how all of the touchpoints work together to lead to conversion. Here’s a look at some multitouch approaches:

• • • Linear: Linear attribution recognizes that there are multiple touches along a buyer’s journey and splits conversion credit equally across each touchpoint or interaction a consumer has online. Pro: Simple and fairly easy to calculate. Con: This model doesn’t always help e-commerce companies to identify the most valuable parts of the buyer’s journey and some that aren’t really all that important. That information can be critical to adapting online marketing efforts and maximizing future campaigns.

• • • Time-decay: This method spreads credit for the sale among all of the multiple touchpoints but gives the most credit to the last one in which the purchase was completed. This one can be more accurate and is great for short-term campaigns. For longer campaigns, it could undervalue all the twists and turns and critical junctures of the consumer’s online buying path.

• • • U-shaped or W-shaped: The U-shaped attribution model (also called position-based or bathtub) gives most weight to the first and last touchpoints. The W-shaped method places the greatest value on the first, middle and ending touchpoints. This method is useful if the first and closing touchpoints are more important than the supporting touchpoints in between. W-shaped attribution modeling can in many situations help you home in on which touchpoints have the greatest value in the conversion process.

• • • Fractional: This method recognizes that each stop in a buyer’s journey is important and attempts to assign a value to each touchpoint.

In many ways, the online and in-person buying experience is becoming more similar. Consumers look at (or view) products from three different stores and then decide which store to purchase from. Along the way, they’ll absorb information that helps them make a final decision.

Speaking of valuable touchpoints, SourceKnowledge can drive the conversion even if there were multiple touches previously that didn’t result in a sale. Contact us today to learn more about all the ways we can help your e-commerce business thrive.