Untangling Attribution: Making Sense of Models, Windows, and Business Performance

Navigating Attribution

Navigating attribution models is confusing and frustrating. Why?

Because at any given time there are a combo of attribution windows that lead to over or under reporting, making determining the actual performance of your marketing initiatives even more difficult.

Discussing attribution windows and their nuances with clients is important. At Vanquish eCommerce, we try to report on what the platforms are showing as well as what other third party apps are communicating. Sometimes those things are similar. Sometimes they’re completely different.

What is Attribution?

Before discussing anything else, let’s level set on what attribution is.

Attribution is the process of determining which channel should receive credit for a purchase in a given “window” or timeframe. 

What are Common Attribution Windows?

In a perfect world, there’s one universal attribution window and model that works well and that everybody trusts. In the current eCommerce marketplace, that is not the case. Some common default attribution windows include:

• Meta - 7 day click, 1-day engaged-view, 1-day view

• Google - 30 day click, 3-day engaged-view, 1-day view-through

• Pinterest - 30-day click, 30-day view

What about common attribution models Vanquish eCommerce interacts with?

• Last Click, which is great to consider when you’re wanting to know what the last source was that led to a purchase

• First Click, which is great to consider when looking at where the customer journey starts

As you can see, there are several disparate data sources. So, what should a marketer do with that?

Client Case Study: Seeing the Bigger Picture

We recently talked about the Halo Affect that occurs across marketing platforms. There’s a similar idea when looking at different attribution models. 

We work with a company that utilizes a third-party data app (think Hyros and Triple Whale – highly recommend by the way) to better track and understand conversion. When looking at their Meta ads, the last click model shows ROAS a little under 2x over the last 30 days. Not so great. If we only stuck with the last click model we may be tempted to take budget away from Meta. However, looking at the first click model, we see the same ads have a 9x ROAS over the last 30 days! 

Attribution models and windows take some time to work through but are certainly worth understanding in order to best identify where the customer journey starts and ends. 

We see a lot of clients prefer a last click attribution model. This is okay but you are doing your business a disservice if you just stop there. 

So what?

Reading and understanding data can be difficult. When we first started playing around with attribution models it felt like a choose-your-own adventure book. Now we're able to take multiple models, piece them together and see a clear, comprehensive story about how ads are performing and how it contributes to overall business growth. 

Said differently, attribution isn’t about finding the “perfect” model, it’s about utilizing multiple platforms to create a lens into a more accurate narrative. When done right, attribution becomes less of a mystery and more of a strategic asset. 

Need Help with Attribution?

Are you not sure where and how your marketing dollars are attributing to business results?

With over 7 years of experience leading client attribution stories, let’s partner to bring clarity to your attribution story. Reach out to us at ads@vanquishecommerce.com to set up a call to learn how we can help you track for better results.