Comments on: Last Click vs First Click and Conversion Attribution

By: Why Bidding on Your Brand Name in PPC Advertising is Worth It | ClickAgent Marketing

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:36:58 +0000

[...] will likely look for your brand name or company name to find you again. This phenomenon is called First Click vs. Last Click sales attribution. If your brand isn’t easily found during the final leg of the purchasing cycle, you could be [...]

By: Alex

Alex — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 16:49:40 +0000

Hey Dave,

Thanks for raising the topic. Attribution gets far less coverage outside of the geek world than it should.

In addition to first and last click conversion, I'd suggest that linear attribution (each touch point gets credit equally) and weighted attribution (each touch point gets credit, but unequally) also deserve a place in the discussion.

My point of view has been that attribution is really a religious debate. There is not right or wrong answer, just one that works or doesn't work for your business.

For what it's worth, my company's product, ClickEquations (http://www.clickequations.com), calculates all 4 types of attribution for your paid search account simultaneously. You can switch between attribution types at any time without losing historical data. You can also compare how different keywords convert under each type of attribution side by side.

Cheers,
-Alex Cohen
Marketing Manager, ClickEquations

By: Birger @DC Storm

Birger @DC Storm — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 21:57:54 +0000

This is really a great blog post and shows the real differences that can happen between first and last click wins in plain numbers. I think in the future more and more agencies will also think about solutions that can help them to get a better picture on effectiveness of traffic sources. We'll see.

This is one of our features in StormIQ, the so called 'equity share' model: A sale is not only attributed to the first or last traffic source but to all traffic sources based on your defined weightings. With equity share you are able to assign different weightings to each traffic source and also create keyword groups for both PPC and natural search and assign them different weightings.

By: Dave Smith

Dave Smith — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:28:24 +0000

Great article Dave - attribution is the future of analytics. An educated guess is no longer good enough.

By: Jeff Greenfield

Jeff Greenfield — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 18:59:53 +0000

Dave - you are so correct when you say...

"Whilst there is a lot of buzz around conversion attribution it is still in its infancy, so software and tracking will only get better from here on in."

The future is actually here now -- recommend the White Paper @C3Metrics.com

By: Rob J

Rob J — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:34:59 +0000

Good article Dave - I totally agree that the industry is playing catch up here. The irony that digital marketers have prided themselves on accountability versus traditional marketing channels when a lot of them have been counting the wrong numbers!

There are lots of suppliers out there all with different approaches....expect Google to weigh in here soon ;O)

By: mark huhges c3metrics

mark huhges c3metrics — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:06:45 +0000

You've captured the issue very well...and few do. More on Revenue Attribution in C3 Metrics' White Paper available for direct download on C3 Metrics home page: http://c3Metrics.com

By: Ben Sidebottom @BigBoot

Ben Sidebottom @BigBoot — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:02:17 +0000

Great post! Really emphasises the importance of taking a step back and looking at the whole picture. As you know, I am a keen advocate of attributing conversions across the channels that were used on the journey... it is the only way to truly optimise!

We are doing similar stuff at Nedstat with "touch point" reports showing each of the channels/campaigns/keywords used in a users life cycle, aggregated or at an individual level as well as last and first click attribution. I am sure we will see weighted attribution soon too!

Ben