Linear Attribution

What is Linear Attribution and how is it used?

What is linear attribution in marketing attribution modeling? Linear attribution is an attribution model in which all of the attribution credit is evenly divided over the different touchpoints in the customer journey. In the context of digital marketing and ecommerce, a touchpoint is considered a traffic source, e.g. social media, google search, referrals, display ads, etc.

In linear attribution modeling, the entirety of the value (i.e, 100% of the credit) is divided across the touchpoints - meaning every touchpoint receives equal credit. So every single event in the conversion path is credited with the same share of value.

An important factor in linear attribution is the effectiveness of user tracking. A linear attribution can only be effective if the same customer is identified over multiple website visits. Linear attribution is regarded as a multi-touch attribution principle as it takes multiple touchpoints into account. The opposite attribution principle is single-touch attribution.

Spreading the credit over multiple touchpoints is important for determining performance of your marketing channels. It allows you to evaluate the performance of each marketing channel.

Why use multi-touch attribution?

Multi-touch attribution is becoming increasingly important as it allows you to credit multiple touchpoints in your customer journey, rather than just a single one. This is crucial as in general, a conversion is a result of the entire customer journey and its participating channels.

Analyzing the touchpoints in a multi-touch framework allows you to assess which of these traffic sources are the most effective and which ones you can get rid of. In a multi touch framework it is easier to access which channels are the best - and hence which the customer finds most appealing during the conversion path.

Although linear attribution is more advanced than the dominant last-click model in terms of insight and understanding of multi-mix marketing performance. Last-click attribution remains the most popular attribution model amongst online marketers. In Google Analytics, models like last-click or last non-direct click are the norm, hence it remains the norm in digital marketing as Google’s software virtually dictates the direction of the industry.

Is this model the right fit for me?

The linear attribution model is the right fit for those who want to have a general overview over the customer journeys and performance of the traffic sources. You can use this model to work out which channels are performing the most effectively - and thus evaluate whether you should assign these traffic sources more resources or not.

In a model comparison, you will realize that it is very convenient to get an accurate feel for your ROI without having to crawl around the metrics of attribution softwares. It is, by comparing the traffic sources, very easy to quickly see which channels are performing the best and which are lacking behind.

Furthermore, it is very easy to implement and to understand - so it is not only good for seasoned marketeers with a lot of know-how, but also for beginners who are just trying to understand marketing attribution. In Odyssey, as opposed to the default Google Analytics, you can easily use the model and put it to perfect use. It is very simple to use and analyze as it assigns every touchpoint the same value, so you can analyze relevant KPI immediately as you see them.

As we explained before, it is becoming increasingly important to consider the entirety of the customer journey and not just limit themselves to single-click attribution models. Thus, multi touch attribution is a nice way to check out the entire customer journey and compare all touchpoints. We have explained what multi-touch attribution is in our other academy post.

However, as each business is different, the choice of an attribution model ultimately comes down to the business and its operations.

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