Multi-touch attribution distributes credit for a conversion across all touchpoints in the buyer's journey. Models include linear (equal credit to all), time-decay (more credit to recent touches), and W-shaped (40% each to first and last touch, 20% to middle). No model is perfect, but multi-touch attribution gives a more realistic picture of how marketing channels work together — especially important for brand-building channels that appear early in long sales cycles.
For example, in a W-shaped multi-touch model, if a deal closes after an initial LinkedIn ad, a webinar, an email newsletter, and a demo request — the LinkedIn ad and demo request each get 40% credit, and the webinar and newsletter share the remaining 20%.
We implement multi-touch attribution in HubSpot and Salesforce for clients — it often reveals that brand and content channels are contributing more to pipeline than last-click models show.
Related Terms
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