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Hope you’re doing well!
Marketing attribution is one of those hot topics that gets thrown around as very black and white — either a horrible idea, or a brilliant idea. Everyone wants a clean answer to "What’s driving revenue?" but most companies either don’t know how to run attribution or over-complexify it beyond recognition. Even if you manage to pull together a model, between tool limitations, missing data, and the way actual humans buy things, you're left with something that might be mathematically accurate but is useless strategy-wise.
So, let’s not chase perfection. I’ll show you how to make it useful and will give you a calculator you can use to help select your main model, based on your use case and business information.
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How can you make attribution work for your business?
Tip 1: Pick a Model That Fits How You Actually Sell
No model is perfect. But some are more helpful than others depending on what you’re trying to answer. Here are some typical models you should become familiar with:
First Touch shows you what’s opening the door.
Last Touch tells you what got the deal over the line.
Multi-Touch gives a fuller picture, if your data’s clean.
W-shaped maps the full GTM arc: first touch, lead gen, and close.
U-shaped shows who sparked and who closed the deal.
Data-Driven can be cool but usually overkill unless you're running lots of volume or complexity.
P.S. I once worked at a company where they spent $1 million dollars with data scientists, trying to figure out “the golden path…” through a custom machine learning attribution model, only to find out that everyone took a different journey, and that people associated to closed-won deals usually attended a webinar. 😅 We could’ve figured that out WITHOUT spending all of that money, simply by using a few of these standard models or an attribution tool.
photo cred: Dreamdata
🏁 Reality check: You probably need a mix of at least 2 of these models, to get true insights. At a minimum, use first-touch to guide awareness, last-touch to understand conversion, and something in between to gut-check influence. HOWEVER — do not go overkill and jump right to data-driven. If you don’t have the basics pulled together, you are not ready for data-driven yet.
For a deeper dive on the models, check out this breakdown from Dreamdata: Attribution Models Explained
📕 If you’re struggling to figure out which model might work best as a primary model for your business, I’ve put together a calculator that you can copy and use here!
Tip 2: Layer in the Stuff Models Miss
Attribution will never capture someone recommending you in a Slack channel or a prospect who binge read your LinkedIn posts before filling out a demo form, but these are activities worth tracking.
💡 Here's how to catch some of it:
Add "How did you hear about us?" to your forms, and actually read the answers. If you have a lot of volume, nowadays you can use AI to help analyze and spit out the most frequent responses or themes.
Ask your sales team what they’re hearing from prospects.
Lurk in social circles like LinkedIn. Pay attention to what people are saying and sharing. You can also get a social listening tool like Sprout Social, Brandwatch, etc.
This post from Refine Labs nails why self-reported attribution matters: The Attribution Mirage
photo cred: Refine Labs
Tip 3: Don’t Let Tools Dictate Your Attribution Strategy
Your model should drive the tooling…not the other way around. I recommend starting with basic functionality in your MAP/CRM and then going from there as the business grows/becomes more complex. That said, here’s what’s worth looking at (with some of my hot takes 🌶️):
Salesforce Campaign Influence can help you track touches across the funnel.
HubSpot has native reports that are fine if you’re mostly digital.
GA4 plus UTM tracking gives you directional insight on inbound and paid.
Marketing Mix Modeling is slow but solid for long-term trends. I’m a fan of what Paramark is building, because you get the best of both worlds; data-driven insights without needing data scientists (and no, I don’t have an affiliation with them 🙂).
Dreamdata is a cool data-driven attribution tool. I feel like Dreamdata may end up being the winner in this category.
Calibermind is another data-driven attribution tool that is excellent. In my mind, it’s one of the more complex tools, which has pros (can do complex things with it) and cons (more to potentially manage).
A lot of people who use Marketo also use Bizible, and it’s pretty good. It’s decent.
Hockeystack is new to the game — I have not used them, but have heard good things. Would love to hear if any of you are using them!
Want a tactical how-to? This guide breaks down building attribution reporting in GA4: GA4 Attribution Guide
Tip 4: Operationalizing Attribution (Tool-Agnostic)
Whether you're in Salesforce, HubSpot, Marketo, Eloqua, or something else entirely…the principles stay the same. But you do need a clear plan, clean data, and consistency across your systems.
1. Map Your Funnel Touchpoints
Document the stages of your funnel and identify what marketing activities happen where.
Decide which touchpoints matter most — first interaction, content engagement, demo request, opportunity creation, etc.
2. Standardize Tracking Across Channels
Use UTM parameters for all external campaigns.
Implement hidden form fields to capture source data on form fills.
Tag assets and links consistently so you can connect the dots later.
3. Build a Reporting Feedback Loop
Set up dashboards that combine attribution data with funnel metrics.
Review performance monthly or quarterly.
Adjust campaign tactics and channel investment based on what the data is telling you.
I’d love to hear from you — are you using a tool for attribution? Which models are you using? 👀
Tip 5: Show the Story, Not the Spreadsheet
Your attribution model should inform decisions, not be used as a hammer to win internal battles.
Focus on this:
Use trends to explain what’s working.
Don’t pretend it’s exact. It’s never exact, and claiming so will hurt your credibility.
Pull in sales engagement and conversion velocity to give the numbers some context. Make sure you have a thesis as to “why” before presenting anything…because you will be asked for your take on the “why.”
Need a way to talk attribution with your exec team? This article gives some great tips: Achieving Attribution Buy-In From Your Executive Team
Final Take
Attribution isn’t here to prove marketing’s worth…if you’re in that position, you’re in a really bad position. Attribution is here to help you allocate budget and double down on what’s working.
A few years ago, I shared a flowchart from Noa Farber that really wowed people: it tied together multiple tools for enrichment, routing, scheduling, and CRM updates. Now, Default 2.0 makes all of that (and more) seamless in one tool, with a sleek builder! Check out the flowchart and new features in this post.
What I’m up to/what I’m studying 💭
WHEW, it’s been a month. Learning more and more about Clay and cool tools like Arcade, doing client work, and working on some big changes you’ll be hearing about soon. 🙂
In terms of pop culture, is anyone else keeping up with the Selena Gomez/Hailey Bieber/Justin Bieber drama? I wonder if we will still be hearing about that when they’re 70 years old…LOL.
Dear Sara ✍️
New to marketing operations? On a team of one at your company? Shy/introverted? Wish you could ask a question to an experienced marketing operations professional, without them knowing who you are? Here’s your chance! Submit an anonymous question to me here and I’ll answer a new question in every issue.
Here’s my answer to a question from last week:
📨 Submission 1: I’d love to learn more about the steps to successfully set up the lead lifecycle in MCAE/Pardot.
📨 Submission 2: I’m using MCAE/Pardot currently and would love to know more about setting up an attribution model for B2B companies.
Okay, so this week I put two recently submitted questions up there — it seems like we have a lot of Pardot users lately! SO, my question back to you all — do you want me to dedicate an edition of the newsletter to a how-to for setting up lead lifecycle and attribution in Pardot? I may have to split it into two editions, as it’s a lot to cover…what’s your level of interest? 🤔
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Thanks for reading,
❤️ Sara