Who Gets the Credit?
Marketing attribution is the science of assigning value to the different marketing channels that led to a sale. The problem is that customers rarely buy on the first visit. They might see a Facebook Ad, then search for you on Google a week later, then click a link in your Newsletter before finally buying.
If you use Last Click attribution (the default for most tools), the Newsletter gets 100% of the credit and Facebook gets $0. You might mistakenly turn off your Facebook ads, not realizing they were the source of all your leads. This simulator helps you visualize that risk.
First Click
The Finder. Best for analyzing brand awareness. It tells you which channels are filling the top of your funnel.
Time Decay
The Closer. Gives more weight to recent interactions. Good for short sales cycles where "top of mind" wins.
Linear
The Democrat. Every touchpoint gets a participation trophy. Useful for maintaining a balanced media mix.
The Danger of Single-Touch Attribution
Relying solely on "Last Click" is like giving the striker in soccer all the credit for a goal, ignoring the midfielder who made the pass and the goalkeeper who saved the game.
When to use which model:
- Growth ModeUse First Click or Position Based to verify you are acquiring enough new leads to feed the machine.
- Efficiency ModeUse Last Click to optimize your bottom-of-funnel conversion rates and cut wasted spend on retargeting. Use our CAC Calculator to track your efficiency.
- Complex SalesUse Linear or Time Decay for long B2B sales cycles where nurturing touches (whitepapers, webinars) are critical.