Multi-touch attribution explained (and why it needs one platform)

If you can't tie spend to revenue, you're guessing. Attribution assigns credit across the touchpoints that influenced a deal — so you invest in what works.

The common models

• First / last touch — simple, but ignores the middle.
• Linear / time-decay — spreads credit across touches.
• Data-driven (e.g. Shapley) — models each touch's real marginal contribution.

Why one platform matters

Attribution breaks when ad, email, content and sales-activity data live in separate tools with mismatched identities. On a unified platform, the touches already share one identity graph — so the model sees the full journey and the numbers reconcile.