attribution
The method of assigning credit for a sale or sign-up to the marketing touchpoints that influenced it.
Definition
Attribution tries to answer which marketing activities deserve credit for a result. A customer may see a social ad, search later, click an email and then buy; each model divides credit differently. Privacy changes and limited tracking make attribution imperfect, so figures are best treated as estimates. Agree the model upfront, because it affects reported results and fees, and combine it with experiments to check whether channels truly add sales. Document the chosen window and model in the reporting section of the contract, so later changes cannot alter results without both sides agreeing.
In a sentence
The report used a seven-day click attribution window.
Different attribution settings gave different results for the same campaign.
