Why Last Click Attribution Doesn’t Work

When a user carries out a purchase or a conversion, the Last Click or Interaction Attribution model will assign 100% of value to the last traffic source and will ignore the first or intermediate sources.

However, the path a user follows before purchasing is fragmented in various channels and devices that impact on the final decision.

Attributing a sale solely on the last click a user makes does not provide a full image of what is really occurring.

The purchase process has not changed

It is rare that people purchase something in the web the first time they have seen it. Furthermore, the more expensive the product, the more work involved in convincing the consumer to complete the transaction.

Studies on consumer behavior show that users go through the following steps before making a purchase: attention, interest, and decision. 

An example is a customer clicking a Facebook ad redirecting to our website and once in it, decided to leave. The following day the user had second thoughts and searched for the product on Google. Our website showed amongst the first, leading to the customer visiting the site and carrying out the purchase.

In this scenario, both Facebook and Google Adwords helped in achieving our goal. The former publicized our product while the latter allowed the user to find us rapidly. However, the Last Attribute Click model will only take into consideration the latter. According to a study carried out by Datalogix, the Last Click Attribute model underestimates Facebook conversions in up to 50%.

This demonstrates the convenience of disregarding the Last Click Attribute model and using another type of model which takes into account all phases and devices taking part in the purchasing process.

ADAM gives you more flexibility when it comes to choosing the best attribution model for your marketing plan.  Whether it is monitor stats or downloading reports, you can choose, from various options, the maximum attribution window for a sale from one click or a Facebook impression, and then compare these results with your other marketing channels.

Furthermore, you can automatically optimize your campaign by applying the maximum attribution windows thanks to the rules system.