In a previous article, we covered attribution and what it means in marketing. Accurate attribution however goes deeper than just cross-device and cross-channel and there are various types of attribution that every marketer must understand.  

Presently, we focus on four types of attributions for which the AdTech & MarTech industry is finding workable solutions.  

Cross-Device Attribution

Attribution comes with its complexities and the fact that users are active on multiple devices can further complicate effective targeting and attribution. Cross-device attribution measures the touch-points the user had with a brand before they converted across devices (e.g., a laptop, tablet, and smartphone).  However, achieving this kind of attribution can be a challenge especially when a user may begin to engage with a product or brand on one device and then complete the transaction on another.  However, deterministic and probabilistic matching can help identify users with higher accuracy.  

Online to Offline and Offline to Online Attribution

This is probably the oldest of all attributions – and dates back to the time when companies began selling from physical stores and then made their way into the digital world.  

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Online-Offline Attribution Techniques

This type of attribution is time-bound and uses a set time to attribute website visits to a marketing campaign. The technique uses a set time frame to attribute website visits to a marketing campaign. ‘Online and Point-of-Sale (POS) surveys and Coupon or Code offerings’ are examples of this technique.   

Inter-Channel Attribution  

Intra-channel attribution focuses on attributing conversions within the same channel – e.g., search. This model is useful if you want to discover how different areas of the same channel contribute to conversions. Inter and Intra channel attribution models provide isolated insights into particular channels, but might not capture the complexity of the online customer journey, hence, this is where the concept of multi-touch attribution models was born.

Multi-touch (or multi-interaction) attribution models were created to help measure and attribute conversions to individual touchpoints, online channels, and even individual ad clicks.