Attribution

Assigning credit for a conversion to the marketing touchpoints that influenced it.

By Brandon MinaCEO, BrandPilot AIUpdated November 2026

Short answer

Attribution is the process of assigning credit for a conversion, such as a sale or sign-up, to the marketing touchpoints that influenced it. Models include last-click, first-click, multi-touch, and data-driven approaches, each distributing credit differently. Attribution guides budget decisions, but because it shows correlation rather than causation, it is often paired with incrementality testing.

A trench-coated detective pins award ribbons on a phone, a TV, a magazine, a mailbox and a billboard along a dotted path to a shopping bag. 1960s ink-and-gouache magazine-ad illustration. — Attribution: deciding which touchpoints earn credit for the sale.