Marketing Channel/Source Attribution

Understanding where your users come from is key to measuring your marketing success. Attribution tracks every interaction—whether it's an ad click, social media post, or any other engagement—that leads to actions like sign-ups or purchases.

Usermaven's Attribution feature ensures that each touchpoint is credited accurately. This means you can see which channels contribute most to conversions and adjust your strategies accordingly.

For example, If a user interacts with a Google ad, a Facebook post, and a TikTok video before signing up, Usermaven will show you which channels had the biggest impact, allowing you to optimize your marketing efforts.

Key Attribution features

• Customizable attribution models – Assign credit based on touchpoint importance or order in the customer journey.
• Adjustable attribution windows – Set custom time frames (like 30 or 60 days) to capture all relevant interactions that fit your sales cycle.
• Detailed channel analysis – Identify which channels and campaigns are driving the most conversions, giving you clear insight into their performance.
• Optimized marketing spend – Allocate your budget more effectively by focusing on high-impact channels that deliver better conversion rates.
• Complete conversion funnel analysis – Get a comprehensive view of the entire conversion process, enabling better collaboration between your product and marketing teams.

Log in to Usermaven and click “Attribution > Channel/Source” on the left panel to open the dashboard and explore different models.

Creating a new Attribution report

To generate an Attribution report in Usermaven, you first need to create a conversion goal. Attribution reports rely on conversion goals to track and analyze user interactions. If you haven't set one up yet, you'll be prompted to do so before accessing the Attribution dashboard. Here's how to get started:

1. Click on the ‘Create Conversion Goal’ button at the top right of your screen.

2. Give your goal a clear name. For example, if you want to track people who visit your pricing page, you might call it "Pricing Page Visitors.".

3. Select the event that will count as a conversion. In our example, this would be when someone visits the pricing page.

4. Set a value for the conversion:

   You can set a fixed (static) value or a value that changes (dynamic) for each conversion. Note: The dynamic option is only available if you're using custom events.

   Also, make sure your default currency is set in Workspace settings > Miscellaneous because this affects how your conversion rate is calculated.

   The conversion rate is calculated like this:

   Conversion Rate = (Number of Users / Number of Conversions​) × 100

5. Decide on Unique Conversions: At the end, you can choose whether to count only unique conversions.

   • If you check the box, the conversion value will be calculated as (Number of visits) × (Conversion value).
   • If you leave it unchecked, it will be (Total conversions) × (Conversion value).

6. Finish Up: Once everything is set, click the "Create" button to save your new conversion goal.

Attribution analysis

When you open the Attribution dashboard in Usermaven, you'll see comprehensive insights into your marketing touchpoints and their impact.

Choose a Conversion Goal

At the top left of the screen, you'll find a drop-down menu listing all your conversion goals. Simply select the conversion goal you want to analyze, and the dashboard will update to display the relevant attribution insights for that goal.

Attribution models in Usermaven

Usermaven offers several attribution models to help you see which interactions with your brand lead to conversions. Each model assigns credit differently to the various touchpoints (ads, posts, clicks, etc.) that a customer experiences before making a purchase.

1. First touch

This model gives 100% of the credit to the very first interaction a customer has with your brand. For example, if you see an ad for a product as your first encounter and later make a purchase, that ad gets all the credit.

This model is ideal for businesses with short sales cycles or those focusing on building initial awareness.

2. Last touch

Here, the final interaction before a conversion receives all the credit. For instance, if you read a blog post just before signing up or making a purchase, that blog post is credited entirely.

This approach works best when the last interaction is most likely to influence the decision to convert.

3. Linear

The Linear model spreads the credit evenly across all touchpoints.

Imagine you interact with an ad, read a blog, check a review, and see a retargeting ad before converting—each interaction would get an equal share of the credit.

This model is useful when you want to value every interaction equally throughout the customer journey.

4. U-Shaped

In the U-Shaped model, extra credit is given to the first and last interactions, with 40% each, while the remaining 20% is shared among the middle interactions.

For example, if a customer finds you through a Google search, later visits your Facebook page, and finally signs up via email, both the Google search and email sign-up receive 40% of the credit, with the Facebook visit getting the remaining 20%.

This model is best when both the initial spark of interest and the final conversion action are key.

5. Time decay

This model assigns more credit to interactions that occur closer to the conversion event.

For example, if a customer first sees a social media ad, then visits your website a few days later, and finally makes a purchase a week after that, the purchase gets the most credit, the website visit gets less, and the social media ad gets the least.

It works well when recent interactions are seen as more influential.

6. First touch non-direct

Similar to the First Touch model, this version ignores direct visits (like someone typing your URL into their browser) and focuses on the first non-direct interaction.

For example, if a customer first arrives via direct entry, that visit is skipped, but if their first non-direct interaction is through a search engine ad, that ad gets all the credit.

This model is great when you want to focus on the impact of marketing channels beyond direct traffic.

7. Last touch non-direct

This model works like the Last Touch model but excludes direct visits.

For instance, if a customer goes directly to your website, then engages with an email campaign, and finally clicks a social media ad before purchasing, only the social media ad receives the full credit.

This approach is useful when you want to evaluate the effectiveness of non-direct marketing channels.

Lookback window

A lookback window is simply a time period before a conversion (like a sale or sign-up) that you use to decide which marketing interactions should get credit. Instead of using a fixed period, the window adjusts based on when the conversion happens. In Usermaven, you can choose a lookback window ranging from 30 to 180 days.

For example: If a customer makes a purchase on July 14 and you set a 30-day lookback, Usermaven will consider only the marketing activities from June 15 through July 14. This means that only the interactions during these 30 days will be credited for leading to the purchase.

Conversion time period

The conversion time period is the overall date range you choose to analyze for conversions (like sales or sign-ups). For example, if you set this period to the last 30 days, Usermaven will only look at the conversions that happened during that time.

Key Points:

• Conversion time period: The full date range you want to review (e.g., the last 30 days).
• Lookback window: A shorter period before each conversion that determines which marketing interactions get credit.

Custom channel mapping

Clicking the Custom Channel Mappings button takes you to a dashboard where you can group your traffic sources however you want.

Once set up, your custom channels will show up in the graph and table on the Attribution dashboard, giving you a clear view of your data.

You can learn more about custom channel mappings here.

Channel performance by multiple attribution models

This chart shows how many conversions each channel gets credit for under different attribution models. Each color represents a unique model (like First Touch, Last Touch, Linear, etc.). Here’s how to read it:

• X-Axis (channels): Lists your marketing channels (e.g., Organic Search, Direct, Paid Search).
• Y-Axis (conversions): The number of conversions attributed to each channel.
• Multiple bars per channel: Each bar is a different attribution model, so you can compare how credit is distributed for the same channel under different models.

Why this matters

• See how credit shifts: Some channels may get more credit under First Touch (when they introduce a user) vs. Last Touch (when they finalize a conversion).
• Identify key roles: Certain channels might excel at creating initial awareness, while others are better at closing the sale.
• Refine strategy: By comparing models, you can adjust your marketing spend and tactics based on where each channel truly adds the most value.

Channel/Source performance across multiple attribution models

This table lets you compare how each marketing channel performs under different attribution models. You can see how many visitors, conversions, and the associated revenue each channel is responsible for, whether they’re credited as the first interaction, the last interaction, or anything in between.

Channel / Source

Shows the specific marketing channel (e.g., Organic Search, Paid Search, Social) or source (e.g., Google, Bing).

Influenced

Displays the total number of visitors from that channel who eventually converted, along with the number of conversions and total revenue. This gives you a broad view of the channel’s impact throughout the customer journey.

Attribution Models (e.g., First Touch, Last Touch)

• First Touch Attribution: Credits the channel that introduced a visitor to your brand.
• Last Touch Attribution: Credits the channel that closed the deal, or was the final touchpoint before conversion.
• Additional Models (e.g., Linear, Time Decay, U-Shaped): If you have multiple models selected, scroll horizontally to see how credit is distributed under each model.

Drilling down further

Click on any channel or source to get a more detailed breakdown of how it drives conversions. This lets you dive deeper into a specific channel’s performance and see how it contributes across the various touchpoints.

By comparing channels under multiple attribution models, you’ll quickly see whether a channel is better at attracting new visitors or closing the sale. This insight helps you make data-driven decisions about where to focus your marketing efforts and budget, ensuring you invest in the channels that truly deliver the best results.

Understanding conversion paths

Conversion Paths show the sequence of marketing channels or sources that a user touches from the first time they encounter your brand until the moment they convert (e.g., make a purchase, sign up, etc.). By analyzing these paths, you can see how different channels work together to guide a user toward a conversion.

What you’ll see

• Channel sequence: Each row lists the channels in the order they were visited before a conversion (for example, “Organic Search → Referral → Direct”).
• Conversions: The total number of conversions that followed that exact channel sequence.
• Conversion value: The total revenue or value generated by that path.

You can also switch from Channel to Source to see exactly which websites or platforms are driving conversions. This breakdown gives you a clearer view of which specific sources are most effective in guiding users through the funnel.

Days to convert: how long does it take?

Days to Convert shows how long it takes for a user to go from their first interaction with your brand to a final conversion (like a purchase or sign-up). This helps you see if people convert quickly or need more time and nurturing.

By understanding how many days it usually takes, you can plan your follow-up emails, retargeting ads, and other touchpoints more effectively. If most conversions happen within a few days, you can focus on short-term promotions; if they take longer, you might need to nurture leads with ongoing content or reminders.

Each bar represents a distribution group (time bracket), letting you see how many conversions fall into each range, from immediate to longer periods.