Multi-touch attribution (MTA) is often hailed as the key to unlocking marketing success. However, it’s not a universal solution. Compared to last-touch attribution (LTA), MTA enables budget reallocation from organic to paid channels or from performance marketing to brand marketing. But if you rely on a limited number of paid channels, the effort may not be worth it. Below, I outline the challenges of implementing MTA and when it’s truly valuable, based on my experience.
Challenges of MTA Implementation
Before leveraging MTA, you need to:
- Tag All Touch points: This includes both view-through and click-through interactions. Tagging is complex. For instance, IP matching is used to identify individuals exposed to TV or OTT ads, while tools like RevJet tags track digital ad exposure. However, IP matching can have a match rate as low as 20%, meaning most of your TV audience may be excluded from MTA inputs. Additionally, major platforms like Meta and Google no longer support RevJet tags, limiting your ability to track view-throughs for ads on these channels.
- Build the Data Pipeline: This involves collaborating with data engineers to develop the pipeline, select algorithms, and determine the lookback window. This process can take at least two quarters to scope, implement, and validate. A key pain point is choosing the lookback window. The default is often 30 days, but for channels like TV and OTT with long ad stock (the lingering effect of ads), this may miss the long-tail impact. Extending the window to 60 or 90 days captures more data but strains the data warehouse and exponentially increases query processing time.
When to Choose LTA Over MTA
If your marketing strategy heavily emphasizes paid search, LTA is often sufficient for campaign optimization. It’s simpler, requiring less infrastructure and fewer resources to track and analyze. For businesses with limited paid channels, the complexity of MTA may outweigh its benefits.
When MTA Shines
MTA becomes critical when your brand media spend is high and you’re running diverse performance marketing campaigns. In these cases, capturing as many touch points as possible is essential, especially if you lack an in-house MMM. Since MMM readouts from agencies typically arrive every one to two quarters, MTA provides a directional guide for optimizations in the interim, helping you fine-tune budget allocation across channels.
Conclusion
Choosing between MTA and LTA depends on your marketing strategy and resources. MTA offers granular insights but demands significant effort in tagging, pipeline development, and data management. LTA, while less comprehensive, is often adequate for simpler campaigns. By understanding your business needs and channel mix, you can decide which approach delivers the most actionable results.