Linear attribution model: What is it, and how does it work?

Determining how marketing efforts contribute to conversions can be challenging. Each interaction has its role, but assigning credit fairly is often complex. The linear attribution model offers a simple solution by dividing credit equally among all touchpoints, making it a fundamental concept in marketing analytics.

This approach provides clarity and fairness in assessing campaign performance, making it a solid choice for understanding customer journeys through multi-touch attribution. In this guide, we’ll explore what the linear attribution model is, how it functions, and when it’s most useful.

What is the Linear attribution model?

The linear attribution model is a marketing approach that assigns equal credit to all touchpoints in a customer journey leading to a conversion. This model emphasizes the collective contribution of every interaction, ensuring that no single channel dominates the credit.

For example

Consider the following customer journey:

• Touchpoint 1: The customer clicks on a Google ad.
• Touchpoint 2: They open an email campaign.
• Touchpoint 3: They engage with a social media post.
• Touchpoint 4: They visit the website and complete a purchase.

Under the linear attribution model, each of these touchpoints receives 25% of the credit for the conversion. This balanced approach ensures all interactions are acknowledged for their role in guiding the customer.

How it differs from other attribution models

Here’s how the same journey would be treated by different attribution models:

• First-touch attribution: The Google ad (Touchpoint 1) takes all the credit, as it initiated the customer’s journey.
• Last-touch attribution: The website visit (Touchpoint 4) gets full credit, focusing on the final interaction.
• Time decay attribution: Website visits (Touchpoint 4) and social media posts (Touchpoint 3) receive the majority of credit, while earlier interactions, such as Google Ads and emails, get less credit.
• Position-based attribution: Most credit is split between the Google ad (Touchpoint 1) and website visit (Touchpoint 4), with minimal allocation to the email and social media interactions in the middle.

In contrast, the linear attribution model assigns equal credit (25%) to all four touchpoints. This approach highlights the importance of collaboration between marketing channels, offering a clearer picture of how multiple interactions contribute to a conversion.

How the Linear attribution model works

The linear attribution model works like a team effort where each touchpoint along the customer journey gets its fair share of the spotlight. Instead of focusing on one key interaction, this model ensures every step leading to conversion is given equal credit.

Distributing credit across touchpoints

In the world of marketing analytics, each interaction can play a crucial role in bringing a customer closer to a purchase. The linear attribution model avoids favoring any single touchpoint and spreads the credit evenly across all of them. It’s a simple, fair way to track how different channels contribute to conversions.

Here’s how it works

• Every touchpoint, whether it’s a click on an ad, an email opened, or a website visit, gets an equal share of credit for the conversion.
• Each touchpoint’s contribution is recognized as part of the overall journey, ensuring fairness across multiple interactions.

This approach is especially useful in campaigns where customers interact with several channels before converting.

Examples of conversion pathways

Let’s look at how the linear attribution model applies in different conversion paths:

1. Pathway 1:
   • Step 1: The customer sees a display ad.
   • Step 2: They click on an email with a special offer.
   • Step 3: They engage with a product review on a blog.
   • Step 4: They complete a purchase on the website.

In this case, each touchpoint would get 25% credit for the conversion.

2. Pathway 2:
   • Step 1: The customer sees a Facebook ad.
   • Step 2: They open a promotional email.
   • Step 3: They visit the website from a Google search and make a purchase.

In this scenario, each touchpoint receives 33.33% credit, emphasizing that every interaction matters in the customer journey.

The linear attribution model is great for understanding the collective influence of multiple channels on the final decision. By assigning equal value to each step, it gives a clear and balanced view of how your marketing efforts work together.

Advantages of the Linear attribution model

The linear attribution model offers several benefits for marketers who want a balanced and fair way to evaluate their campaigns. Here’s why it stands out:

• Fair credit distribution: Every touchpoint receives equal recognition for its role in the conversion process. This ensures no channel is overlooked, making it ideal for campaigns with multiple touchpoints.
• Simple to implement: The model is straightforward, requiring minimal complex analysis or adjustments. Marketers can easily track and assign credit without worrying about complicated algorithms.
• A comprehensive view of the customer journey: By giving equal credit to all interactions, it provides a holistic understanding of how each channel contributes to the customer’s decision-making process.
• Ideal for multi-touch campaigns: When customers engage with multiple channels, the linear attribution model offers a fair way to evaluate each one’s influence, making it perfect for complex marketing campaigns.
• Promotes balanced strategy: Marketers can optimize their efforts across all touchpoints, not just the first or last interactions. This encourages a more balanced approach to marketing, helping brands focus on strengthening all customer interactions.
• Helps identify important touchpoints: Although each touchpoint gets equal credit, the model still helps identify patterns and trends in the customer journey, giving insights into which channels consistently contribute to conversions.

With its fairness and simplicity, the linear attribution model is a great option for businesses aiming to get a clear, balanced picture of their marketing performance.

Related: Product vs marketing analytics: Key differences & tools

Disadvantages of the Linear attribution model

While the linear attribution model has its advantages, there are some drawbacks to consider. Here are the main limitations:

• Ignores the significance of individual touchpoints: By assigning equal credit to all interactions, the model overlooks the varying impact of each touchpoint. Some interactions might have a bigger influence on conversion than others, but the linear model doesn’t account for this.
• Doesn’t consider the timing: The model doesn’t give extra credit to touchpoints that occur closer to the conversion. In some cases, later interactions may be more influential, but the linear model treats them all equally, missing this nuance.
• Not ideal for high-touch, complex sales cycles: For industries or products with longer, more complex customer journeys, the linear attribution model may oversimplify the process, failing to capture the true value of touchpoints that take place earlier in the journey.
• Can dilute the impact of high-performing channels: Since each touchpoint gets the same amount of credit, strong-performing channels might not receive the recognition they deserve, making it harder to optimize marketing efforts effectively.
• Lack of deeper insights: The model doesn’t provide detailed insights into which specific touchpoints have the highest conversion rates, so it’s harder to optimize individual channels for better performance.

While the linear attribution model works well for some campaigns, its simplicity can also limit its effectiveness in certain situations, especially when you need a more detailed or nuanced understanding of your marketing performance.

Related: Why is my conversion rate dropping for no reason?

When to use the Linear attribution model

The linear attribution model can be incredibly useful in certain marketing scenarios where fairness and simplicity are key. Here’s when it shines the most:

Best use cases

• Multi-touch marketing campaigns: When your customers interact with multiple touchpoints before converting, the linear attribution model is ideal for giving each interaction equal weight.
• Simple or straightforward sales cycles: If your customer journey isn’t overly complex, the linear model can help track how each interaction contributes to the final conversion without getting bogged down in details.
• Brand awareness campaigns: If the goal is to understand how different channels contribute to building awareness, the linear model helps you see the contribution of each touchpoint without emphasizing one over the other.
• Small businesses or startups: For businesses with limited resources or teams, the linear attribution model offers a low-barrier method to track marketing efforts without needing complex attribution tools or methods.

Industries and scenarios benefiting from this model

• E-commerce: E-commerce businesses with multiple touchpoints across paid ads, emails, social media, and websites can benefit from the linear model to see how all interactions influence conversions.
• B2B marketing attribution: For B2B companies with long and complex sales cycles, the linear attribution model can help ensure that each piece of the customer journey is recognized equally, even if multiple channels are involved.
• Retail and consumer products: Retail businesses with both online and offline interactions (e.g., in-store visits and online ads) can use the linear model to understand how different channels work together to drive sales.
• Service-based businesses: For companies offering services that rely on customer education and multiple interactions before conversion (e.g., consultations, demos), the linear model ensures all touchpoints are fairly credited.

In these scenarios, the linear attribution model’s fairness and simplicity can provide actionable insights without the complexity of other models. It’s particularly beneficial when you want to treat all marketing efforts as equally important and need a clear, easy-to-understand method for attribution.

Which attribution model should we track?

Choosing the right attribution model depends on your business goals, the complexity of your customer journey, and the type of data you want to gather. Each attribution model comes with its own set of pros and cons, and the best one for you will depend on your specific marketing needs.

The right model for the right scenario

• Linear attribution model: Best for campaigns where every touchpoint plays an equally important role in the customer journey and you want a simple, fair distribution of credit across all interactions.
• First-touch attribution: Ideal for brand awareness campaigns where the first interaction is key to initiating the customer’s interest.
• Last-touch attribution: This works well for campaigns where the final touchpoint before conversion is crucial, and you want to track which efforts are directly leading to conversions.
• Time decay attribution: Perfect for longer sales cycles where the touchpoints closer to the conversion should be given more credit.
• Position-based attribution: Suitable when the first and last interactions matter the most, but you still want to acknowledge the contributions of the touchpoints in the middle.

Since no single attribution model works for every situation, many businesses use tools that allow them to track multiple models in one place. Multi-touch attribution tools can provide a broader understanding of how different touchpoints contribute to conversions, while single-touch models can give you a focused look at specific interactions.

This flexibility makes it easier to choose the right model based on the specific needs of each campaign.

Usermaven: Simplifying attribution for you

Usermaven’s Attribution offers tools that help you easily track and compare multiple attribution models, providing a holistic view of how your marketing efforts are performing. Whether you’re focused on multi-touch attribution or need a simpler, more straightforward approach, our platform gives you the flexibility to explore different models – all in one place. With Usermaven, you can make smarter, data-driven decisions that align with your business goals.

The main attribution features in Usermaven

1. Seven attribution models

Usermaven offers seven flexible attribution models, including the linear attribution model, to help you choose the best way to analyze your data. Whether you want to evenly distribute credit across touchpoints or focus on specific interactions, Usermaven lets you explore different models to see what works best for your business.

2. Lookback window

With Usermaven, you can define the lookback window that best suits your business. Whether you’re tracking quick sales cycles (30 days) or longer, more complex journeys (180 days), this feature lets you see key touchpoints over a customizable time period. This is especially useful for businesses in different industries, like e-commerce or luxury services.

3. Days to convert analysis

Usermaven helps you understand your sales cycle by tracking how long it takes for customers to convert after their first interaction. This gives you insights into the effectiveness of different channels at various stages of the conversion journey, helping you identify which touchpoints are speeding up or slowing down your sales cycle.

4. Conversion path visualization

Want to know the exact sequence of touchpoints that lead to a sale? Usermaven’s conversion path analysis shows you exactly how customers interact with your brand before converting. You may discover, for example, that customers who interact with at least three different touchpoints have a higher chance of making a purchase – valuable insights for optimizing your marketing strategy.

5. Detailed content/channel analysis

Track how each of your marketing channels performs at every stage of the customer journey. Usermaven’s detailed analysis helps you see which channels are great for awareness, which ones excel at nurturing leads, and which ones are best for driving final sales. This can help you optimize your content strategy by pinpointing which channels need more focus.

6. AI-driven recommendations

Usermaven’s AI technology takes things a step further by analyzing your attribution data and offering actionable recommendations. Whether it’s identifying unexpected patterns or suggesting areas for improvement, AI insights help you make data-driven decisions that boost your marketing effectiveness.

7. Custom channel mapping

Usermaven allows you to create your own custom channel groups so you can track and analyze marketing efforts more precisely. This flexibility lets you separate different types of social media, for example, or track paid ads, organic posts, and influencer campaigns separately to understand their individual impact on conversions.

8. Content attribution

Usermaven’s content attribution feature helps you track how content like blog posts, videos, and podcasts contribute to conversions. By measuring content’s impact at different stages of the customer journey, you can optimize your strategy to focus on what drives the most value.

9. Paid ad attribution

With paid ad attribution, Usermaven lets you track the performance of ads across platforms like Google and Facebook. By using multi-touch attribution, you can see which ads drive the best ROI and adjust your budget allocation accordingly.

With Usermaven, you’re not just tracking sales – you’re gaining deeper insights into your marketing strategy. The platform helps you understand exactly how your marketing channels are contributing to conversions using flexible attribution models like the linear attribution model. Whether you’re optimizing for ROI or analyzing your customer journey, Usermaven gives you the tools to make smarter decisions, improve your strategy, and increase profits.

In short, with Usermaven’s powerful, multi-channel attribution capabilities, you can track every step of the customer journey, uncover new opportunities, and scale what works.

Conclusion

The linear attribution model provides a straightforward and fair approach to measuring the effectiveness of your marketing channels. By equally distributing credit across all touchpoints, it offers a holistic view of the customer journey, ensuring that every interaction is valued. However, like any model, it’s not without its limitations and may not be the best fit for every scenario. That’s why it’s important to explore different attribution models and select the one that aligns with your business goals.

With tools like Usermaven, you can easily experiment with multiple attribution models and gain deeper insights into how your marketing efforts come together to drive conversions. Whether it’s content, paid ads, or other channels, Usermaven helps you optimize your strategy, boost your ROI, and make data-driven decisions that elevate your marketing performance.

FAQs about the Linear attribution model

1. Can the linear attribution model work for all types of businesses?
The linear attribution model is most useful for businesses with long, multi-touch customer journeys. It may not be as effective for businesses with quick sales cycles or highly transactional models.

2. Does the linear attribution model ignore the importance of certain touchpoints?
While the linear model treats all touchpoints equally, it may overlook the significance of pivotal interactions, such as the final touchpoint that pushes a customer to convert.

3. How does the linear attribution model compare to last-touch attribution?
The linear model distributes credit across all touchpoints, whereas last-touch attribution gives 100% of the credit to the final interaction before conversion, potentially ignoring earlier influential interactions.

4. Is the linear attribution model suitable for campaigns with complex customer journeys?
The linear model is a simple approach and may not fully capture the nuances of complex customer journeys, where certain touchpoints are more influential than others.

5. Can I use the linear attribution model for offline marketing channels?
The linear attribution model can be applied to both online and offline touchpoints if the data is tracked and integrated properly, but tracking offline channels may require additional tools.

6. What are the limitations of the linear attribution model?
The main limitation is that it doesn’t account for varying touchpoint values, which means it might not reflect the true impact of more critical interactions within the journey.

7. Can I switch from linear attribution to another model later?
Yes, tools like Usermaven allow you to easily switch between different attribution models, so you can adjust based on evolving needs or campaign strategies.