Multi-touch attribution
See the full customer journey and clearly understand your marketing ROI
What is multi-touch attribution?
Multi-touch attribution is a method of measuring marketing performance that gives credit to every touchpoint a customer interacts with on their path to purchase.
A linear multi-touch attribution model, for example, distributes credit evenly across the entire customer journey. It gives proportional weight to every touchpoint, from the first ad someone saw to the final email they clicked.
Why does multi-touch attribution matter?
Multi-touch attribution matters because of how people actually shop. Someone might discover your brand on social media, sign up for your emails and texts on your website, click a link in a text message, and then make a purchase after seeing a retargeting ad.
Single-touch attribution only captures one piece of that story. When you only credit the last touch, for example, you might mistakenly cut budget for channels that play an important role earlier in the customer journey.
Multi-touch attribution, by contrast, shows you how all those pieces work together to drive a sale. It gives you the full story, helping you understand the true impact of every channel from first contact to final conversion.
With that complete picture, you can:
- Identify which touchpoints contribute most to conversions, even when they don't get the first or final click.
- Allocate budget based on actual revenue contribution.
- Optimize the full customer journey, not just the edges of it.
Why choose Klaviyo for multi-touch attribution?
All your owned channels, one connected view
Klaviyo, the autonomous B2C CRM, captures every customer interaction across email, text messages, push notifications, and your website, so attribution draws on the complete customer journey in one place.
Attribution beyond owned channels
Multi-touch attribution in Klaviyo goes beyond the messages you send. Tracking "Active on Site" events, for example, lets you attribute conversions to external channels like paid ads and organic search giving you a more complete view of your full marketing performance.
Flexible models and customizable windows
Klaviyo lets you choose from a variety of attribution models, including multi-touch attribution. It also offers customizable lookback windows and filters for each channel, so you can define what success looks like for your brand and adjust timeframes to match your customers' typical buying cycle.
Key features of Klaviyo's multi-touch attribution
Feature | Description | Available on Klaviyo |
|---|---|---|
Flexible attribution models | Lets you assign credit in a way that aligns with your strategy and customer buying cycle | |
Customizable lookback windows | Lets you set unique attribution windows for every channel, from email clicks and opens to text message interactions and site visits, adjusted to match your typical customer buying cycle | |
Omnichannel performance tracking | Organizes performance data by platform and media type to identify which external channels drive the most valuable conversions | |
Platform and media type reporting | Organizes performance data by platform and media type to identify which external channels drive the most valuable conversions | |
Model comparison tool | Previews how changes to your attribution settings would affect your data, so you can choose the approach that best represents your customer journey before applying changes | |
How to get started with multi-touch attribution in Klaviyo
- Activate your tracking. Make sure the Klaviyo web tracking snippet is installed on your site to capture "Active on Site" events from all traffic sources.
- Choose your attribution model. Navigate to Account > Settings > Attribution, select the model that fits your business goals, and allow up to 36 hours for model changes to take effect and recalculate historical data.
- Customize your lookback windows. Adjust lookback windows for each channel to match how long your customers typically take from first touch to purchase.
- Use the model comparison tool. Before saving changes, preview how your new settings would affect historical data to understand the impact of different attribution approaches.
- Analyze and optimize. Open Klaviyo Marketing Analytics to review your attribution data, identify your most valuable channels, and make smarter budget and campaign decisions.
Ready to get the full picture of what drives your marketing performance? Get started with Klaviyo Marketing Analytics today.