First-Touch Attribution Model: What Is It & How Does It Work?

by The MNTN Team

6 Min Read

Modern marketing campaigns don’t rely on guesswork or hunches. They use models to determine which activities and content have the greatest impact on the consumer journey. Of the various frameworks used to attribute desired actions to specific marketing efforts, the first-touch attribution model remains one of the most popular.

But what is first-touch attribution? Let’s start with an explanation, then look at the advantages and disadvantages of this dynamic model.

What Is First-Touch Attribution?

First-touch attribution is a marketing measurement model that assigns all of the credit for a conversion to a customer’s first interaction with your brand.

Suppose that a potential customer initially becomes aware of your brand via a Connected TV (CTV) ad. No matter how many additional interactions they have with your company afterward, the CTV advertising content will receive credit for the conversion.

First-Touch vs. Last-Touch Attribution

Last-touch attribution is the opposite of the first-touch model. While first-touch credits the initial interaction with the conversion, the last-touch approach gives all of the credit to the final connection a person makes with your brand.

The last-touch model views the final interaction as the piece of content that “pushed the customer over the edge” and prompted them to make a purchase. However, supporters of the first-touch model argue that the final interaction couldn’t have occurred without that initial touchpoint.

How Does First-Touch Attribution Work?

The first-touch attribution model is quite simple. You’ll need to track a customer’s entire journey with your brand, beginning with the first piece of content they are exposed to. This requires robust analytics tools that can capture and record the first interaction, often through cookies or unique tracking URLs.

Once a person ultimately converts, the system allows you to trace their actions back to the initial touchpoint. It will assign that interaction credit for the conversion. The first-touch model relies heavily on data collection and integration across various marketing platforms and channels — including social media, your website, Google, and CTV.

Advantages of the First-Touch Attribution Model

So, what are the benefits of implementing the first-touch attribution model? Here are just a few:

Ease and Simplicity

The first-touch attribution model is straightforward and easy to implement, making it ideal for marketers who want to quickly assess the effectiveness of their marketing channels. By attributing all credit to the first touchpoint, marketers can simplify complex multi-channel data into clear, actionable insights without getting lost in complicated data analysis.

Focus on Brand Awareness

This model emphasizes the importance of brand awareness by recognizing the initial touchpoint as a key driver of customer engagement. By highlighting which channels effectively introduce customers to the brand, marketers can allocate resources towards channels that boost visibility and reach.

Clear Starting Point for Customer Journey Analysis

First-touch attribution provides a clear starting point for analyzing customer journeys by identifying where the journey begins. This allows marketers to better understand the effectiveness of their initial outreach efforts and refine strategies to enhance early-stage interactions.

Disadvantages of the First-Touch Attribution Model

The biggest downside to first-touch attribution is that it doesn’t identify which interaction finally convinced a consumer to make a purchase.

While that disadvantage does omit a piece of the conversion funnel, the first-touch model reveals one of the most important interactions in the customer journey, which is when they initially became aware of your brand. After all, that first interaction ultimately led to a purchase.

Use Cases and Examples

When should you use the first-touch model? The first-touch framework is a good fit for businesses of all sizes and types. Consider it when you want to drive initial engagement, generate brand awareness, and fill your sales funnel.

For example: suppose that you are preparing to launch a new product. Running an ad campaign that focuses on first-touch attribution will help reveal which channels are most effective at capturing consumers’ attention.

Looking at the initial experience with your brand can be useful in the business-to-business (B2B) space, too. For instance, if a whitepaper download ad on LinkedIn generates a significant number of leads for your business, the first-touch attribution model would highlight how valuable the channel is to your brand.

The Rise of TV Attribution

One of the biggest arguments against traditional television advertising is that it’s difficult to attribute specific consumer actions to TV ads. But with the rise of Connected TV and its digital roots, that is no longer the case. MNTN Performance TV solved the TV attribution conundrum with our industry-leading first-touch attribution solution, Verified Visits™.

The Verified Visits™ model matches the performance industry standard of attribution used by TikTok, Google, and Meta. We built Verified Visits specifically for Connected TV, to allow advertisers to track performance and tie campaign results back to exposure to your streaming ads.

MNTN Performance TV also offers insights into whether a different touchpoint drove a visit to your site. This provides a holistic look at campaign reach and impact. Want to learn more about the power of Verified Visits? Schedule a demo to explore MNTN today.

First-Touch Attribution: Final Thoughts

Regardless of your current goals or what stage of development your company is in, the first-touch attribution model is a valuable tool for better understanding the behavior and preferences of your target audience. Incorporate first-touch attribution into your digital marketing strategy and gain actionable insights into consumers and content efficacy. This information will allow you to more effectively build your brand.