60% of marketing professionals believe that attribution is crucial to understanding the journey of high-value customers. While social media and website analytics reveal user engagement data, they can’t track which channels or customer touchpoints drive the most sales. That’s where digital marketing attribution tools come into play.
Marketing attribution systems provide insights into customer journeys and campaign performance beyond audience interaction. These tools analyze which channels bring in the most customers so you can optimize your strategies and allocate your budget effectively.
All marketing attribution tools serve the same purpose, but specialized tools are designed to target specific businesses. For example, attribution tools for web use cookies and UTM parameters embedded in links to track user journeys across websites. Mobile attribution tools are essential for businesses focusing on mobile apps and ensuring their campaigns drive the desired results.
Today, we’ll discuss the top ten marketing attribution tools, their features and pricing, and which attribution tool is best for you.
What is an attribution tool?
Marketing attribution technology provides a single interface for tracking all marketing efforts. They allow you to understand your marketing team's conversions and influence for each marketing channel, such as social media ads and content creation.
For example, imagine you run a shoe company. A user discovers your website while searching for red shoes on Google but doesn’t make a purchase. Later, a Facebook ad brings them back to your website, and this time the user signs up for your email newsletter. You then send them a discount code via email, prompting the user to buy the red shoes they initially searched for.
Marketing attribution tools help you summarize the audience’s interaction across all platforms and identify which marketing channels and efforts bring the most revenue.
There are three types of marketing attribution models, i.e., multi-touch attribution (MTA), marketing mix modeling (MMM), and multi-channel attribution (MCA).
Multi-touch attribution (MTA)
Multi-touch attribution marketing analyzes all the touchpoints in a customer journey. MTA software uses various models to assign credit to each touchpoint based on its influence on the customer’s purchase decision. For example, if a customer sees a Facebook ad for your product but doesn't buy anything, then later sees an Instagram reel about the same product and purchases it.
Under MTA, depending on the chosen MTA model, both the Facebook ad and the Instagram reel would receive credit. Last-touch attribution, linear attribution, time decay attribution, and first-and-last models are a few types of MTA models.
Multi-channel attribution (MCA)
An MCA marketing attribution system is similar to MTA but has a broader scope. While MTA focuses primarily on digital touchpoints, MCA focuses on the overall performance of each channel (e.g., paid search, social media, email marketing) and assigns credit based on that channel's contribution. Considering a wider range of channels allows MCA to summarize how your marketing efforts collectively influence customer behavior.
Marketing mix modeling (MMM)
MMM simultaneously analyzes the impact of external factors and marketing efforts. Seasonality, economic trends, competitor activity, and weather patterns are a few examples of external factors. Therefore, it helps you understand the big picture and optimize your marketing strategy accordingly.
For example, Travel companies can use MMM attribution tools for marketing to analyze the impact of promotional offers, advertising, and snowfall (external factor) on visitor numbers and revenue.
Benefits of digital attribution tools
Digital attribution tools offer several benefits for business success. Here’s the list:
1. Understand the customer journey
A marketing attribution platform eliminates the confusion of which marketing efforts are the most fruitful. Attribution tools track customer touchpoints and the influence of your efforts among the audience.
2. Smart budget allocation
Attribution tools help you identify the result-driving marketing channels and strategies. Therefore, you can allocate more of your budget to marketing strategies that bring more customers and avoid wasting on unnecessary channels. For example, multi-touch attribution marketing provides detailed insights into every customer touchpoint, providing a comprehensive view of how different marketing efforts contribute to conversions.
3. Boost marketing performance
You can identify which marketing campaigns resonate the most with your audience through campaign outcomes. This allows you to craft more impactful campaigns and attract more customers. For example, B2B marketing attribution software provides specialized tools to understand complex buying cycles and enhance marketing effectiveness for B2B businesses.
4. Data-driven decision making
Marketing attribution tools simplify your customer data so you don’t have to rely on intuition. You can make smarter decisions using a marketing attribution platform by understanding customer journeys, recognizing buying patterns, and impactful strategies.
5. Competitive advantage
Targeted campaigns, relevant content, and a customer-centric approach give you a competitive advantage to stay ahead of the curve. Recognizing purchase behavior and uncovering insights allows you to better meet the needs of your audience.
Best marketing attribution software
Several marketing attribution tools are leading the industry, each offering distinct features and capabilities. Here’s the list of best marketing attribution tools:
1. Amplitude
Amplitude is one of the leading multi-touch attribution vendors that uses the data it collects for analytics. It helps you understand the touchpoints influencing a customer's conversion journey. It also enables you to assign credit across all touchpoints using various pre-built models, including first-touch, last-touch, etc.
Key Features
- No instrumentation work required
- Offers a vast list of attribution models with a configuration option
- Allows building custom attribution models and assigning credits based on user preference
Pricing
Amplitude has a free plan with starter features, and the paid plan starts at $49/month.
Pros
- 365 days lookback window
- Integrated with Appsflyer, renowned as the best mobile attribution tool
- Variety of attribution models to choose from
- Good customer support
Cons
- Starter and Plus plan users are limited to one channel view
- Slightly steep learning curve
2. Singular
Singular helps businesses track the impact of their marketing campaigns by attributing installs and in-app actions to the specific marketing channels that drove them. Singular also provides fraud prevention tools to help businesses protect against invalid traffic.
Key Features
- Cross-platform measurement
- Fraud prevention tools to block fake impressions, clicks, installs, and conversions
- SKAdNetwork attribution for a comprehensive iOS reporting
Pricing
Singular offers a free plan for early stage businesses and the paid plan starts at $0.05/conversion.
Pros
- A comprehensive portfolio of third-party integrations
- GDPR, CCPA, and Apple ATT compliance
- Low-cost attribution tool
Cons
- Limited sub-campaign level ROI calculations
- Few customization options
3. Ruler Analytics
Ruler Analytics is another prominent contender among marketing attribution platforms that tracks visitors throughout their journey and connects them to marketing touchpoints. This allows you to see how your marketing efforts impact leads and revenue.
Key Features
- Offers marketing mix modeling to help you attribute revenue to specific marketing activities
- Allows tracking of every call, click, live chat, and touchpoint
Pricing
Ruler Analytics pricing starts from $179/ month and increases as your monthly visits increase.
Pros
- Five attribution models to choose from
- Good customer support
- Large portfolio of third-party integrations
Cons
- Slow dashboards
- Limited reporting features
- No date range comparison feature
- Slow interface at times
- Limited data visualization options
4. Factors.ai
Factors.ai is a B2B marketing attribution software that provides in-depth insights into how your sales, marketing, and even e-commerce efforts influence your pipeline and revenue. It offers various features to give you a comprehensive view of customer journeys and preferences.
Key Features
- Offers three types of attributions i.e., campaign attribution, content attribution, revenue attribution
- Offers offline touchpoint integration
Pricing
The pricing for attribution features starts from $799/month.
Pros
- No code integrations
- Good customer support
- Easy to use
Cons
- Factors.ai has a smaller portfolio of third-party integrations than other attribution tools
- Doesn’t allow sharing of reports among team members
5. Demandbase
Demandbase is a cloud-based B2B marketing attribution software that tracks your buyer's journey and optimizes marketing and sales pipelines.
Key Features
- Account based marketing (ABM) makes it suitable for B2B companies
- Cloud-based infrastructure for streamlined marketing operations
Pricing
Demandbase has a quotation-based pricing model.Interested individuals must fill out their pricing form for information on pricing.
Pros
- Scalable option for companies having large data
Cons
- Limited targeting features
- Hidden pricing plans
- Complicated onboarding process
6. Branch
Branch is a cross-channel attribution and mobile linking tool. Cross-platform and cross-channel allows comparing attribution across all marketing campaigns and channels.
Key Features
- Cross-channel attribution
- Mobile ads, OTT/ CTV, and organic attribution
Pricing
Branch pricing starts at $0 for 10,000 monthly active users. The enterprise plan has custom pricing based on your needs.
Pros
- Affordable pricing
- Good technical support
Cons
- Steep learning curve
- Limited analytics
7. AppsFlyer
AppsFlyer is a mobile attribution tool that identifies the media source motivating a user to install or re-engage with an app.
Key Features
- Deep-linking solution
- Customer journey mapping
- In-depth customer data insights
Pricing
AppsFlyer has a free plan with lifetime access to multiple features. Paid plan starts at 7c/conversion.
Pros
- Accurate real-time reporting
- Good customer support
- Affordable for all businesses
Cons
- SDK compatibility issues
8. Adjust
Adjust is a mobile attribution platform for marketers to understand how their marketing efforts translate to user acquisition and in-app behavior.
Key features
- Multiple attribution models
- CTE and OTT attribution
- Real time mobile fraud prevention
- Cross-platform attribution
Pricing
Adjust is free for 1,500 monthly attributions. Greater volumes have custom pricing plans.
Pros
- Fraud prevention
- Large portfolio of third-party integrations
- Affordable
Cons
- Limited customization features
- Hidden pricing plans
9. Windsor.ai
Windsor.ai is an AI-powered multi-touch marketing attribution platform. It integrates data and metrics from all your marketing channels for comprehensive analysis. Windsor.ai is suitable for all business sizes running multi-channel marketing campaigns.
Key Features
- Multi-touch marketing attribution software
- Return on ad spend (ROAS) metric for each touchpoint
Pricing
Attribution pricing starts at $549 for unlimited monthly visits and unlimited users.
Pros
- ROI calculation option for marketing channels
- Good customer support
- Easy to use
Cons
- Slower interface on small screen sizes
- Large datasets cause speed problems
10. Dreamdata
Dreamdata is one of the best revenue attribution tools designed to help B2B businesses understand what drives revenue. It gathers and analyzes all revenue-related data to provide transparent insights.
Key Features
- Open data platform
- Multi-touch marketing attribution software
- Return on ad spend (ROAS) and lifetime value (LTV) metric for each touchpoint
Pricing
Dreamdata B2B attribution pricing starts at $599/month for revenue and multi-touch attribution. Pricing scales with additional attributions.
Pros
- Allows tracking of paid and unpaid channels
- Easy to use
- Good customer support
Cons
- Smaller portfolio of third-party integrations compared to other options
How to choose the best marketing attribution software?
Here's the list of factors you must consider when picking a marketing attribution tool for your business:
Your attribution model
Find a suitable attribution model for your business before picking the attribution software. Your data quality, campaign goals, and preferred touch points define the suitable attribution model.
Scalability needs
Identify your data growth needs and pick a software that scales with your business as your marketing needs and data grow. This involves analyzing your current marketing data volume and estimating how your data will grow with business success.
Integration requirements
Look for tools that can integrate with your current marketing stack. This includes data platforms, ad platforms, analytics tools, etc.
Understand customer acquisition
Evaluate how most customers in your business were acquired. For inbound customers, choose first-touch attribution software and the software that tracks the entire customer journey for outbound customers.
Conclusion
While marketing attribution tools help optimize marketing investments through customer journey insights, picking the right tool depends on various factors. These factors include customer acquisition, a suitable attribution model, scalability needs, and integration requirements.
FAQs
What is an example of marketing attribution?
Let’s say a company sells athletic shoes. A potential customer sees a social media ad for the shoe company. Later, they receive a text about a discount on the Father's Day sale. Finally, they search online for the shoe brand and see a banner ad for free shipping. This time, they buy the pair of shoes they viewed at the first touchpoint. Depending on the marketing attribution model, here's how the touchpoints are credited:
- First-touch attribution: Give all the credit to the social media ad.
- Last-touch attribution: Credit the free shipping banner ad.
- Multi-touch attribution: Distribute credit across all touchpoints. It might assign a higher weight to the email or the free shipping offer for directly influencing the purchase decision.
Which marketing attribution tool is perfect for us?
There’s no perfect marketing attribution tool. However, picking the tool that meets your marketing requirements results in the highest ROI and optimized marketing strategies.
How important is marketing attribution?
Marketing attribution helps you understand customer journeys, which is crucial to optimize marketing investments by identifying the most effective channels. It also allows data-driven decisions, improved campaign performance, and enhanced customer experiences.
At Adasight, we help you achieve product-market fit and take better business decisions using product analytics and growth consulting. Contact us today to identify actionable insights from your data and achieve sustainable growth.
