Lesson 10: Position-Based Attribution

Understanding marketing attribution, best ad practices, and technology to drive online marketing.

Position-Based Attribution, also known as U-shaped attribution, is a multi-touch attribution model that assigns credit to multiple touchpoints along the customer journey, with certain positions receiving more weight.

This model typically gives 40% of the credit to the first touchpoint, 40% to the last touchpoint, and the remaining 20% is distributed among the touchpoints in between.

How Position-Based Attribution Works

In Position-Based Attribution, the customer journey is divided into three sections: the first touch, the middle touches, and the last touch. Here is a simplified diagram to illustrate this:

graph LR A[First Touch] --> B[Middle Touch 1] B --> C[Middle Touch 2] C --> D[Middle Touch 3] D --> E[Last Touch]

For example, let's consider a hypothetical customer journey with 5 touchpoints:

Google Search Ad
Facebook Ad
Email Newsletter
Direct Website Visit
Purchase

The Position-Based Attribution model would assign credit as follows:

  • Google Search Ad: 40%
  • Facebook Ad: 10%
  • Email Newsletter: 10%
  • Direct Website Visit: 10%
  • Purchase: 40%

Advantages and Disadvantages

Position-Based Attribution offers a balanced approach, giving significant credit to both the initial and final touchpoints, while still acknowledging the middle interactions.

Advantages:
  • Recognizes the importance of both the first and last touchpoints.
  • Provides a more holistic view of the customer journey compared to single-touch models.
Disadvantages:
  • Arbitrary division of credit might not accurately reflect the true influence of each touchpoint.
  • Can be more complex to implement and analyze.

Mathematical Representation

The credit assignment in Position-Based Attribution can be expressed mathematically as follows:

$Credit_{first} = 0.4 \\times Total\ Credit$ $Credit_{last} = 0.4 \\times Total\ Credit$ $Credit_{middle} = \frac{0.2 \\times Total\ Credit}{Number\ of\ Middle\ Touchpoints}$

To learn more about other attribution models, you can check our articles on Choosing the Right Attribution Model and Pros and Cons of Multi-Touch Models. For an in-depth guide, consider reading Attribution: Understanding Data-Driven Marketing.

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