Today’s analytics tools are incredibly powerful, and there’s no shortage of metrics you can track. But that doesn’t mean you get meaningful data to make a major decision.

Are you confident spending thousands of dollars based on what Google Analytics is telling you about where your conversions are coming from? Are you sure?

If you are similar to most people, it’s likely you are using the default attribution model in Google Analytics, i.e. Last Interaction.

Just because it is the default option, that does not mean it’s the right one for you. In this article, we will tell you how to set up a Google Analytics attribution model and UTM parameters based on your product and the stage of your company.

How to find attribution models in Google Analytics

Google Analytics attribution models

Let’s look at an example. Kate wants to buy a chair for her home office.

Interaction 1 (Organic Search)

Kate Googles “comfortable office chair,” looks at some pages on yourofficechairs.com, and leaves.

Interaction 2 (Social Network)

3 days later, Kate sees an article on Facebook that mentions how comfortable your chairs are. She clicks the link to yourofficechairs.com and looks at the recommended chairs.

Interaction 3 (Paid Search)

7 days later, Kate Googles “chairs for home office” and sees your ad. She clicks it and completes the purchase.

According to this case, you could have the following credits for a conversion for different GA attribution models:

1. First Interaction/Click

All the credit for a conversion goes to the first interaction.

Organic Search: 100%Social Network: 0%

Paid Search: 0%

2. Last Interaction/Click

All the credit goes to the last interaction.

Organic Search: 0%

Social Network: 0%

Paid Search: 100%

3. Linear

Conversion is attributed equally to all the interactions.

Organic Search: 33%

Social Network: 33%

Paid Search: 33%

4. Time decay

Recent interactions are given more credit than older ones.

Organic Search: 10%

Social Network: 30%

Paid Search: 60%

5. Position

Credits are given based on the specific position of the interactions.

Organic Search: 40%

Social Network: 20%

Paid Search: 40%

How do you know which attribution model is right for you?

You need to consider the combination of several factors before deciding on the attribution model for your specific needs. Here are a few factors that might influence your decision.

1. Product Price

For low price items, the Last Interaction model works well. This is especially true for one-time purchases, say, a t-shirt. For higher priced items, say, a couch, people tend to compare and take longer. For such cases, First Interaction, Linear or Time Decay are better options depending on other factors like Consideration Period and Brand recognition.

2. Consideration period

If people tend to buy your item within a few days of thinking about it, then Last Interaction or Time Decay models are a good choice. Time Decay is especially useful when you are running promotion campaigns that expire in a short period of time.

However, if your customers take a long time to decide, then look at other factors. This is true even for low priced items. For example, if you sell a subscription for $5/month (low price), but your customers take a few weeks to decide, then the Last Interaction model is not the right choice.

3. Time investment

If your product requires a time commitment from your customers to use it, say, productivity software or project management software, they’ll tend to do a lot of research and comparison shop. A low price tag may not overcome this need.

This is true for most software sold to businesses. In this case, Last Interaction is not a good option. Look at Brand recognition to decide between the First Interaction and Linear models. One of these might work for you.

4. Brand recognition/awareness

If you are just starting out and not many people know about you, First Interaction is the right choice. This helps you identify the marketing channels where you can focus to generate even more awareness about your company or product.

If you are a company with a well-established name, say, Hubspot or Salesforce, then you don’t need to worry about First Interaction. What you care about is how to convert visitors into customers. You want to know what interactions convince people to buy.

In this case, the Linear model might work well for you. For example, you should try to find out which of your email nurturing campaigns, ebook downloads, etc. are helping people convert the most.

5. One-time or subscription pricing

Subscription products always require more interactions than one-time purchases before people buy. Last Interaction can work for one-time purchases, but may not be a good choice for subscription products.

For subscription-based products, look at other factors. In this case, look at Brand recognition to decide between the First Interaction and Linear models.

6. Identifying ROI of Marketing Channels

Sometimes you want to know if your specific channels are generating enough ROI to continue spending money on them. Paid ads are one such channel that can get expensive pretty quickly. You need to know if it is working or not as soon as possible. In this case, the Last Interaction model is a good option.

Having said that, this is not an exhaustive list and there are probably other factors unique to your business that will affect your decision. But hopefully this gives you an idea of how to think about these attribution models.

How can you improve your attribution reports?

No matter what attribution model you choose, it still needs to detect the correct traffic source. It’s your responsibility to make sure that most of your website visits have this information.

The two most important things you can do to make your analytics reports more accurate:

Add UTM parameters to all the links you share in your campaigns

Your website can get traffic from a variety of devices, apps, websites, etc. But some channels, e.g. mobile apps and email clients, will not set any referrer information. UTM parameters are an excellent way to make sure that you can can fill that gap.

Define your UTM conventions

This step may seem daunting at first, but even having some basic guidelines can have enormous benefits. Think about the reports and values you would like to see in Google Analytics and it becomes easier to come up with your own UTM conventions.

Quick Tip: Always use utm_medium=email for your email campaigns. Google Analytics will automatically attribute these visits to the Email channel. Always use utm_medium=social for your social campaigns. Google Analytics will put these visits under the Social Network channel.

For more exhaustive guidelines, look at UTM Parameters Best Practices course.

These conventions are key in making sure that your conversions are attributed correctly and your chosen attribution model gives you the right data.

2. Follow it consistently for all URLs

Make sure to add UTM parameters to all the URLs that you share. This includes email, social, ads, etc. The more consistent you are in tagging your URLs, the better your reports will be in attributing your conversions correctly.

3. Use a UTM builder and URL management system

Google URL Builder helps you build UTM URLs, but it doesn’t track them.

A spreadsheet is better since it also keeps track of your past URLs in one place. However, it can get messy pretty quickly.

You can also use a more advanced UTM builder, like Terminus, that enforces your UTM conventions.

The example of advanced UTM builder

Enable HTTPS on your website (if you haven’t already)

HTTPS (or SSL) is not just about security and privacy for your users. It’s also important for your analytics.

Let’s say you publish a new blog post, http://www.yoursite.com/new-blog-post, on your website (no HTTPS). A blogger, John, mentions your new post on their website that has HTTPS, say https://www.johnblog.com. A visitor on John’s blog clicks on the URL and comes to your website.

All modern browsers will remove any Referrer information before they send a visitor to your website (non-HTTPS) from an HTTPS-enabled website. This visit will now show up as Direct in your analytics reports.