Beyond last click: what multi-touch journeys tell you that attribution alone can't

A conversion has to be attributed somewhere. That doesn't mean the channel receiving the credit created it on its own or without assistance.

Our work with Nissan New Zealand gives us a useful example.

On a last-click basis, we can see which activity received the conversion. But when we look further back through the customer journey, we can also identify conversions where the customer had previously been exposed to upper-funnel media.

That gives us a better understanding of the behaviour leading to the conversion.

Rather than simply knowing which channel converted, we can compare customers who converted after earlier media exposure with customers whose journeys didn't include it.

In Nissan's case, where that earlier upper-funnel exposure was present, we saw stronger conversion rates. And importantly for a considered purchase like a car, that influence wasn't necessarily confined to the few days immediately before conversion. The journey could extend considerably further back.

That's why attribution and understanding aren't quite the same thing.

Last click is useful. So are CPA, CAC and platform conversion data. But they become more valuable when we understand the journey around them.

WHICH CHANNEL GOT THE CONVERSION MATTERS LESS THAN WHAT ACTUALLY HELPED CREATE IT.