First Touch Attribution: Reporting and Best Practices

Chris Cardone

Hi RevCity community!

I have a customer facing a critical attribution challenge and would love your input.

The Issue:

• Customer is running 6sense display advertising campaigns
• Lead source reporting shows "Website" getting most first-touch credit instead of 6sense ads
• Impacting ability to demonstrate 6sense ROI for budget planning
• Suspect leads from 6sense ads are being overridden and defaulted to "Website"

The Challenge: They're seeing view-through behavior where:

1. Returns later via Google/direct → fills out form
2. Last channel gets attribution credit instead of 6sense

Current Setup:

• Marketo integration
• UTM source = 6sense on ad sets
• First touch attribution model
• Influenced form fills report too lightweight for their needs

My Ask: What are your recommended reports/methods for:

• Demonstrating first-touch attribution for 6sense display ads?
• Preventing other channels from overriding 6sense ad attribution?
• Building ROI stories when you have view-through behavior?

Thanks! 🙏

lgallardo

Hi @Chris Cardone! While first-touch attribution can offer insights into how a buyer first engaged, it often misses the broader picture—especially if that touchpoint happened years ago or wasn't truly influential in driving the deal forward.

We generally use last-touch attribution before opportunity creation because it's simple, adds a recency lens, and aligns better with how deals actually progress. That said, we don't rely solely on attribution models to measure success. Instead, we focus on influenced metrics and closed-won analysis to understand which channels and touchpoints contribute meaningfully to pipeline and revenue.

If a customer is set on first-touch reporting, we recommend adding a timing filter (e.g., first touch within the last 90 days) to keep the data relevant and actionable.

Ultimately, attribution should be about understanding the full customer journey, not just assigning credit to one source.

Regarding your question about building ROI through view-through behavior, when a view-through conversion takes place, it can indicate that the ads were effective at building brand recognition and/or influencing the decision-making process, which can help reveal how ad exposure influences a customer's journey over time. Hope this helps!

Jana_Marketing_Maven

We have an ongoing issue with sales to help them understand multi-touch attribution. IMHO this is the only way to truly understand the effectiveness of marketing as a whole. While it is important to realize how valuable (or not) an individual tactic is, attributing one tactic to a conversion is not going to tell you enough.

Try to discuss with them the last time they purchased something for the company- did they see an ad, click and then immediately fill out a form? Likely not. Typically they did some research, looked at multiple sites, saw some ads, then went around and filled out forms, etc.

If the issue is trying to showcase 6sense's value, is there a way you can compare the more targeted intent ads running through the platform vs. those running on traditional methods? Showcasing how the data you are providing (and running ads on) is helping not just with conversions but also with increased account engagement, moving them further through the sales cycle?

Chris Cardone

@Arielle Recine