What is Last Touch Attribution (LTA)?

Last Touch Attribution (LTA) or Last Click Attribution is an attribution model in performance marketing where the final touchpoint or interaction before a conversion is given full credit for that conversion. It assumes that the last ad, click, or interaction in the user journey is the deciding factor leading to the sale or desired action, hence emphasizing the importance of the closing touchpoint in the conversion process.

What are other attribution models?

Last Touch Attribution: As described, this model attributes the success of a conversion to the final interaction. It is straightforward and easy to implement but may overlook other contributing factors. However, LTA is still an industrial standard and proves to be the most commonly used attribution model up till now, for both advertisers and MMPs like Airbridge. 

First Touch Attribution: In contrast, First Touch Attribution gives all credit to the initial interaction that introduced a customer to the brand or product. It's useful for understanding what drives awareness but can ignore the influence of subsequent touchpoints.

Multi Touch Attribution: This more complex model distributes credit across multiple touchpoints along the customer journey. It provides a holistic view of how each interaction contributes to the end conversion, offering a more nuanced understanding of customer behavior based on granular data.

Each of these models has its strengths and weaknesses and should be chosen based on the specific context and goals of the marketing campaign. Mobile marketers should consider their business model, sales cycle length, customer behavior, and available data to select the most appropriate attribution model. To get a better understanding of all the attribution models, please refer to this blog by Airbridge.

What’s the challenge with Last Touch Attribution?

Before diving deeper into this part, you should keep in mind that despite having some shortcomings, LTA is still an indispensable model for both advertisers and MMPs like Airbridge. Such a model has a certain level of clarity, cost and effort efficiency that surpasses other models like Multi Touch Attribution. You should take into account these challenges for a better usage of LTA, rather than totally abandoning the model.

The primary challenge with Last Touch Attribution is its oversimplification of the conversion journey. It ignores all the marketing efforts leading up to the final interaction, which can lead to a skewed understanding of what's driving conversions. This model doesn't account for the full customer journey, potentially undervaluing touchpoints that play a crucial role in nurturing leads and building customer relationships. Other than that, these are some specific challenges this model presents: 

• Bias Towards Certain Channels: LTA can bias in favor of channels that are more likely to be at the end of the customer journey, such as retargeting ads, while minimizing the role of channels that contribute to awareness.
• ‍Ineffectiveness for Long Sales Cycles: For products or services with longer sales cycles, there are often many significant interactions. LTA does not capture the incremental value these interactions provide over time.
• ‍Inability to Adapt to Multi-Device Journeys: With the prevalence of multi-device usage, LTA does not account for cross-device influence and conversions that may start on one device and finish on another.

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