"Marketing is spending $15,000 a month. What are we getting for it?"
If you cannot answer with a specific revenue number, you have an attribution problem. Most businesses track vanity metrics — traffic, open rates, followers. Attribution connects marketing activities to closed deals and actual revenue.
Attribution Models Explained Simply
First-Touch
Credits the first interaction — where customers come from.
Best for: Understanding lead generation channels
Last-Touch
Credits the last interaction before conversion — what triggers action.
Best for: Understanding conversion triggers
Multi-Touch
Distributes credit across the whole customer journey.
Best for: Understanding the complete picture
Our recommendation: Start with first-touch (easiest to implement). Add last-touch. Graduate to multi-touch after 6+ months of clean data.
How to Set Up Attribution
Minimum Viable Setup (Any CRM)
Create an "Original Source" field on all leads and contacts. Use a standardized dropdown:
Intermediate: Campaign Tracking
Use your CRM's built-in campaign objects — Salesforce Campaign Influence, HubSpot Campaigns tool, Zoho Campaigns module. These connect marketing activities to pipeline and revenue.
Advanced: UTM Parameters
Tag every URL with UTM parameters. Example:
emergent-logic.ca/blog/crm-comparison
?utm_source=linkedin
&utm_medium=social
&utm_campaign=crm-awareness-q1
&utm_content=comparison-postCreate a UTM naming convention and stick to it. Always lowercase, use hyphens, standardize source names.
Building Your Attribution Dashboard
The metrics that actually matter:
| Metric | What It Tells You | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) | Cost to acquire one customer | Marketing efficiency |
| CAC by Channel | Most cost-effective channels | Budget allocation decisions |
| Marketing-Sourced Revenue | Revenue from marketing-generated leads | Proves marketing contribution |
| Marketing-Influenced Revenue | Revenue where marketing played any role | Shows full marketing impact |
| Time to Revenue by Channel | First touch to closed deal duration | Identifies fastest channels |
| Content-Attributed Pipeline | Pipeline influenced by specific content | Guides content investment |
Platform Setup
Salesforce
Campaign objects with Campaign Influence on opportunities. Use Customizable Campaign Influence for multi-touch attribution models.
HubSpot
Campaigns tool groups all assets together. Automatic attribution reporting. Revenue attribution in Professional+ with multi-touch models.
Zoho
Campaigns module for campaign tracking. Zoho Analytics for cross-campaign ROI dashboards with drill-down capabilities.
Ready to prove your marketing ROI?
Book a free 30-minute strategy call and we will help you set up attribution in your CRM.
Marketing Automation Playbook Series
← Part 2: Email Nurture Sequences
Part 3: Campaign Attribution (You are here)