What is multi-channel attribution?

Multi-channel attribution helps businesses determine which channels are generating the most revenue over a long period of time. 

B2C businesses promote their products across multiple channels: email, SMS, social media, search ads, etc. More often than not, people engage with several channels before deciding to make a purchase—and it’s not easy to pinpoint which channels are responsible for that decision. The likelihood is that multiple channels—hence “multi-channel”—deserve some credit for overall revenue over a certain period of time.

Through Klaviyo, businesses can utilise multi-channel attribution to track and assign credit to all marketing channels that contribute to a conversion outside of Klaviyo’s owned channels (email and SMS). These channels may include ads, physical media, and activity from other third-party marketing platforms.

Multi-channel attribution, in this context, reports on metrics such as customer acquisition cost (CAC), return on investment (ROI), return on ad spend (ROAS), and sources of site traffic.

The benefits of multi-channel attribution

Multi-channel attribution may be more complex than single-touch attribution, but the revenue potential far outweighs the effort. With multi-touch channel attribution, you can expect:

  • Full customer lifecycle insights: Multi-channel attribution can enhance marketing funnel analysis by providing deeper insights into the customer journey. When you have a clear understanding of which channels contribute the most revenue, you can better prioritise which stages of the funnel require the most attention.
  • More efficient marketing spend: When you understand which channels contribute the most to revenue—and which channels assist in crucial ways—you can allocate your budget to where it will be most effective.
  • The ability to experiment: Multi-channel attribution can bring clarity to experimental channels. If you wish to launch a campaign on a new channel, multi-touch attribution can help determine whether you should continue or if it’s time to stop. 

Multi-channel attribution vs. multi-touch attribution

Multi-channel attribution tracks the overall revenue impact of different marketing channels, whereas multi-touch attribution analyses customer interactions within those channels and assigns fractional credit to them.

For example, a £100 order may be attributed to four campaign messages. If a business is using a linear multi-touch attribution model, a £25 attribution would go to each of the four messages sent in the past week. Multi-channel attribution, by contrast, focuses on comparing different channels across multiple campaigns to determine which ones generated the most revenue and how.

Multi-channel attribution and multi-touch attribution complement each other. By using both, you can better understand the combined effect of various channels and their specific interactions, enabling you to optimise your campaigns across the entire customer journey.

How to implement multi-channel attribution

  1. Define clear attribution goals. Ask yourself what success looks like for your business. You obviously want to increase revenue, but how? You might wish to identify which marketing channels are the most efficient; in that case, focus on improving ROI and ROAS. Alternatively, you may have a specific goal to reduce your CAC; in that case, establish the objectives your multi-channel attribution should achieve, so you are comparing channels with intention. 
  2. Gather and integrate data. Choose an attribution solution that centralises all customer interaction data. You will need all your analytics from every channel in one place to ensure your multi-channel attribution model includes all the channels you use to promote your products. 
  3. Regular analysis and optimisation. Over extended periods—monthly, quarterly, yearly—review your multi-channel attribution data to identify high-performing channels. If you are seeing the highest ROI from email, for example, that signals an opportunity to maximise the channel’s performance, either through more granular segmentation or by strategically increasing sends. You may also discover that you have been overspending on channels that are not delivering results—that is your cue to reduce investment in those channels or remove them altogether.

Klaviyo has helped 157,000 businesses create personalised customer journeys with multi-touch attribution data. Sign up for Klaviyo and get started today.