Attribution helps you determine which ads or channels deserve credit for influencing a customer’s purchase. Let’s break down the different attribution models and show you how they work, with examples you can use in your reports.

Attribution modeling is a way to allocate credit to various ads or marketing channels a customer interacts with on their way to making a purchase. This helps you:

Attribution models determine how credit for conversions is assigned to different touchpoints in the customer journey.

Please select from the list of attribution models below to navigate to the model to learn more:

Attributes credit to the first click before the conversion.

Attributes credit to the last click before the conversion.

Attributes credit to the last click before the conversion, excluding direct visits.

Source-Specific Attribution is a unique model inside Cometly that allows you to isolate one or more marketing sources and apply attribution logic only to those sources, ignoring all others in the journey.

Instead of looking at every ad and click a customer engaged with, you choose which sources you care about (like Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Email, Organic, etc.), and then Cometly applies either First Touch or Last Touch logic only to those filtered touchpoints.

Using First or Last Touch - Source Specific is the recommended attribution model to use when you are inside of the Cometly ads manager analyzing 1 specific ad channel at a time.

This model gives credit to the last ad touchpoint from your selected source(s) — ignoring all other sources.

How it works:
Cometly filters the entire customer journey to include only touchpoints from the source(s) you select (e.g. Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Email, etc.), then applies last touch attribution to those filtered touchpoints.

Example Journey:

If using Last Touch – Source Specific:

Where to use it in Cometly:

This model gives credit to the first ad touchpoint from your selected source(s) — ignoring all others.

How it works:
Cometly filters the customer journey to only include touchpoints from your chosen source(s), then applies first touch attribution to those.

Example Journey:

If using First Touch – Source Specific:

Where to use it in Cometly:

Splits credit equally across all touchpoints.

Divides credit equally across all paid sources.

U-Shaped Attribution is an attribution model which emphasizes and credits the first and last touchpoint a user encounters with more credit, than the touchpoints encountered in the middle of the customer journey. Specifically the first and last touch touchpoint encountered is given 40% of the conversion credit. The remaining 20% is distributed equally among all other touchpoints encountered in the journey.

An attribution window is the time frame during which events (like clicks or ad interactions) are tracked and credited to a specific marketing source or ad.

Choosing the right attribution window is essential because it directly impacts how your marketing efforts are evaluated.

Different businesses have unique needs when it comes to attribution:

With Cometly, you can select the attribution window that fits your business model and marketing goals.

Cometly offers flexible attribution windows to suit a wide range of businesses:

The attribution window defines when credit is given, while the attribution model defines how credit is distributed. For example:

This combination gives you a full understanding of your marketing performance, tailored to your business needs.