Last-click attribution only credits the final interaction and ignores the early touchpoints of the customer journey, leading to several disadvantages.

The disadvantages of last-click attribution are that it ignores the early touchpoints of the customer journey like brand awareness campaigns, it only credits the final interaction, leading to an inaccurate understanding of which marketing channels are most effective, and can result in misallocation of marketing budget.

Ignores the Customer Journey:

The last-click attribution model does not accurately represent how a sale is made. It ignores the importance of earlier interactions that may have influenced the customer’s decision-making process. Throughout a customer’s path to purchase, they will need to:

• Cross various touchpoints to become aware of your brand

• Learn more about it

• Engage with it before making a final purchase decision

Last-click attribution oversimplifies the customer journey by assigning the full credit of a sale to the last touchpoint, leading to a skewed understanding of the customer journey and what marketing channels are most effective in bringing in new customers.

For example, if a potential customer sees your social media ad, researches your brand online, clicks your display ad to visit your website, and finally, clicks your email marketing link to purchase your products or services, in the case of last-click attribution, 100% of the credit will go to the email marketing campaign.

Overlooks Top-Of-Funnel Channels:

Top-of-funnel channels like display ads, social media ads, paid search ads, email campaigns, and more are all crucial for long-term success. They play a big role in building brand awareness, driving engagement, and contributing to final purchase decisions. By solely focusing on immediate conversions rather than considering the overall customer journey, marketers miss out on big opportunities to optimize upper-funnel campaigns that can engage customers beyond initial conversion, eliminating the early stages of the funnel and decreasing the number of potential customers.

Leads to Misallocation of Marketing Budget:

If marketers assume their sales were made due to a single interaction, they might focus all their marketing efforts on that one channel, leading to misallocation of marketing budget. As a result, marketers risk underfunding the crucial, top-of-funnel channels that generate interest, and build trust and loyalty among potential customers, all because they didn’t generate the final click.

At Awarity, we optimize every campaign to reach your potential target customers at every phase of their journey and build awareness that ultimately drive purchase. In Awarity Campaign Central, you can review your campaign performance and see how your campaign is building awareness to help you make informed decisions for your marketing strategy. We’re available to partner with you to make sure your campaign is building targeted, impactful awareness.

Data from: easyinsights, crimtan, the frank agency, leadsrx, intuit mailchimp, LinkedIn‍