Best marketing attribution tools 2024: pros and cons

Marketing attribution is a critical part of measuring the success of marketing campaigns, especially in today’s digital world. Businesses need to know which channels and campaigns are driving conversions to allocate their marketing budget effectively, and this is exactly what marketing attribution tools can help with. 

In this article, we’ll dive into the topic and showcase the best marketing attribution tools available in 2024 to help you take your marketing strategy to the next level.

What are marketing attribution tools? How businesses use them

Marketing attribution refers to the process of tracking and analysing customer interactions with different marketing channels to determine which channels and tactics are most effective in driving conversions and revenue, and assigning value to each channel.

Marketing attribution tools are software solutions that help businesses identify and understand the effectiveness of their marketing efforts. 

Businesses use marketing attribution tools to:

• better understand the impact of all their marketing efforts, 
• assess the performance and value of different marketing channels, 
• make data-driven decisions about budget allocation. 

These tools can provide marketers with detailed data on customer behaviour, such as which channels customers used to find their website, which content they engaged with, and which actions they took before making a purchase.

One of the key benefits of using marketing attribution software is that it generates feedback signals for ad platforms, allowing businesses to optimise their ad campaigns for maximum impact. By tracking which ads and channels are driving the most conversions, businesses can adjust their ad spend and target their efforts more effectively.

Overall, marketing attribution solutions are essential for businesses looking to optimise their marketing efforts and drive growth in today’s digital landscape. 

In the next sections, we’ll explore the types of marketing attribution software and some of the best solutions available and how they can help businesses achieve their marketing goals. 

Types of marketing attribution software

There are generally three groups of marketing attribution software solutions available: single-touch attribution software, multi-touch attribution software, and alternative tools.

Single-touch attribution software

Single-touch attribution software assigns credit to only one touchpoint in the user journey, such as:

• first click, 
• last click, 
• last non-brand click, 
• last non-direct click, 
• or last paid click. 

While these tools can be useful for providing a quick snapshot of a customer’s journey, they present more cons than pros because they don’t provide a full picture of the user’s journey. 

User journeys are often complex, include multiple touchpoints, and often span multiple devices and browsers. As a result, single-touch models are not always accurate and can be misleading when it comes to analysing channels’ efficiency and allocating budgets.

Multi-touch attribution software

Multi-touch attribution software assigns credit to multiple touchpoints in the customer’s journey. These tools take into account the complexity of the buying journey and provide a more accurate picture of the user’s journey than single-touch models. 

However, modern tracking restrictions, privacy regulations, and cookie use regulations have made it more challenging for businesses to implement and use multi-touch tools effectively.

For example, many web browsers now block third-party cookies to protect users’ privacy. As a result, businesses cannot track customer behaviour across different websites and devices using cookies alone. What is more, such privacy regulations as  GDPR and CCPA require businesses to get user consent before collecting their personal data, which also limits the ability to track and analyse customer interactions.

In the modern environment, both single-touch models and multi-touch models will show similar results. They depend on cookies too much, and therefore these tools can’t deliver adequate results because they don’t have enough tracking data.

Alternative tools

The SegmentStream Conversion Modelling Platform is an alternative approach to traditional attribution that analyse conversions retrospectively and underestimate opening channels. This platform analyses each website visit and assigns fair credit to each channel that contributes to a conversion, even upper-funnel channels that are often underestimated by the traditional models. By using this approach, businesses can get a more accurate understanding of the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and allocate their budgets more effectively.

In addition to providing attribution insights, the SegmentStream platform can also provide feedback signals to ad platforms. This feedback helps ad platforms optimise their campaigns in real-time and improve their performance, further increasing the effectiveness of a business’s marketing efforts.

Overall, the SegmentStream Conversion Modelling Platform offers a more dynamic and accurate approach to marketing attribution. By analysing website visits in real-time and providing clear attribution and feedback signals, businesses can make better decisions about their marketing budgets and maximise their ROI.

Benefits of marketing attribution tools

Marketing attribution tools offer several benefits for businesses looking to optimise their marketing strategies and improve their ROI. Here are just a few examples:

Deeper understanding of marketing channels performance

Attribution tools enable businesses to gain a deeper understanding of how their marketing channels are performing, and asses the value of each touchpoint or channel. By identifying which channels are driving the most engagement and conversions, businesses can make more informed decisions about where to focus their marketing efforts and resources.

Data to power budget allocation decisions

Attribution tools provide businesses with valuable data that they can use to allocate their marketing budgets more effectively. By identifying which channels are delivering the best results, businesses can allocate more budget to those channels and reduce spending on underperforming channels.

Data to optimise advertising platforms’ performance

Attribution tools can also provide businesses with feedback signals that they can use to optimise their advertising platforms’ performance. By analysing attribution data in real-time, businesses can make adjustments to their advertising campaigns to improve their effectiveness and better reach their target audiences.

Improved collaboration between marketing and sales teams

Marketing attribution tools can also help improve collaboration between marketing and sales teams by providing a shared understanding of which channels are driving the most leads and conversions. By aligning their strategies and goals, marketing and sales teams can work together more effectively to generate revenue and grow the business.

In summary, attribution tools offer a range of benefits for businesses looking to optimise their marketing strategies and improve their ROI. By providing deeper insights into channel performance and value, businesses can make more informed decisions about their marketing efforts and grow their business more effectively.

Now let’s see, which tools businesses can use to stay on top of their competition in 2024 and take advantage of all the listed benefits.

Best marketing attribution tools and software for 2024

SegmentStream

SegmentStream is an AI-powered platform that offers an advanced alternative to traditional marketing attribution tools. It’s trusted by major brands like L’Oréal and KitchenAid for enhancing marketing budget decisions.

SegmentStream’s key offerings:

1. Automated marketing reporting: Provides a unified platform for tracking key performance metrics across all marketing channels.
2. Cookieless attribution Analyzes clicks, impressions, costs, and user behavior to accurately assess the impact of ad campaigns, without relying on cookies.
3. AI-driven optimization: Offers specific budget recommendations to improve ROI, using AI to reallocate budgets within the digital marketing mix.

Pros: 

• Doesn’t rely on tracking the full user journey like retrospective models, making it well-suited for today’s cookieless world.
• Offers in-depth analysis across a variety of data points, including ad clicks, impressions, and user behavior.
• Provides specific budget allocation suggestions to maximize ROAS across all channels and campaigns.

Cons:

• Requires at least three weeks of historical data to train ML models.
• Most beneficial for companies spending over $100,000 a month on digital advertising.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web analytics and marketing attribution tool that provides businesses with insights into their website’s performance. It offers multiple attribution models to help businesses understand how different marketing channels affect their overall marketing success.

Pros: 

• Free to use, 
• Easy to set up, 
• Integrates with other Google tools like Google Tag Manager, 
• Provides detailed insights on user behaviour and engagement, 
• Offers a range of attribution models.

Cons: May require additional customisation to track specific marketing campaigns, all attribution models depend on tracking the full path to conversion which isn’t possible.

Adjust

Adjust is a marketing attribution platform for assessing mobile apps’ performance. It offers multiple attribution models to help businesses understand how different marketing channels are contributing to their overall marketing success.

Pros: 

• Provides detailed insights on user behaviour and engagement, 
• Offers one-view comparison across apps,
• Supports multiple ad networks.

Cons: Only works for mobile apps, provides limited customer support.

Hubspot Marketing Analytics Software

Hubspot Marketing Analytics Software is an all-in-one marketing analytics and attribution tool that provides businesses with insights into their marketing performance across multiple channels. It offers multiple attribution models to help businesses understand how different marketing channels are contributing to their overall marketing success.

Pros: 

• Comprehensive reporting options, 
• Thought-out dashboards, 
• Integrates with other Hubspot tools like CRM and marketing automation, 
• Offers a range of attribution models.

Cons: Can be expensive for smaller businesses, all provided attribution models are retrospective, may require additional customisation.

C3 Metrics

C3 Metrics is an advanced marketing attribution and measurement tool that provides large advertisers with insights into their performance. It offers multiple attribution models to help businesses understand how different media channels are supporting the desired outcome.

Pros: 

• Works with multi-touch attribution models, 
• Has customisable reporting options, 
• Has deep experience working in D2C and e-commerce industries.

Cons: Expensive, may require a steep learning curve, and limited integration options.

Ruler Analytics

Ruler Analytics is an automatic marketing attribution tool that provides businesses with data-driven insights into their marketing performance. It tracks website visitors and touchpoints and matches leads with obtained marketing data.

Pros: 

• Provides comprehensive reporting options, 
• Offers different attribution models, 
• integrates with other marketing automation tools.

Cons: Limited data visualisation options and may require additional customisation to track specific marketing campaigns.

Windsor.ai

Windsor.ai is a marketing attribution tool that offers to provide businesses with insights into the value and ROAS of each touchpoint. It is a multi-touch marketing attribution software that offers multiple attribution models to help businesses understand how different marketing channels perform.

Pros: 

• Provides advanced attribution models, 
• Easy to use,
• Offers to calculate ROI for marketing channels.

Cons: Expensive for larger businesses and may require additional customisation to track specific marketing campaigns.

Overall, each marketing attribution tool has its own set of pros and cons. It is important for businesses to evaluate their specific needs and budget when choosing a marketing attribution tool. A good tool should be easy to use, offer advanced attribution models that can provide actionable insights even in a cookieless world, and integrate with other marketing automation tools.

How to pick the best marketing attribution solution for your business? 

For any marketing professional, it’s important to understand that there are numerous marketing attribution solutions available in the market, each with its own unique features and benefits. 

Some of the benefits of using such tools include gaining a deeper understanding of the performance of marketing channels, providing data to power budget allocation decisions, optimising advertising platforms’ performance, and improving collaboration between marketing and sales teams. However, in today’s cookieless world, it’s becoming increasingly important to choose a tool that can provide businesses with useful and truthful data.

With the advent of privacy regulations and the deprecation of third-party cookies, traditional attribution methods are becoming less effective. This is where advanced attribution tools like SegmentStream come into play. It can help businesses track and measure the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns using advanced Machine Learning algorithms and analytics techniques, which can provide more accurate and insightful data.

In the case of SegmentStream, the tool stands out as the best option, as it provides accurate and insightful data, is highly scalable and flexible, and can deliver clear results even in the cookieless world. 

With SegmentStream, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and make data-driven decisions that can help them grow and succeed in today’s increasingly complex and competitive business landscape.