EF Helpdesk

This article clarifies the difference between First Touch and Last Touch attribution methods, explaining how each attributes conversions to partners based on the initial or final click (or impression) before a conversion, and details how to configure these settings at both the offer and advertiser levels.

Overview

First Touch and Last Touch are Attribution Methods associated with each Offer. In this article you’ll learn all about their inner workings.

Note First Touch vs Last Touch Attribution only works when using Javascript SDK or HTML Pixel as the Offer’s Conversion Method. Learn more about Conversion Methods here.

Understanding The Concepts

Last Touch (Default)

Last Touch attribution is when Everflow attributes the conversion to the Partner who drove the last click before the conversion took place.

How It Works

With Last Touch Attribution (default), the conversion will be attributed to the last Partner to drive the consumer to your site or Offer (via click or impression). It assumes that last exposure was the deciding factor that drove the conversion. This is best used when you have shorter sales cycles or believe the final touchpoints correlate most to driving conversions, so you can optimize towards placements, ads, keywords, etc. that directly preceded purchases or sign-ups. However, it fails to account for assisting factors earlier in the buyer's journey and risks only optimizing bottom-funnel tactics.

First Touch

Attribute the conversion to the Partner who drove the first click before the conversion took place.

How It Works

The First Touch Attribution Method utilizes cookies to track the origin of a conversion. Upon the initial click or impression, a cookie is placed on the user's browser and persists for up to 90 days, or until deleted. If this cookie remains present when a conversion occurs, the originating Partner associated with the cookie is credited with the conversion, regardless of whether a different Partner delivered the most recent click or impression.

A Practical Example

Let’s take a potential buyer for Nike’s Offer named Mike. Here’s some facts:

Mike makes multiple clicks that lead him to the same offer
Each click was made via a Tracking Link that was associated with a different affiliate
For each click, Everflow generates & stores a Transaction ID in a cookie within the browser

Eventually the last click on Day 4 in the example above, leads to a conversion, which in this case was a sale. The conversion script ends up reading all the cookies stored above and passing on the Clicks (& Impressions) information on to Everflow’s server.

From there, Everflow will do the following:

If the attribution for this Offer was set to Last Touch, the conversion would be attributed to the Partner (Affiliate) associated with Click 3.
If the attribution for this Offer was set to First Touch, the conversion would be attributed to the Partner (Affiliate) associated with Click 1.