# Marketing attribution

> Canonical page: https://wayhatch.com/glossary/attribution/
> Evidence label: Research evaluated. Definitions: https://wayhatch.com/about/evidence-labels/
> Updated: 26 October 2026 (2026-10-26). Publisher: wayhatch, wayhatchai@gmail.com

Marketing attribution assigns credit for pipeline or revenue to the marketing touchpoints before it, using a model such as first-touch or multi-touch.

Attribution shapes where budget goes, so disagreements about it are really disagreements about spend. Every model is a simplification; the useful part is agreeing on one, applying it consistently and knowing what it leaves out.

Pick a model for each decision: first-touch for what creates demand, last-touch for what converts it, multi-touch for the path in between. It depends on consistent campaign and source fields on every contact, so clean source data comes first.

Related terms: [Marketing qualified lead (MQL)](https://wayhatch.com/glossary/mql/), [CRM data hygiene](https://wayhatch.com/glossary/crm-data-hygiene/), [Pipeline coverage](https://wayhatch.com/glossary/pipeline-coverage/)