Definition
An attribution model is the rule, or set of rules, that determines how credit for a conversion is assigned across the marketing touchpoints a customer encountered before taking action.
For businesses that generate leads by phone, attribution models answer a specific question: which channel, ad, or campaign drove that call?
Without a model that accounts for phone calls, online conversions get measured and phone conversions disappear into a gap. That gap is where Convirza focuses, connecting call data back to the source so every inbound call carries attribution information, not just web form fills.
Common model types include first-touch (full credit to the first interaction), last-touch (full credit to the final touchpoint before the call), and data-driven models that distribute credit based on actual conversion patterns. The right model depends on your sales cycle length and channel mix.
Instrumented across thousands of multi-location operators, the pattern is consistent: businesses running last-touch-only models systematically undervalue upper-funnel channels and overspend on bottom-funnel ones. The numbers point to data-driven or position-based models as more accurate for high-intent phone verticals, where top performers convert 58% of inbound calls and channel mix matters at every stage.
For a deeper look at how call data connects to attribution, see Call Attribution.
