Marketing Attribution: How to Prove Which Campaigns Actually Drive Pipeline

Marcus, Director of Demand Gen, walked into the quarterly business review with his usual deck: website traffic up 40%, MQLs up 25%, webinar attendance hitting record highs. He expected congratulations.

Instead, the CFO asked one question: "Which of these campaigns actually drove revenue?"

Marcus pulled up his dashboards. He could show that the webinar series generated 200 leads. He could show that the LinkedIn campaign brought in 150 MQLs. But when the CFO asked "Which campaign influenced that $500K deal we just closed?"—Marcus had no answer. He knew the lead came from organic search originally, downloaded three ebooks, attended two webinars, and requested a demo after a retargeting ad. But which touchpoint deserved credit? How should he allocate budget next quarter?

He left that meeting with a mandate: prove marketing ROI or lose budget. The problem wasn't that his campaigns didn't work—they did. The problem was he had no systematic way to connect marketing activities to closed revenue. He was tracking awareness and engagement while the C-suite cared about pipeline and bookings.

Here's the attribution framework Marcus built to finally answer the question every CMO faces: which campaigns actually drive revenue?

The Marketing Attribution Framework

Attribution models:

1. First-touch: Credit to first campaign that touched prospect 2. Last-touch: Credit to last campaign before conversion 3. Multi-touch: Credit distributed across all touchpoints 4. Custom: Weighted based on your sales cycle

Goal: Understand which campaigns drive pipeline and revenue (not just leads)

Attribution Model 1: First-Touch Attribution

What it is: 100% credit to first campaign that brought prospect in

Example:

Prospect journey:

1. Found you via Google (organic search) ← Gets 100% credit
2. Downloaded ebook
3. Attended webinar
4. Requested demo
5. Closed-won ($50K deal)

First-touch gives credit: Organic search

Pros:

• Simple to track
• Shows what drives awareness
• Validates top-of-funnel investment

Cons:

• Ignores nurture campaigns
• Overvalues first touch
• Doesn't show what closed the deal

When to use: First-touch attribution works best when you're measuring brand awareness and top-of-funnel effectiveness. Your CMO wants to know if that $50K content marketing investment is bringing people in? First-touch shows you. But don't use it to evaluate which campaigns close deals—that's not what it's built for.

Attribution Model 2: Last-Touch Attribution

What it is: 100% credit to last campaign before conversion

Example:

Prospect journey:

1. Found you via Google (organic search)
2. Downloaded ebook
3. Attended webinar ← Gets 100% credit
4. Requested demo
5. Closed-won ($50K deal)

Last-touch gives credit: Webinar

Pros:

• Shows what converts prospects
• Easy to track
• Validates bottom-of-funnel tactics

Cons:

• Ignores early touchpoints
• Undervalues awareness campaigns
• Doesn't show full journey

When to use: Last-touch is perfect when you're optimizing for conversion and want to know what pushes prospects over the edge. If you're running A/B tests on demo requests or trial signups, last-touch tells you which bottom-of-funnel tactic worked. The trap is thinking last-touch tells the whole story—it doesn't. That webinar that got the demo request wouldn't have happened without the blog post that brought them in six months ago.

Attribution Model 3: Multi-Touch Attribution

What it is: Credit distributed across all touchpoints in journey

Multi-Touch Option A: Linear (Equal Weight)

Example:

Prospect journey:

1. Organic search (25%)
2. Ebook download (25%)
3. Webinar (25%)
4. Demo request (25%)
5. Closed-won ($50K deal)

Each touchpoint gets equal credit: 25% each

Multi-Touch Option B: U-Shaped (First + Last Heavy)

Example:

Prospect journey:

1. Organic search (40% credit)
2. Ebook (10%)
3. Webinar (10%)
4. Demo request (40%)
5. Closed-won

First and last get more credit, middle gets less.

Multi-Touch Option C: W-Shaped (First + Middle + Last)

Example:

Prospect journey:

1. Organic search (30%)
2. Ebook (10%)
3. MQL conversion moment - webinar (30%)
4. Demo request (30%)
5. Closed-won

First touch, lead conversion, and opportunity creation each get heavy credit.

Pros:

• More accurate picture of full journey
• Shows value of nurture
• Validates multi-channel strategy

Cons:

• Complex to implement
• Requires sophisticated tracking
• Hard to explain to stakeholders

When to use: Multi-touch is the most accurate model, but it's also the hardest to implement and explain. If you have a long sales cycle (3+ months) with many touchpoints (blog posts, webinars, nurture emails, demos), multi-touch shows which combination of campaigns drives closes. Marcus implemented W-shaped attribution because his average deal touched 7-8 campaigns before closing—first-touch and last-touch missed the entire middle of the funnel. The complexity is worth it when stakeholders stop asking "which single campaign worked?" and start asking "which mix of campaigns drives revenue?"

Attribution Model 4: Custom/Time-Decay

What it is: More recent touchpoints get more credit

Example:

Prospect journey (over 6 months):

1. Organic search 6 months ago (5% credit)
2. Ebook 4 months ago (10%)
3. Webinar 2 months ago (25%)
4. Demo 1 week ago (60%)
5. Closed-won

Decay model: Closer to conversion = more credit

When to use: Long sales cycles where recent touches matter most

What to Track for Attribution

Track 1: Campaign Source

For every lead, capture:

• Source: Where did they come from? (Organic, Paid, Referral, Direct)
• Medium: Channel type (Search, Social, Email, Event)
• Campaign: Specific campaign name ("Q1 Webinar," "Product Launch")

Use UTM parameters:

utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=product-launch

In your CRM, log:

• First-touch source (how they found you)
• Last-touch source (what converted them)
• All touchpoints (multi-touch)

Track 2: Touchpoint Sequence

Log every meaningful interaction:

Example lead journey:

Date	Touchpoint	Type	Campaign
Jan 1	Website visit	Organic	SEO
Jan 5	Ebook download	Content	Product Launch Guide
Jan 15	Webinar attendance	Event	Product Demo Webinar
Jan 20	Demo request	Direct	Sales
Feb 1	Closed-won	Deal	-

This lets you analyze patterns:

• What sequence leads to closes?
• How many touches before conversion?
• Which campaigns appear in winning deals?

Track 3: Pipeline Influence

Connect campaigns to opportunities:

For each opportunity in CRM:

• Campaign that generated MQL
• Campaigns that touched during sales cycle
• Campaign that triggered demo request

Example:

Opportunity: TechCorp ($50K ACV)

Campaign influence:

• First-touch: Organic search
• Influenced by: Product launch webinar, case study download, sales demo
• Last-touch: Demo request

Credit: Distribute $50K across campaigns based on model

Setting Up Attribution in Your CRM

Step 1: Capture UTM Parameters

On every link in campaigns, add UTMs:

Example:

Blog post: yoursite.com/blog/post?utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=thought-leadership

Email: yoursite.com/lp/webinar?utm_source=email&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=jan-webinar

When prospect converts, log UTMs in CRM.

Step 2: Create Campaign Attribution Fields

In CRM (Salesforce, HubSpot):

Lead/Contact level:

• First-touch campaign
• First-touch source
• Last-touch campaign
• Last-touch source
• All touchpoints (array)

Opportunity level:

• Campaign that created MQL
• Campaigns influenced opportunity
• Campaign that created opportunity
• Campaign that closed deal

Step 3: Connect Leads to Opportunities to Revenue

Attribution flow:

Lead → MQL → Opportunity → Closed-Won

Track:

• Which campaign created lead?
• Which campaign converted to MQL?
• Which campaign influenced opportunity?
• Which campaign was last-touch before close?

Revenue attribution:

If deal closes for $50K and multi-touch attribution:

• Organic search: $12.5K credit
• Ebook campaign: $12.5K credit
• Webinar campaign: $12.5K credit
• Demo campaign: $12.5K credit

Now you can report: "Webinar campaign drove $500K in pipeline this quarter"

The Attribution Report

Create monthly/quarterly report:

---

MARKETING ATTRIBUTION REPORT: Q1 2025

Summary:

• Total pipeline generated: $10M
• Marketing-influenced pipeline: $6M (60%)
• Top campaign: Product Launch ($2M pipeline)

Attribution by Campaign (Multi-Touch Model):

Campaign	Touches	MQLs	Opps Created	Pipeline	Closed-Won	Revenue
Product Launch	500	150	50	$2M	15	$750K
Webinar Series	400	120	40	$1.5M	12	$600K
Content Marketing	800	200	30	$1M	10	$400K
Paid LinkedIn	300	80	20	$800K	8	$320K
Email Nurture	600	100	25	$700K	7	$280K

Attribution by Channel:

Channel	Pipeline	Revenue	ROI
Organic	$3M	$1.2M	∞ (no ad spend)
Paid Social	$2M	$800K	8x ($100K spend)
Events	$1.5M	$600K	6x ($100K spend)
Email	$1M	$400K	∞ (owned channel)

Top Performing Journey:

Most common path to closed-won:

1. Organic search (first-touch)
2. Content download (nurture)
3. Webinar attendance (engagement)
4. Demo request (conversion)
5. Closed-won

Average: 4.2 touches, 65 days sales cycle

Recommendations:

• Double down on product launch campaigns (highest pipeline)
• Scale webinar series (strong conversion)
• Optimize paid LinkedIn (lower ROI than organic/events)

---

Share with exec team quarterly.

Measuring Campaign ROI with Attribution

With attribution, calculate true ROI:

Campaign: Q1 Product Launch Webinar

Spend: $20K (ads, tech, speakers)

Attribution:

• Touches: 400 prospects
• MQLs: 120
• Opportunities created: 40
• Pipeline influenced: $1.5M (multi-touch model)
• Closed-won: 12 deals
• Revenue: $600K

ROI: $600K revenue / $20K spend = 30x ROI

Without attribution, you'd only know:

• 400 webinar attendees
• 120 filled out form
• "Some deals closed"

Attribution proves marketing ROI.

Common Attribution Mistakes

Mistake 1: Only tracking first-touch

You only know how leads found you, not what converted them

Problem: Can't optimize middle/bottom of funnel

Fix: Track multi-touch or at minimum first + last touch

Mistake 2: Not connecting to revenue

You track campaigns → leads but not leads → revenue

Problem: Can't prove ROI

Fix: Connect campaigns to closed-won revenue in CRM

Mistake 3: No UTM discipline

Your team doesn't use UTMs consistently

Problem: Can't track campaign sources

Fix: Mandate UTMs for all links (use UTM builder)

Mistake 4: Ignoring offline touchpoints

You track digital but not events, direct mail, phone calls

Problem: Incomplete attribution picture

Fix: Log offline touches in CRM manually

Mistake 5: Over-complicating

You build custom attribution model that no one understands

Problem: Stakeholders don't trust data

Fix: Start simple (first + last touch), add complexity later

Quick Start: Set Up Attribution in 2 Weeks

Week 1: Data Setup

• Day 1-2: Add attribution fields to CRM (first-touch, last-touch, all touches)
• Day 3-4: Implement UTM tracking (build UTM parameters for all campaigns)
• Day 5: Connect campaigns to opportunities in CRM

Week 2: Reporting

• Day 1-2: Backfill attribution data (add campaign sources to existing opps)
• Day 3: Build attribution report (pipeline + revenue by campaign)
• Day 4: Analyze top campaigns (what drives most pipeline?)
• Day 5: Present findings to stakeholders

Deliverable: Attribution report showing pipeline + revenue by campaign

Impact: Prove which campaigns drive revenue (not just leads)

The Uncomfortable Truth

Most marketing teams can't prove which campaigns drive revenue.

They report:

• Leads generated (vanity metric)
• MQLs created (no connection to revenue)
• Website traffic (doesn't show conversions)

They can't answer:

• Which campaign drove that $500K deal?
• What's the ROI of our webinar program?
• Should we invest more in paid ads or content?

What works:

• Attribution model (first+last touch minimum, multi-touch ideal)
• UTM tracking (every campaign link tagged)
• CRM integration (campaigns → leads → opps → revenue)
• Regular reporting (monthly attribution analysis)
• Campaign ROI (revenue / spend per campaign)

The best attribution programs:

• Multi-touch attribution (full journey visibility)
• Connected to revenue (not just leads)
• Automated tracking (UTMs, CRM workflows)
• Regular reporting (monthly/quarterly attribution report)
• Used for decisions (double down on what works, cut what doesn't)

If you can't tell your CEO which campaigns drove revenue this quarter, you need attribution.

Track touchpoints. Connect to revenue. Optimize based on data.