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What is Contact Attribution?

Attribution is the system within your CRM that identifies the marketing channels or sources that bring contacts into your business. By tracking where your leads originate, you can measure the effectiveness of your marketing efforts, identify your most valuable channels, and make informed decisions about where to invest your resources. For instance, if you are running ads on multiple platforms, attribution helps you determine which one is generating the highest quality leads for your sales pipeline.

First vs. Latest Attribution

For every contact, the CRM records two key attribution points: the first and the latest.

First Attribution

This captures the source of a contact's very first interaction with your business through the tracked system. This is typically their initial visit to your website or their first engagement with a marketing asset like a form.

Latest Attribution

This reflects the source of the contact's most recent tracked interaction. This data updates with each new engagement. For example, a contact might first find you through an organic search (first attribution) but later return by clicking a Facebook ad (latest attribution). The first attribution remains static, while the latest attribution changes based on the last recorded activity.

Where to Find Attribution Data

You can view both the first and latest attribution for any contact directly within their contact record. To locate this information, navigate to Contacts, select a specific contact, and look in the bottom-right column under the Activity tab. The attribution sources will be displayed there.

Types of Attribution Sources

The attribution value for a contact will be categorized as one of the following source types.

Paid Search

Traffic attributed to paid search originates from search engine advertising campaigns, such as Google Ads. For the CRM to correctly categorize this traffic, the landing page URL must include specific, case-sensitive UTM parameters, including utm_source=adwords.

This category includes traffic from paid advertising campaigns on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Correct attribution requires UTM parameters on the ad link, specifically utm_source=fb_ad.

Direct Traffic

Contacts are marked as direct traffic when the system cannot identify a referring source. This usually happens when someone types your website address directly into their browser's address bar or visits via a bookmark.

Organic Search

This source indicates visitors who arrived by clicking on non-paid (organic) results in search engines like Google or Bing.

Traffic is categorized as social media when it comes from non-paid links on social platforms, such as when someone clicks a link you or another user shared in a post.

Referrals

Referral traffic comes from clicks on links to your site located on other external websites, excluding major search engines and social media platforms.

Others

This is a catch-all category for leads generated through various other channels that do not fit the primary classifications above.

CRM UI

This attribution is applied when a contact is manually created or imported directly into the CRM's interface by a user.

Third-Party

This source is used when a contact is created through an integration with an external application or service.

How Attribution is Determined

The CRM records attribution data during key interactions, such as when a visitor lands on your tracked website or when a contact submits a form. The system analyzes the technical referral data from the visitor's browser session to match it against the defined source rules and UTM parameters.

Setting Up Ad Reporting

To enable detailed performance tracking for your advertising campaigns, you must connect your ad accounts within the CRM's reporting section. This typically involves:

Facebook & Instagram Ads: Connecting your Meta ad account and ensuring your ad links use the correct UTM structure.
Google Ads: Connecting your Google Ads account and configuring your destination URLs with the required UTM parameters.

Once connected, the CRM can attribute leads to specific campaigns, ad sets, and ads, allowing for granular reporting on your return on investment.

Understanding Contact Attribution Sources