by Sarah Kelleher 
As marketers are held more and more accountable for their spend and revenue, delivering a solid attribution model is key. But this is much easier said than done. The sales process have developed from a funnel structure to a web of touchpoints across a myriad of channels.
To ensure you have the best chance, find the right technology stack to fit your business. There are hundreds of tools out there and marketing automation is obviously a key player. But marketers should be wary of selecting a ‘one-size-fits-all’ tool and shop around for the products that will provide true visibility on their customer interactions and revenue generation.
Define the metrics that are important to you and make sure these are metrics that will help inform your future strategy. For example, you may want to look at the number and type of touchpoints each customer interacts with before they purchase, or the duration of the overall sales cycle.
Once you know what you’re looking for, selecting the technology to help you achieve that will become much simpler.
A lot of companies get frustrated because they can’t figure out attribution with mathematical precision, and they don’t want to live in a messy space. That’s why they stick with last-touch attribution—because it’s neat and clean. But I’d rather see more companies experiment.