Marketing & Paid Advertising

Linear Attribution

A multi-touch model that distributes credit equally across all touchpoints.

1 min readLast updated Apr 2026
Reviewed by Golden Digital·Operator-reviewed ecommerce reference

A multi-touch model that distributes credit equally across all touchpoints.

Why It Matters

Linear attribution democratizes credit across your marketing mix, preventing the over/undervaluation inherent in single-touch models. It's the simplest MTA model to implement and understand, making it an excellent starting point for brands moving beyond last-touch.

Practical Example

Scenario

A customer journey includes 4 touchpoints: Facebook ad, influencer post, email newsletter, and Google search. Each receives 25% of the $80 AOV credit.

Calculation

Facebook: $20 | Influencer: $20 | Email: $20 | Google: $20

Result

This reveals that all four channels contribute to the sale, rather than Google getting 100% credit as in last-touch.

Pro Tips

  • 1Linear is great for initial MTA exploration—patterns you discover may inform which weighted model to use later
  • 2Compare linear results to last-touch to identify channels you've been undervaluing
  • 3Use linear to justify brand awareness spend that shows minimal ROI in last-touch models

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Treating all touchpoints as equally important when clearly some matter more than others
Using linear for products with very short consideration phases where last-touch may be more accurate

Frequently asked questions

Linear works best when you're first exploring MTA, have consistent purchase journeys, and want a simple model to compare against single-touch. It's a good baseline before moving to weighted models.

Put it to work

Related Terms

Multi-Touch AttributionMTA

Distributes credit for conversions across multiple touchpoints in the customer journey.

Time-Decay Attribution

A multi-touch model giving more credit to touchpoints closer to the conversion.

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