First Touch Attribution: How to Track the Campaigns That Drive Discovery

The ad that introduced your brand vs. the ad that closed the deal: which should you value more? When customers interact with multiple campaigns, platforms, and touchpoints before making a purchase, measuring success can be challenging. That’s where marketing attribution modeling becomes your best friend.

One of the simplest and most widely used is the first touch attribution model. This guide will explain what first touch attribution is, how it works in multichannel campaigns, when to use it, and how it compares to other models like last touch attribution.

What is First Touch Attribution?

First touch attribution, also being called first-click attribution, is a marketing analytics model that assigns 100% of the credit for a conversion to the very first interaction a customer has with your brand.

This model matters because it helps marketers track how customers discover their brand in the first place. By focusing on that initial interaction, this attribution method highlights which top-of-funnel campaigns are actually introducing new audiences to your business.

How the First Touch Attribution Model Works

The first touch attribution model works by giving full credit to the first marketing channel or cannabis marketing campaign that led a prospect into your eCommerce funnel.

• If a customer first clicks on a Google Ads campaign and later purchases after several interactions, the Google ad gets all the credit.
  
• If the first interaction was a blog visit, then that content piece receives 100% attribution.
  
• If they registered for a webinar before making a purchase, the webinar campaign takes the win.
  

This simplicity makes the model appealing for marketers who want to measure brand awareness and acquisition campaigns.

First Touch Attribution Model Example

Imagine a potential customer scrolling through their feed when they spot a Facebook ad for your product. Curious, they click through and begin exploring your site. A week passes, and they decide to subscribe to your email newsletter for more information. Eventually, they return via organic search and make a purchase.

In this journey, all the credit under the first touch attribution model goes to that very first Facebook ad, because it was the moment that introduced them to your brand and set the rest of the process in motion.

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This is where first touch vs last touch attribution becomes important:

First Touch vs Last Touch Attribution

While first touch attribution gives full credit to the very first interaction, last touch attribution flips the perspective. In this model, the final interaction before conversion (organic search click, a sales call, or a retargeting ad) receives all the credit. It’s often used to measure which tactics are most effective at closing deals.

Takeaway: Both models provide valuable—but incomplete—insights. Using first touch vs last touch attribution together shows how different stages of the journey contribute to success.

Benefits of Using First Touch Attribution

The first touch attribution model offers several benefits for marketers:

• Simplicity and clarity: Easy to set up and interpret.
  
• Top-of-funnel insights: Helps measure which campaigns are most effective at driving brand discovery.
  
• Budget allocation: Useful for justifying spend on awareness campaigns like social ads, blog posts, and PR.
  

Limitations of the First Touch Attribution Model

Of course, this model isn’t perfect. Its limitations include:

• Ignores mid-funnel interactions such as remarketing campaigns or nurturing emails.
  
• Doesn’t reflect the full customer journey, which often includes multiple touchpoints.
  
• May undervalue closing tactics like sales calls, promotions, or retargeting ads.
  

When to Use First Touch Attribution

Despite its limitations, this attribution model is valuable in specific scenarios. It shines when the primary objective is discovery and awareness, or when marketers need straightforward data to guide early decisions.

Brand Awareness Campaigns

First touch attribution is most effective when your goal is to measure how well programmatic ads, content marketing, or cannabis press releases are introducing people to your brand for the first time. It helps you identify which top-of-funnel tactics spark initial interest.

Tip: Focus on tracking content and ads that are designed purely for discovery, not conversion.

Early-Stage Startups

New companies often don’t have the resources or volume of data to implement complex multi-touch models. Using first touch attribution provides a simple way to understand which channels are driving those crucial first leads without getting lost in technical complexity.

Tip: Start simple, measure what gets people in the door before scaling into more complex models.

Testing New Acquisition Channels

When experimenting with channels like dispensary TikTok, influencer partnerships, or new display campaigns, first touch attribution helps you quickly see whether these efforts generate awareness and attract fresh audiences.

Tip: Use this model as a low-risk testing ground for emerging platforms and creative campaigns.

Short Sales Cycles

In industries where the time from awareness to purchase is fast, this model can capture enough insight to inform spending decisions without overcomplicating the reporting process.

Tip: Apply first touch attribution to campaigns where quick decisions are made, like retail or impulse-driven purchases.

In short, first touch attribution is best suited to situations where clarity and simplicity outweigh the need for nuanced analysis of the entire customer journey.

How to Implement First Touch Attribution in Your Marketing

Implementing first touch attribution means setting up your analytics tools so that the very first interaction a customer has with your brand is logged and given 100% of the conversion credit. In practice, this involves defining what counts as a "first touch" (such as an ad click, a blog visit, or a webinar registration), tagging your campaigns so they can be tracked consistently, and then choosing first interaction as the attribution model inside your analytics platform. The good news: this doesn’t require advanced technical setups, and most major marketing platforms support it:

• Google Analytics – Use attribution reports to set first interaction as the model.
  
• HubSpot – Built-in reporting for first touch attribution at the contact and campaign level.
  
• Salesforce – Attribution dashboards can be customized to first-touch credit.
  

Best Practices for Setup:

• Always use UTM parameters and consistent campaign tracking.
  
• Set up multi-channel performance marketing funnels to confirm entry points.
  
• Pair with dashboards like MediaJel’s Marketing Attribution Dashboard for easy visualization.
  

First or Last: Which Matters Most?

The question isn’t which model is right, but which question you need answered. If you want to know what opens the door, lean on first touch. If you want to know what closes it, use last touch. Together, they provide a strategic lens for evaluating performance across the full funnel.

Want to see which campaigns truly spark discovery? Contact us to see MediaJel’s Marketing Dashboard to track first touch attribution in action.