Introduction

B2B buyers take many steps before making a decision. This guide shows how to track each step and know what actually works.

What's the problem it solves?

In B2B, people don’t buy right away. They read, research, and talk to different teams before making a decision. Most companies still use simple tracking that gives credit to just one moment-like the first or last click. This leads to wrong conclusions and wasted money. Multi-touch attribution fixes this by showing how every action along the way helps.

Quick Summary

This article explains how B2B companies can use multi-touch attribution to understand how buyers go from learning about a product to finally buying it. In B2B, buying involves lots of steps, people, and tools. So it’s important to know which actions-like downloading a guide, watching a video, or joining a webinar-actually help move things forward. Multi-touch attribution gives credit to each step instead of just one.

The article explains different models like linear (equal credit to all steps), time decay (more credit to recent steps), U-shaped (focus on first and last), and W-shaped (credit to first, lead creation, and closing). It also shows how to build your own model, if needed. You’ll learn how to map customer journeys, track every click or visit, and connect data from different platforms. It covers how to fix problems like missing offline data, confusing tech, or not knowing which parts really drive revenue. Lastly, it gives tips on how to set everything up right, run tests, and improve over time.

Key Takeaways from the article

• In B2B, people don’t buy in one step. Multi-touch attribution tracks all the steps and actions that help a sale happen.
• There are five main models:
  • Linear: Equal credit to all touchpoints
  • Time Decay: More credit to steps close to the sale
  • U-Shaped: Focus on first and last steps
  • W-Shaped: Focus on first, lead creation, and last step
  • Custom: You choose how to divide the credit
• Attribution helps companies stop guessing where to spend their money. It shows which content, ads, or events help most.
• Teams can use these insights to spend less on things that don’t work and more on what brings leads and sales.
• It also helps sales and marketing work better together by sharing one clear view of what’s working.
• Big problems include messy data, different tools that don’t talk to each other, and hard-to-track offline events like trade shows.
• To do this right, you need clear goals, the right model, good tracking tools, and time to test and improve.
• A good platform like HockeyStack brings all data together, tracks everything in one place, and gives easy-to-read reports so you know what’s driving real results.

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