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Customer journey credit calculator

A buyer touched four channels before they ordered. Which one gets the sale? Enter the journey and see what each attribution rule hands a single touchpoint.

Every ad click or channel visit before the order, the last one included. A whole number.

1 is the first touchpoint; the number above is the last.

Optional. Shows the credit across all of them.

Result

Fill in touchpoints in the journey, which touchpoint to check, order value to see the result.

How it works

An attribution rule splits the credit for one sale across the touchpoints before it. The rules differ only in how they split. Enter how many touchpoints the customer journey has, which one you want to check, and the order value; the calculator applies each rule to the same journey.

Add how many orders follow a journey like it, and every credit is multiplied by that count.

last click =
  the whole order,
  if it is the last touchpoint

first click =
  the whole order,
  if it is the first touchpoint

linear =
  order value ÷ touchpoints

position-based (40/20/40) =
  40% to the first, 40% to the last,
  20% shared by those in between
  (two touchpoints: 50% each)

with an order count:
  every credit × orders

What each term means

Touchpoint
An ad click or a channel visit on the way to the order. See touchpoint.
Last click
All credit to the final touchpoint.
First click
All credit to the first touchpoint.
Linear
Equal credit to every touchpoint.
Position-based
Also called U-shaped: 40% each to the first and the last touchpoint, 20% shared evenly by the ones in between.

Two touchpoints, and where these rules stand now

Position-based gives 40% to each end and shares the other 20% among the middle. With two touchpoints there is no middle, so this calculator splits that 20% between the two ends: 50% each. Other tools may do it differently.

Google's legacy Analytics help defined position-based as 40% to each end and 20% to the middle. GA4 no longer offers first click, linear, time decay or position-based attribution as of November 2023, and Google Ads no longer supports them; it offers last click and data-driven. The rules still show how much a rule, rather than a measurement, decides what a channel gets. Time decay is left out here because it needs the day of every touchpoint.

Worked example

Example numbers, round on purpose, not a real store:

Touchpoints in the journey
4
Touchpoint checked
1, the first
Order value
€100
Orders with this journey
500
  1. 1Last click: touchpoint 1 is not the last, so €0
  2. 2First click: €100 × 500 = €50,000
  3. 3Linear: €100 × 500 ÷ 4 = €12,500
  4. 4Position-based: €100 × 500 × 40% = €20,000
  5. 5Gap between the highest and lowest: €50,000 - €0 = €50,000

The channel that started these 500 journeys is worth nothing to last click and everything to first click. Nothing about the journeys changed between those lines; only the rule did.

Frequently asked questions

  • What is a customer journey in attribution?
    The touchpoints a buyer passes on the way to an order: an ad click, a search visit, an email, a direct visit. GA4 shows them in its key event attribution paths report, under Advertising. Attribution decides how the credit for the order is split among them.
  • Which attribution rule is right?
    None of them in general: each is a convention. Last click credits the close, first click the start, linear spreads the credit evenly, and position-based favours both ends. Use them to see how much the choice of rule moves a channel's credit, not as a measure of what the channel caused.
  • Why does last click undervalue channels that start journeys?
    Because it gives the whole order to the final touchpoint. A channel that often opens journeys and rarely closes them gets little or nothing under last click, whatever it contributes. The calculator shows the size of that swing for one journey.
  • Do GA4 and Google Ads still offer these rules?
    Not all of them. GA4 removed first click, linear, time decay and position-based attribution in November 2023, and Google Ads no longer supports them either; Google Ads offers last click and data-driven attribution.
  • Why is time decay not in the calculator?
    Time decay gives more credit to touchpoints closer to the order, so it needs the day of every touchpoint, not only its place in the journey. This calculator works from places alone.

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