What is first-click attribution?

First-click attribution gives all the credit for a conversion to the first marketing touch in the customer’s journey, the ad or link that introduced them to you.

What it is good for

First-click is the mirror image of last-click. Where last-click overvalues the channels that close, first-click highlights the channels that create demand: the top-of-funnel ads and content that bring new people in. If you want to understand what is filling the top of your funnel, first-click is a useful lens.

Its blind spot

On its own, first-click ignores everything that happened after the first touch, including the nurture and retargeting that actually converted the customer. Judging your whole program on first-click would starve the channels that close deals.

The honest approach is to look at first and last touch together. Trakt tracks both as separate questions, so demand creation and demand capture each get measured on their own terms rather than one model deciding the whole story.