Glossary

First-touch attribution: definition and examples

First-touch attribution credits the earliest observed visit associated with the paying visitor. It answers where a recorded journey began, within the history and identity context your analytics actually retained.

How AnalyticFast selects first touch

The payment keeps a first-touch session reference alongside its last non-direct session reference. The first-touch selection uses the earliest session for that visitor on the site at or before the payment, with the implementation’s small timing grace. It can be a direct session; this is not a first non-direct model. A later-acquired source does not replace that earliest session.

Example: discovery and return visits

A reader first discovers your product through Reddit, clicks a newsletter a week later, and pays after a direct return. First touch credits Reddit. The default last non-direct model credits the newsletter. Both views describe the same payment; do not add the two source totals as if they were separate revenue.

When to use it

Use first touch when comparing channels that introduce new customers, such as educational content, community launches or a satellite website. Pair it with the visitor journey and time to purchase. A first-touch source that starts many journeys may have modest last-touch revenue and still deserve further investigation.

Where it can mislead

The first recorded visit may not be the person’s real first encounter. Cookie restrictions, consent state, retention, browser changes and cross-device behavior can truncate history. Installing a tracker today does not recover yesterday’s anonymous browsing. Keep the model, date range and currency consistent when comparing results.

Related definitions

• Last-touch attribution
• Revenue attribution
• Assisted revenue

Install AnalyticFast and connect verified revenue to use these definitions with your own data.