ClickMagick Attribution Models - How Each One Splits the Credit (2026)

What an Attribution Model Does

An attribution model is the rule that decides which ads, emails or links get credit for a sale. ClickMagick's knowledge base defines it as a rule or set of rules that determines how credit for conversions is assigned to the touchpoints in a conversion path.

It matters because most buyers touch your marketing more than once. Change the model and the same sale gets credited differently, which changes which campaigns look profitable and where you'd move budget.

The Five Models in ClickMagick

ClickMagick says its Campaigns tool supports the popular models, including the advanced models offered by Google and Facebook Ads, and lets you switch between them at any time.

A Worked Example

Here's one assumed customer journey, credited under each model. The buyer clicks a Facebook ad, then a Google search ad, then an email link, and buys a $300 product. To keep the arithmetic simple, assume the three touches happened close together.

Look at the Facebook ad. Under Last Click it earned nothing, so you might cut it. Under Position-Based it earned $120 because it started the journey. Same data, very different decision. Time Decay's exact split depends on how many days passed between touches, which is why we show it as a ranking.

Each Model in Practice

Last Click

Last Click is ClickMagick's default and the model most ad platforms use. It's simple and easy to explain, and ClickMagick recommends it for newer marketers to start with. In ClickMagick, internal clicks on your own site only count when there are no ad clicks, so a click on your own menu doesn't steal credit from an ad.

Its weakness is that it ignores everything that happened before the final click, which undervalues prospecting ads.

First Click

First Click is the reverse. It's useful for judging which campaigns introduce new buyers, but ClickMagick doesn't recommend it for measuring conversions, because it ignores the touches that closed the sale.

Linear

Linear gives every touch an equal share. It's a fair way to see which channels are involved, but it can over-credit channels that simply appear often, such as retargeting.

Position-Based

Position-Based gives 40% to the first touch, 40% to the last, and splits the remaining 20% across everything in between. ClickMagick calls it probably the best model for most businesses, most of the time, because it rewards both the ads that start journeys and the ones that close them.

Time Decay

Time Decay gives more credit to touches closer to the sale, using a 7-day half-life. A touch seven days before the sale gets half the weight of one on the day of the sale. ClickMagick suggests it for long, complex buying cycles rather than ecommerce.

Which Model Should You Use?

Tips for Using Attribution Models Well

• Don't compare models over a few days. ClickMagick advises against short date ranges, because a handful of sales can swing the numbers.
• Pick one model for decisions, and use others as a second opinion.
• Use Campaigns, not tracking links, for attribution. ClickMagick says tracking links only support First Click and Last Click.
• Remember the plan. Advanced attribution models are listed from the Standard plan, so check our pricing guide if you're on Starter.