Meet Sue. She owns a local flower shop which has grown nicely over time—great product, loyal customers, a strong reputation in town. But every time budgeting season rolls around, she feels the same knot in her stomach.
(No, Sue’s not real.)
She spends money on Google Ads. She posts on Instagram. She sponsors the spring arts festival. She sends emails. She keeps doing all of it because she’s afraid that if she stops, something important might break.
Sue isn’t chasing growth as much as she’s trying to avoid risk—which is a common pitfall.
What Sue is missing isn’t effort or creativity—it’s attribution.
What Attribution Really Means (and Why It Matters Now)
Marketing attribution is the practice of identifying which touchpoints contribute to a conversion and assigning credit to them. In plain terms, it answers the question: “What actually influenced this customer to choose me?”
McKinsey has consistently found that companies using data-driven attribution outperform peers in marketing efficiency and ROI because they allocate spend based on evidence rather than instinct.
Sue’s Real Problem Isn’t Marketing — It’s Decision Paralysis
Sue hears customers say:
“I saw you on Instagram.”
“My friend mentioned you.”
“I think I saw your booth somewhere?”
“I Googled florists near me.”
So she keeps funding everything or basing decisions on one-off anecdotes.
How Attribution Works in the Real World
Sue standardizes the question: “What led you to us?” She logs responses into a simple spreadsheet with 4-5 categories and trains her team to do the same. The same categories exist in online forms and her online checkout process.
She reviews trends quarterly—not daily.
The Insight Sue Would’ve Missed Without Attribution
Spreadsheets like this give us reams of data that we can quickly sort and assign scores and percentages. That process is easy and helpful.
But beyond that, we need to read between the lines. Sometimes the data tells part of the story but not all of it.
When Sue looked at her most recent numbers, she saw that personal social media, events, and her own volunteer involvement were all contributing to various categories. Even though it wasn’t its own category, “community involvement” turned out to be a force multiplier in a variety of purchase categories. It rarely drove last-click conversions, but it consistently appeared earlier in the customer journey.
Why Attribution Changes the Conversation
Sue moves from “I think this works” to “Here’s what the data suggests—and how we’ll test it.” She also spotted a couple of other categories (PPC and print ads) that seemed to be doing very little. That will save her a few bucks in Q2 which she might re-allocate to paid social or some extra hands at her next event.
The Takeaway Attribution isn’t about perfection. It’s about reducing uncertainty and replacing fear-based spending with evidence-based decisions. And that doesn’t happen without stepping back, investing in some planning, and doing the hard work of data collection.