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Growth & Marketing Infrastructure

Attribution: one agreed answer to “what brought them in”

Ask where last month's work came from and the honest answer is “other”. Attribution captures a source at every door, a tagged link, a tracking number, a question on the form and the first call, a referral code, settles disagreements by a written rule, and carries the answer with the lead all the way to the job and the invoice. We set up the capture at every door and agree the rule with you.
Talk through your leadsSee how sources are captured ↓
L-2231tagged link: search adL-2232tracking no.: vansaid: search adL-2233said: “a neighbour”L-2234referral code: J.P.Rules1 · a recorded touchbeats a memory2 · first recorded touchgets the credit3 · keep every pieceof evidenceL-2231search adL-2232van · also: search adL-2233referral · neighbourL-2234referral · J.P.

“Other” is your biggest channel

The source field on most leads is blank, “other”, or whatever the person taking the call picked first. Calls come through the main number with no trace of what prompted them, and word of mouth, often the best channel, leaves no record at all.

Attribution fixes the capture first. Every door the customer can come through records how they got there, conflicts are settled by a rule everyone agreed, and the result is stored on the lead and carried to the job it becomes.

Today, and with attribution

Today

  1. 01One phone number everywhere, so calls have no source.
  2. 02A source dropdown filled in by whoever answers.
  3. 03Referrals and word of mouth go unrecorded.
  4. 04Each ad platform claims its own results.

Budget decisions are made without knowing what works.

With attribution

  1. 01A tracking number per channel, tagged links on every campaign.
  2. 02“How did you hear about us?” asked on the form and the first call.
  3. 03Referral codes for customers who recommend you.
  4. 04One rule settles conflicts; the source travels to the job.

Every job with a source you can stand behind.

A source at every door

Tagged linksAds, emails, social postsThe campaign and channel behind a visit
Tracking numbersOne per channel: site, ads, van, directoryWhich channel a call came from
“How did you hear about us?”The quote form and the first callWord of mouth, and anything offline
Referral codesCards for customers to pass onWho referred whom

When the evidence disagrees

L-2241 · evidence disagrees

recorded
tagged link from a search ad, Oct 9
said
“a neighbour told me about you”
rule
first recorded touch gets the credit
result
source: search ad · influenced by: neighbour
why keep both
referrals show up in monthly reporting, even when an ad was clicked

The parts it's built from

Each part is built and tested on its own, so you can start with one and add the rest.

  1. Capture

    Analytics Instrumentation

    Tagged links, call tracking and form answers.

  2. Settle

    Attribution

    • every piece of evidence on the lead
    • the written rule

    no evidence → unknown, asked again later

  3. Record

    Marketing Automation

    The source stored on the lead and carried to the job.

  4. Report

    Business Intelligence

    Monthly credit by channel, unknowns shown.

Underneath every stepExperimentationTesting a channel's effect when attribution alone can't tell.

What changes from one business to the next

ChannelsWhich channels get their own number or tag
RuleFirst recorded touch, last, or another you choose
QuestionsHow “how did you hear” is asked, and its answer options
ReportingMonthly by channel, with unknowns and influences shown

A common starting point is a call tracking service with a number per channel, tagged links from your campaign tools, your CRM's source fields, and n8n to settle and record sources. These are starting candidates, not requirements.

Is attribution the right system?

Good fit

  • You spend on more than one channel.
  • Many leads arrive by phone.
  • Source fields today are mostly blank or “other”.

Avoid when

  • Almost all work comes from one known channel.
  • The CRM can't store a source on leads and jobs.

How we'd approach it

Most of the early work is listing the channels, writing the rule, choosing the questions you'll ask and agreeing the reporting.

  1. 01

    Understand

    As much as the problem needs

    We map how the work runs today: who does what, which systems hold the records, and where it breaks.

  2. 02

    Design

    Decided before it's built

    Ownership, rules, integrations and exceptions, agreed with you and written down with acceptance criteria.

  3. 03

    Build

    Connected to what you use

    We build the scoped system, connect it to the tools you already run, and test it on the cases that matter.

Related systems

The capabilities underneath

For your industry

Questions about attribution

Isn't call tracking expensive?

A number per channel usually costs little compared with the spend it explains. We start with the channels you spend most on.

Do customers mind being asked how they heard?

Rarely, if it's one question with simple options. It's often the only way to record word of mouth.

Which rule should we use?

Most service businesses start with first recorded touch, and keep every other piece of evidence alongside it.

Will this tell us which channel to cut?

It tells you where credit falls under your rule. To know what happens if you cut a channel, test it in one area first.

Find out where your work really comes from

Tell us how you track lead sources today and how much ends up as “other”. We'll show you how each source would be captured.

Start a project