New Enhancements to UTM-based Attribution

At SourceMedium, accuracy and comprehensiveness in e-commerce attribution are our top priorities. We're pleased to announce a significant update to our order attribution logic, designed to provide even more precise insights into your marketing performance.

Key Enhancements in Attribution Coverage

This update improves our UTM-based attribution coverage by over 10%, reaching an average of 80% on first orders. In comparison, GA4 typically attributes less than 50% of first orders. These improvements reinforce our commitment to offering superior data accuracy.

What’s New in Our Attribution Logic

1. Standardized Referral Domain Values
Referral domains have been normalized for consistency. For instance, m.facebook.com now appears simply as facebook, facilitating cleaner data aggregation and reporting.

2. Accurate Sales Channel Attribution
Orders from Shopify sales channels such as Instagram Shop and TikTok Shop are now correctly attributed as {sales channel} / sales_channel rather than none / none. This adjustment offers clearer insights into the performance of these channels.

3. Improved Handling of 'Direct/None' Traffic
We've aligned our logic with industry standards by treating direct / none as none / none. When possible, we replace this with more specific attribution data from other sources, ensuring fewer gaps in your data.

4. Refined UTM Parameter Windows
UTM parameters from GA and GA4 are now only considered if they align closely with the order timestamp in Shopify, specifically within a one-day window. This refinement improves the relevance of your attribution data.

5. Enhanced Source/Medium Matching
We've introduced additional checks to prevent mismatches between sources and mediums, eliminating inconsistencies like klaviyo / cpc and ensuring data accuracy.

Impact on E-Commerce Attribution

These updates make your attribution data more reliable and actionable, enabling better-informed decisions about marketing spend and channel performance. By integrating more sources and refining our logic, we're helping you gain a clearer understanding of what drives your sales.

Future Developments

Looking ahead, we'll continue refining our approach to sales channel attribution, with a particular focus on emerging platforms like TikTok Shop. Our ongoing updates aim to keep your data accurate and comprehensive.

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