How "good enough" attribution is not enough

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Barbara Galiza is marketing analytics consultant helping marketing teams leverage data for better results and founder of 021 Newsletter.

Marketing attribution goes beyond UTMs and MTA—it's about understanding the true business impact of your advertising investments.

This article, by Barbara, explores why traditional attribution methods fall short, how blind trust in "good enough" data leads to costly mistakes, and five key advantages of investing in better measurement: 1) maximizing ROI through smarter budget allocation, 2) justifying brand investments to leadership, 3) preparing for a cookieless future, 4) capturing value in channels your competitors overlook and 5) understanding impact of product.

The Problem with "Good Enough" Attribution

Let's start with what marketing attribution really is. Forget complicated multi-touch models for a moment—at its core, attribution is about understanding which of your marketing efforts are actually driving business results. It's about connecting the dots between your advertising spend and real outcomes like revenue, customer lifetime value, and profit.

Here's the thing: most marketing teams are working with attribution data they know isn't perfect, but they trust it anyway. Why? Because it's better than nothing, right? Well, not exactly.

Making decisions based on flawed attribution is often worse than making decisions with no data at all. 

Here's why:

• When you trust incomplete data, you systematically undervalue crucial marketing activities that don't generate direct clicks 

• Teams end up shifting budgets toward easily trackable channels, even if those channels aren't driving incremental growth

• Marketing leaders struggle to justify vital brand investments because traditional attribution models can't capture their impact 

• Critical channels like word-of-mouth, content marketing, affiliates, and OOH get cut because their value is harder to measure

I see this all the time with clients. A brand notices their paid search campaigns show great ROI in their attribution model, so they shift budget away from "underperforming" brand campaigns. Six months later, their overall acquisition costs have skyrocketed—but by then, rebuilding brand awareness takes twice as long and costs three times as much.

Five Business Advantages of Better Attribution

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