Multi-touch attribution sounds like a complete solution. In practice, it still misses significant portions of the conversion path.
Most attribution tools track touchpoints within their own measurement window — typically 30 to 90 days. Any interaction that happened before that window, or in channels the tool can't see, gets zero credit.
Common blind spots:
Dark social — a recommendation in a private Slack channel or Discord server that first introduces your site to a user. No attribution tool captures this. The eventual conversion shows as direct or organic.
Offline influence — someone who saw your content mentioned in an industry newsletter, podcast, or event before they ever visited your site.
Cross-device journeys — a user who discovered you on mobile and converted on desktop where cookies don't match.
None of this means attribution tools are useless. It means you need to hold attribution data loosely and supplement it with other signals: brand search volume trends, post-purchase surveys asking how users found you, direct response tracking for offline channels.
Attribution is directionally useful. It becomes dangerous when treated as definitive.
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Multi-touch attribution sounds like a complete solution. In practice, it still misses significant portions of
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