Healthcare organizations are increasingly turning to multi-touch attribution models to better understand which marketing efforts lead patients to book care. Traditional last-click attribution methods often give all the credit for a patient’s decision to the final interaction, such as an email or ad click, overlooking the influence of earlier touchpoints in the patient journey.
According to a recent guide from Response Mine Interactive, healthcare decisions are rarely made impulsively. Instead, patients typically engage with multiple channels over weeks or months before scheduling an appointment. The guide explains that relying solely on last-click attribution can mislead healthcare marketers and result in misallocated budgets.
The guide outlines several common multi-touch attribution models:
Linear attribution divides credit equally among all interactions in a patient’s journey. For example, if there are six touchpoints, each receives 16.7% of the credit. However, this approach does not account for differences in the impact of each interaction.
Time-decay models assign more value to touchpoints closer in time to conversion. This model is useful when recent interactions have greater influence but may undervalue early awareness-building efforts in longer decision cycles.
Position-based (U-shaped) attribution gives most of the credit to both the first and last interactions while distributing the remaining share among middle touchpoints. This model is seen as particularly effective for healthcare journeys where both initial awareness and final conversion play significant roles.
Data-driven attribution uses machine learning to analyze large numbers of patient journeys and allocates credit based on patterns that increase conversion probability. While potentially powerful, this approach requires advanced data capabilities and is generally recommended for organizations with mature analytics infrastructure.
Response Mine Interactive advises healthcare marketers to consider running multiple models simultaneously: “Pro move: Run more than one model. When they agree, confidence is high. When they don’t, you’ve found something worth investigating.”
The organization also notes that implementing new attribution systems can take six to nine months due to organizational change rather than technical complexity. They stress that “attribution is directional, not perfect and that’s okay,” emphasizing that better measurement leads to more informed marketing decisions.
Response Mine Interactive concludes by encouraging health systems not to seek a perfect model but instead focus on escaping last-click thinking: “Pick the model that fits your reality. Build a solid data foundation. Start small. Scale what works.”
For more information about Response Mine Interactive's services or guidance on marketing strategy and compliance concerns, interested parties are encouraged to contact them directly.
