Understanding Attribution Models: First-Touch Crediting Explained

Khayalethu L. · 2025-07-14T09:45:24.069Z

I'm using a 30-day lookback window with a first-touch attribution model. In the full (holistic) report, the first touchpoint is email, followed later by paid media (Google Search) - so email is credited with the conversion. However, in a separate report that only includes paid media channels, Google Search is credited instead. Is this because email was filtered out, and with no earlier touchpoint available in the dataset, Google Search becomes the default “first touch”? Just want to confirm that this behavior is expected given the attribution model and filters applied.

Understanding Attribution Models: First-Touch Crediting Explained | Mixpanel Community

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kapa.ai
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Hi Khayalethu L., Please stand by as I search the Mixpanel knowledge base for an AI-powered answer. I normally take about 15 seconds or so. In case AI cannot answer your question, feel free to reach out to Mixpanel support at mixpanel.com/get-support. If you have follow-up questions for this thread, please tag me again with your question: @kapa.ai <follow-up question> 👋
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kapa.ai
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Yes, your understanding is correct and this behavior is expected given how Mixpanel's attribution and filtering work.When you use a first-touch attribution model with a 30-day lookback window, Mixpanel credits the earliest touchpoint within that window for the conversion. In your holistic report (with all channels included), the first touchpoint is email, so email receives the credit.However, when you filter the report to only include paid media channels, Mixpanel excludes email from consideration. In this filtered dataset, the earliest remaining touchpoint is Google Search, so it becomes the new "first touch" and is credited with the conversion. This is consistent with how Mixpanel's attribution filtering works: after applying an attribution breakdown, filtering narrows the total conversion events to only include/exclude those with the associated attribution property. If a touchpoint is filtered out, the next available touchpoint in the lookback window is used for attribution, as you described.This is documented in Mixpanel's attribution FAQ: > Once attribution is computed, filtering narrows total conversion events to only include/exclude those with the associated attribution property... You can apply a filter on an attribution property only after an attribution breakdown has been applied.
... For example, if you want to look at only Purchases that have come from a non Direct Channel, only those purchases with non-direct channels as the last touch will be included. ... You can apply an attribution filter only on the property used in the attribution breakdown Docs: Attribution FAQSo, when you filter out email, Google Search becomes the first eligible touchpoint and is credited accordingly. This is expected behavior in Mixpanel's attribution analysis.
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kapa.ai
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Hi Khayalethu L., Please stand by as I search the Mixpanel knowledge base for an AI-powered answer. I normally take about 15 seconds or so. In case AI cannot answer your question, feel free to reach out to Mixpanel support at mixpanel.com/get-support. If you have follow-up questions for this thread, please tag me again with your question: @kapa.ai <follow-up question> 👋
Feel free to ask a follow-up question once I've answered by mentioning me with @kapa.ai
kapa.ai
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Yes, your understanding is correct and this behavior is expected given how Mixpanel's attribution and filtering work.When you use a first-touch attribution model with a 30-day lookback window, Mixpanel credits the earliest touchpoint within that window for the conversion. In your holistic report (with all channels included), the first touchpoint is email, so email receives the credit.However, when you filter the report to only include paid media channels, Mixpanel excludes email from consideration. In this filtered dataset, the earliest remaining touchpoint is Google Search, so it becomes the new "first touch" and is credited with the conversion. This is consistent with how Mixpanel's attribution filtering works: after applying an attribution breakdown, filtering narrows the total conversion events to only include/exclude those with the associated attribution property. If a touchpoint is filtered out, the next available touchpoint in the lookback window is used for attribution, as you described.This is documented in Mixpanel's attribution FAQ: > Once attribution is computed, filtering narrows total conversion events to only include/exclude those with the associated attribution property... You can apply a filter on an attribution property only after an attribution breakdown has been applied.
... For example, if you want to look at only Purchases that have come from a non Direct Channel, only those purchases with non-direct channels as the last touch will be included. ... You can apply an attribution filter only on the property used in the attribution breakdown Docs: Attribution FAQSo, when you filter out email, Google Search becomes the first eligible touchpoint and is credited accordingly. This is expected behavior in Mixpanel's attribution analysis.
kapa.ai is still learning and improving, please let me know how I did by reacting below.
ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.