Last-click attribution is a model that credits an entire conversion to the most recent publisher a customer clicked through from before purchasing, ignoring any earlier touchpoints in the customer's journey. It remains the default model across most affiliate networks because it is simple to implement and hard to dispute, even though it can undervalue earlier-funnel publishers.
A customer reads a comparison blog, then a week later clicks a cashback site's link and buys. Under last-click attribution, the cashback site gets 100% of the commission – the comparison blog that first influenced the decision gets nothing.
Content publishers frequently sit earlier in the customer journey, educating or comparing options, only for a coupon or cashback site to capture the final click and the commission. Last-click attribution rewards proximity to purchase over influence, which can undervalue the research-stage work content publishers do.
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