The last non-direct click attribution model assigns 100% of the credit for conversions to the last non-direct interaction on a conversion path. 

Google Analytics uses this model by default for non-multi-channel funnel reports. 

Direct traffic is not really a traffic source or a marketing channel. It is an action taken by your users which is the result of the impact of marketing activity. 

So you should not be assigning credit for conversions to direct traffic. 

Consequently, you should consider using the last non-direct click model instead of the last click model.

Table of Contents

Toggle

Get my best selling books on Attribution Modelling

• Learn to implement attribution modelling in your organisation
• Understand the customer purchase journey across devices
• Determine the most effective marketing channels for investment

 Click book covers to find out more

The technological limitation associated with the last non-direct click model

There is one technological limitation associated with the last non-direct click model which you must be aware of. 

In Google Analytics, whenever a referrer is not passed, the traffic is reported as direct traffic. 

So there may be instances where the direct traffic is not really direct but is actually the traffic from organic search, paid search, referrals etc. 

In that case, a direct interaction recorded on a conversion path may not be the actual direct interaction but some other interaction. 

Consequently, the last non direct click may not be the actual non direct click. 

The following example will help you to understand how the conversion credit is calculated in the case of the last non direct click attribution model. 

Consider the following conversion path with a path length of four:

This conversion path can also be represented by the following data table:

Under the last non-direct click model, the last non-direct interaction gets 100% credit for the conversion. The last non-direct interaction here is a referral. So, the referral gets 100% credit for the conversion. 

Now the conversion credit distribution would look like the one below:

Other articles on Google Analytics Attribution Models

1. Last Interaction Attribution Model in Google Analytics Explained
2. First Interaction Attribution Model in Google Analytics
3. Linear Attribution Model in Google Analytics
4. Time Decay Attribution Model in Google Analytics
5. Position-Based Attribution Model in Google Analytics – Tutorial
6. Last Non-Direct Click Attribution Model in Google Analytics
7. Data-Driven Attribution Model in Google Analytics – Tutorial
8. Learn to set up Data-driven attribution model in Google Analytics
9. Default & Custom Google Analytics Attribution Models Explained
10. Which Attribution Model to use in Google Analytics?
11. How to Create Custom Attribution Model in Google Analytics