Why your best channel might not be the one that gets the call
The channel that gets the phone call is often not the one that found the customer. A worked example from a plumbing firm shows how first touch and last touch tell very different stories.
Most reports give all the credit for a call to the last thing the customer clicked. It is simple, and it is often wrong. The channel that gets the call is frequently the one that closed the deal, not the one that found the customer in the first place.
A worked example
Take a plumbing and heating firm in Leeds. One of their customers needed a new boiler. This is how they found the firm, with made-up but typical details:
- Day 1. They search "combi boiler replacement cost" and find a guide on the firm's website through organic search.
- Day 9. They see the firm's Facebook advert and visit the website again.
- Day 12. They search "boiler installer leeds", click the firm's Google Ads advert and ring 0113 496 0381.
The job is booked and paid: a new boiler at £2,400.
Who gets the £2,400?
| Model | Organic search | Google Ads | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Last touch | £0 | £0 | £2,400 |
| First touch | £2,400 | £0 | £0 |
| Shared evenly | £800 | £800 | £800 |
| Recent visits count more | about £390 | about £860 | about £1,150 |
| First and last count most | £960 | £480 | £960 |
On last touch, the blog guide and the Facebook advert look worthless. On first touch, Google Ads looks like it did nothing. Neither is true. The guide found the customer, Facebook kept the firm in mind, and Google Ads was there when they were ready to ring.
Why it matters for your budget
Now imagine this pattern across a month of calls. If you only look at last touch, the obvious move is to stop writing guides and turn off Facebook. A few weeks later, fewer people are searching for you by name, and your Google Ads calls start to drop too. You cut the channel that was filling the top of the funnel.
Looking at the models side by side shows you which channels start conversations and which ones close them. Both matter, and they need judging differently.
What to look for
- A channel that is much stronger on first touch than last touch is finding new customers. Keep it, even if it rarely gets the call.
- A channel that is strong on last touch only is good at closing. It may be catching people other channels found.
- A channel that is weak on every model is the one to question.
How to see this for your own business
Call Tracked records every visit before a call or form, including offline events such as trade shows if you upload the list. The Attribution models page explains the five models, and the Compare view shows them side by side for every source. When sales come back from your CRM, Xero, Stripe or a sheet, you see the revenue each channel really earned, not just the calls.