Happy Friday! Chase and Jimmy here. 👋

Ever wonder if that sales bump came from your latest TikTok, a killer email, or maybe an SMS reminder? That’s where attribution comes in—it’s like a detective for your marketing efforts, showing you what’s driving results and what’s just taking up space.

Here’s the deal:

• Customers expect more than generic blasts. They want relevance, personalization, and trust.

• Smart attribution helps you track what works, optimize your strategy, and get real ROI.

• And yes, we’ve got the 5 best practices for email and SMS attribution to get you started.

The weekend’s a great time to reset, recharge, and plan for smarter campaigns.

Ready to make your emails (and SMS) work harder for you? Let’s dive in.

The One Webinar to Rule Them All! 🔥

Ready to stop winging it and start winning it? Next Tuesday, January 28th, at 8 AM PST | 11 AM EST, join us for a FREE webinar hosted by Omnisend. We’re dishing out the secrets to email marketing success in 2025.

Here’s what we’ll cover:
✔️ The Current State of Email Marketing
✔️ Smarter Audience Management (because “batch-and-blast” is so 2020)
✔️ Deliverability Mastery: Your must-have superpower
✔️ Strategic Playbook for 2025
✔️ Metrics That Actually Matter
✔️ Top 10 Email Marketing Action Items

🎯 Marketers, founders, or just curious email nerds—this is for you. Expect actionable strategies, fun prizes, and a live Q&A where no question is off-limits.

📩 Reserve Your Spot Now (It’s FREE!)

💡 Knowledge Drop of The Week

This week, Chase dropped a goldmine: 9 proven email formats designed to boost your revenue and take your campaigns to the next level. 🔥

These actionable tips are a must-see for anyone serious about making their emails work harder. Check out the full thread and be sure to bookmark it for future reference! ✅

5 Best Practices to Implement Attribution for Email and SMS in eCommerce

Picture this: your sales are climbing, but you’re scratching your head wondering if it was that cheeky TikTok campaign, your email blast, or your influencer partnership that made the magic happen. Marketing attribution swoops in like a super-sleuth, connecting the dots between every dollar spent and every dollar earned.

But before we get into the specifics of email and SMS, let’s cover some basics.

Why Marketing Attribution Matters

In eCommerce, budgets aren’t infinite. To make the most of your spend, you need to understand what’s driving results. Here’s why attribution is essential:

• Spotlight Your MVP Channels: Find out if TikTok, Google Ads, email, or SMS is your true MVP.

• Optimize the Customer Journey: Smooth out every bump in the path to purchase.

• Maximize ROI: Zero in on campaigns that convert and cut the ones that don’t pull their weight.

• Understand Buyer Behavior: Get into your customers’ heads and meet them where they’re shopping, clicking, and buying.

Challenges in Marketing Attribution

Attribution isn’t simple—customers rarely follow a straight line to purchase. Between cross-device browsing and privacy updates, things can get messy:

• Multi-Touch Madness: Customers engage with multiple touch points before buying. Who gets the credit?

• Cross-Device Chaos: Buyers start on their phone, hop onto a desktop, and wrap it up on a tablet.

• Privacy Hurdles: iOS updates and privacy changes are throwing trackers a curveball.

• Disjointed Tools: Separate systems for email, SMS, and other channels can inflate revenue stats and skew the real story.

Marketing Attribution Models: Your Playbook

Attribution models are like the rulebook for giving credit to your marketing efforts. Here’s the lineup:

• Single-Touch Models:

  • First-Click Attribution: Gives props to the first interaction—perfect for awareness campaigns.

  • Last-Click Attribution: Credits the final interaction—great for quick sales but misses the bigger picture.

• Multi-Touch Models:

  • Linear Attribution: Spreads the credit equally across touchpoints.

  • Position-Based Attribution: Highlights the first and last interactions while sharing the love with the middle.

  • Time-Decay Attribution: Focuses on touchpoints closest to conversion.

  • Custom Attribution: Uses algorithms to assign credit based on actual impact.

5 Email & SMS Attribution Best Practices

Now that we’ve set the stage, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of attribution for email and SMS. These channels are often the unsung heroes of eCommerce, quietly driving results while working in harmony with the rest of your marketing efforts.

1. Use Unique Tracking Parameters

Let’s keep it simple: unique tracking parameters are your best friend. Add UTM tags to links in your emails and SMS messages. This way, you can track which campaign, source, and medium drove traffic and conversions in tools like Google Analytics.

Best Practices:

• Standardize your UTM naming conventions for consistency.

• Use dynamic URL builders to save time on big campaigns.

Pro Tip: For SMS campaigns, use URL shorteners to save space while keeping tracking intact.

2. Integrate Attribution into Your CRM

Your CRM should be the brain of your attribution strategy. Integrate email and SMS platforms to track interactions and tie them back to specific campaigns.

Best Practices:

• Choose and email/SMS platform that work seamlessly with eCommerce CRMs.

• Set up automation to tag customers with attribution data as they engage.

Pro Tip: Dive into first-touch, last-touch, and multi-touch models in your CRM for a well-rounded view of your customers’ journeys.

3. Adopt a Multi-Touch Attribution Model

Stop playing favorites! Single-touch models can’t tell the whole story. A multi-touch model helps you see how email and SMS work together with other channels to drive conversions.

Best Practices:

• Assign weighted credit to different touchpoints to reflect their real impact.

• Use tools like Segment or Triple Whale to unlock advanced insights.

Pro Tip: Start with the basics and revisit and tweak your model as your business and customer behaviors evolve.

4. Leverage Data from Cross-Channel Campaigns

Email and SMS are team players. They’re often part of bigger campaigns, and their real value shines when you track how they contribute to the whole.

Best Practices:

• Use unified dashboards to see performance across channels in one place.

• Tag customers by campaign to figure out which combos pack the most punch.

Pro Tip: Test sequences like sending an SMS follow-up after an abandoned cart email to measure the combined impact.

5. Implement Real-Time Reporting and Feedback Loops

Attribution isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it game. Real-time reporting lets you spot trends, tweak strategies, and keep campaigns performing their best.

Best Practices:

• Set up automated reports to track metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and conversions.

• Use A/B testing to fine-tune your approach and validate findings.

Pro Tip: Share insights across teams to align efforts in marketing, sales, and customer support.

Final Thoughts

Attribution for email and SMS isn’t just about tracking—it’s about giving credit where it’s due and unlocking the full potential of these powerful channels. By using unique tracking parameters, syncing with your CRM, adopting multi-touch models, harnessing cross-channel data, and staying on top of real-time reporting, you’ll be equipped to make smarter, data-driven decisions. Start small, stay curious, and watch your e-commerce strategy soar!

🔥 DTC Win of The Week

Mela Vitamins just leveled up! They've brought on WNBA stars Azurá Stevens of the LA Sparks and Dana Evans of the Chicago Sky as their newest brand ambassadors. Game on! 🏀

And that's a wrap for this week!

Big thanks for hanging out with Chase and me—hope you found some gems in here! If you did, share the love and pass ecomemailmarketer.com along to your favorite DTC marketer. Let’s get them in the loop for next week's insights! 🚀

Remember: Do shit you love and have an awesome weekend!

🤘 Jimmy Kim