Choose an attribution model
How the seven attribution models share each order between the touches of its journey, where to choose one, and how to set your brand's default.
6 min readUpdated 15 October 2026
Every order has a journey: the visits the Fabrik pixel saw for the customer before the purchase, and the landing page Shopify recorded. An attribution model decides how much of the order each touch of that journey earns. Fabrik Analytics offers seven models, and you can switch between them on the Marketing pages to see which channels, campaigns and ads start journeys, which close them, and which help along the way.
Before you start
- The models work best with the Fabrik pixel set up on your store (Settings, Tracking). Without it, an order's journey is only its landing page.
- Seeing the Paid Media and Email & CRM pages needs a role that can view them and a plan that includes them (Growth or higher). Agency staff and brands covered by their agency's plan are never locked.
- Changing the brand default needs permission to change the brand's settings. Everyone else sees Settings, Attribution read only.
The models
| Model | How it shares each order |
|---|---|
| Fabrik's answer | The whole order to its one channel: the pixel's last touch with a source in 30 days, else the landing page's tags or click id, else the referrer, else Direct |
| First touch | The whole order to the first touch of its journey |
| Last touch | The whole order to the last touch, a direct visit included |
| Last non-direct | The whole order to the last touch that was not a direct visit (an order with only direct visits, to the last) |
| Linear (equal shares) | An equal share to every touch |
| Position-based (40/20/40) | Two fifths to the first touch, two fifths to the last, and the remaining fifth shared between the touches in between |
| Time decay (7-day half-life) | A share for every touch, halving for every 7 days it came before the purchase |
An order with no touches at all has one, Direct or unknown, which gets the whole order under every model that shares out the journey.
Step by step: set your brand's default
- Open the brand and choose Settings, then Attribution.
- Under Default attribution model, choose a model. Each one has its one-line description beside it.
- Choose Save.
Every Marketing page now opens with that model: the Paid Media Overview, Meta, Google and Email & CRM.
Step by step: switch the model on a page
- Open Paid Media or Email & CRM.
- In the bar at the top, choose Attribution and pick a model. The brand default is marked Brand default.
- The page's Fabrik figures follow it. Change the brand default at the foot of the list opens Settings, Attribution.
Your choice goes in the page's address, so a link you share opens with the same model, and it carries over when you move between the Marketing pages.
What you will see
- Paid Media, Overview: the By channel table under the chosen model, with each channel's spend, credited orders, net sales, contribution after direct costs (CM2), new-customer orders, ROAS and profit ROAS, and its share of orders and net sales. Compare models lays every model side by side, by credited orders or ROAS. Channels working together shows which channels share the same orders. See Read the Paid Media overview.
- Meta and Google: beside each campaign's, ad set's and ad's own figures, a Fabrik band with its credited orders, net sales, ROAS and profit ROAS under the model. See Use the Meta and Google Ads pages.
- Email & CRM, Campaigns: each Klaviyo campaign's credited orders and net sales beside what Klaviyo reports. See Use the Email and CRM pages.
- An order's Attribution tab: each touch's share of the order under the model you choose. See Read an order record and its Attribution tab.
The Fabrik columns are not in reports or shared report links.
Lookback window
Settings, Attribution also has a Lookback window (1, 7, 14, 28 or 90 days). Your choice is saved, but it does not change any figure yet: every model reads the 30 days before each purchase today, and the page says so.
An example
A Fellwick customer clicks a Meta ad, comes back a week later from a Google search, opens a Klaviyo email and buys the same day. Under First touch Meta gets the whole order; under Last touch Email does; under Linear each gets a third; under Position-based Meta and Email get two fifths each and Google one fifth. The order counts once in every model's total.
Troubleshooting
- Most orders sit with Direct or unknown: check that the pixel is set up and that ads and emails carry UTM tags.
- A campaign shows n/a in the Fabrik columns: the model credited it no orders in the period.
- "The attribution settings could not be loaded": choose Try again.