By understanding which messages drive sales, you can optimize your strategy to improve your store’s performance. This guide explains how sales attribution works in Omnisend and what you need to know to make the most of your reports.
Before You Begin
To get accurate insights into your sales performance:
Familiarize yourself with how sales attribution works.
Ensure your messages are designed to encourage customer engagement.
What is Sales Attribution?
Sales attribution assigns credit for sales to the marketing messages that influenced your customers to make a purchase. When a customer engages with a message (such as opening or clicking it) and places an order within a specific timeframe, the sale is attributed to that message.
Customizing Your Sales Attribution
You can adjust the attribution window and methods to suit your business needs. These settings are under Store Settings → Sales Attribution.
Please note that any updates you make will automatically recalculate all reports to align with the new rules, ensuring accuracy across your data.
How Sales Attribution Works
Attribution Touch Points
A sale is only attributed to a message if the customer engages with it. This means the customer must open or click the message before making a purchase. Simply receiving the message does not qualify for attribution.
Therefore, for a sale to be attributed, a customer must interact with the message:
Open or click it (email, push notifications);
Click it (all channels: email, SMS, push notifications).
Start of Order Attribution Window
Start of Order Attribution Window defines when Omnisend starts attributing sales to a specific message. This feature allows you to choose when the attribution period begins, ensuring your reporting aligns with your business needs.
All order attribution window settings can be adjusted in Store Settings → Sales Attribution.
Available Options:
When the message is sent. The attribution window starts immediately after the message is sent. This option is ideal if you want to measure performance from the exact moment your campaign or automation is delivered.
When a contact engages with the message. The attribution window starts only after a contact interacts with the message (e.g., opens it or clicks a link). This option provides additional time for sales attribution, accommodating scenarios where customers might take longer to engage and make a purchase.
Attribution Window
The attribution window is the timeframe during which a customer must engage with a message and place an order for it to be attributed.
The default settings for this window vary by channel (e.g., email, SMS, push notifications).
Default Settings:
Email: 7 days
SMS: 24 hours
Push Notifications: 24 hours
Example:
You send an email on Monday.
The customer clicks it on Wednesday and places an order on Thursday.
The sale is attributed because it falls within the default 7-day window.
If a customer places an order after engaging with a message but outside this window, the sale is not attributed to that message.
Multiple Orders Within the Attribution Window
If a customer places multiple orders after engaging with a message, all orders within the attribution window will be attributed to that message.
Example:
A customer clicks an email on Monday.
They place two orders on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Both orders are attributed to the email because they fall within the attribution window.
Last-Touch Attribution Rule
When a customer engages with multiple messages before placing an order, the sale is attributed to the last message they engaged with, as long as it falls within its attribution window.
Example:
A customer clicks an email on Monday and clicks an SMS on Tuesday.
They place an order on Wednesday.
The sale is attributed to the SMS because it was the most recent touchpoint.
This approach gives you a clear picture of which messages close the sale, allowing you to focus on high-conversion channels and messages.
Attribution Date in Reports
Attributed revenue and order counts are assigned to the day the message was sent, not the day the order was placed. While this logic applies across the platform, you can configure Sales Reports to attribute orders to the placed order date instead — a feature unique to this report.
Example:
An email is sent on Monday.
The customer clicks the email on Tuesday and places an order on Wednesday.
The sale is attributed to Monday’s metrics.
Special Considerations
Handling Refunds and Cancellations
Omnisend calculates attributed sales based on all placed orders, including those that are later refunded or canceled. This ensures consistency in reporting metrics.
Example:
An email drives a sale worth $100 on Monday.
The order is refunded on Tuesday.
The $100 remains attributed to Monday’s metrics.
Key Takeaways
Sales attribution helps you understand which marketing messages drive results.
A sale is attributed only if the customer engages with a message within the defined attribution window.
Metrics are based on the day the message is sent, not the order date.
Refunds and cancellations do not impact attributed sales metrics.
You have full flexibility to customize your attribution settings for better insights.
If you have any questions or need help using Omnisend, please contact us via in-app chat or at [email protected]. We work 24/7 for you!