The Ecomm Analyst

How do attribution tools handle refunds and returns?

Most attribution tools handle refunds by subtracting the refunded amount from the order they already attributed, which means the channel that got credit for the sale also absorbs the loss. That is the short answer. The longer answer is that tools differ on timing, on whether they net out partial refunds, and on whether the correction ever reaches the reports you actually look at.

Do attribution tools work for subscription brands?

Yes, but with a caveat that matters more than the answer. Attribution tools handle subscription brands fine at the point of acquisition and handle them badly after that, because almost all of them are built around the first order and subscription economics live in orders two through twenty. If you sell a one time product, the day you acquire a customer is the day you learn what they were worth.

How accurate are e-commerce attribution tools?

Attribution tools are accurate enough to rank your channels correctly and not accurate enough to give you a true revenue number for any single one of them. That is the short answer. A well configured tool on a typical Shopify store will capture somewhere in the region of 80 to 95 percent of orders and will assign them to sources with real but bounded confidence. Anyone promising more than that is selling something.