You might think attribution is just for the person on your team who is running the ads. However, it's kind of everyone’s problem.
While your paid advertising specialists are usually the ones sweating over CAC and ROAS, they’re not the only ones who need answers. From your founder pacing around before a board meeting to the intern drafting a social media post, accurate attribution has a funny way of becoming EVERYONE’S BUSINESS. At the end of the day, many people on the team need an easy way to access the attribution data for different reasons.
While your paid advertising specialists are usually the ones sweating over CAC and ROAS, they’re not the only ones who need answers. From your founder pacing around before a board meeting to the intern drafting a social media post, accurate attribution has a funny way of becoming EVERYONE’S BUSINESS. At the end of the day, many people on the team need an easy way to access the attribution data for different reasons.
So, here it is: a list of 11 people on your team who probably need better attribution more than they realize.
1) Founder / CEO
Founders want clarity. They want to know what’s working, what’s not, and where the next dollar should go.
Attribution helps them do exactly that, without needing five different reports and a migraine.
Attribution helps them do exactly that, without needing five different reports and a migraine.
Early Stage (pre-seed to seed):
You’re testing product-market fit, running ad experiments, and launching your 4th Shopify theme in 2 months. Attribution tells you what’s driving sales and what’s just draining cash.
Founder Thought: “Should we be doing more TikTok or was that one post just lucky?”
Growth Stage (Series A–B):
You’ve got real traction, now it’s time to scale. Scaling without visibility is expensive. Attribution helps you back up your strategy with actual revenue data.
- Justify increasing budget on what’s working
- Cut spend from channels that are underperforming
Later Stage (Series C and beyond):
Now you're managing teams, agencies, and a dozen internal dashboards. Attribution becomes the source of truth that everyone can drive forward.
Now you're managing teams, agencies, and a dozen internal dashboards. Attribution becomes the source of truth that everyone can drive forward.
- Get alignment across teams and vendors
- Standardize reporting so leadership meetings don’t turn into finger-pointing contests
- Make strategic decisions rooted in data, not gut feelings
Founder Thought: “Is it time to hire a growth team?”
2) CMO / VP / Director / Head of Marketing
Your job? Hit the numbers.
Your real job? Prove that you're hitting the numbers. 🙂
You’re juggling campaigns, performance goals, creative, and a team that keeps asking for new tools. Every quarter, you’ve got to justify what’s working, what’s worth funding, and what needs to go.
Attribution gives you the receipts to back up your strategy.
Your real job? Prove that you're hitting the numbers. 🙂
You’re juggling campaigns, performance goals, creative, and a team that keeps asking for new tools. Every quarter, you’ve got to justify what’s working, what’s worth funding, and what needs to go.
Attribution gives you the receipts to back up your strategy.
Why attribution matters for marketing leadership:
- Quickly see which channels are pulling their weight (and which are along for the ride)
- Cut through the noise and align the team around performance
- Make the case for more budget with confidence, not just vibes
- Guide team structure and hiring based on what’s truly driving growth
What this role really needs:
- A clean, reliable source of truth for marketing performance
- The ability to switch between high-level trends and campaign-level insights
- A platform the whole team can use
Head of Marketing Thought: "All I want is to cut the stuff that doesn’t work without accidentally killing what does."
3) Agency Partner
You launch the campaigns, monitor the ROAS, and somehow still end up in meetings defending the entire marketing strategy. Every time performance dips, the client side-eyes you—not their landing page, not their clunky checkout flow, not their “vibe-forward” product photos.
Attribution is your best friend, and your chance to finally say, “We told you it was working.”
Attribution is your best friend, and your chance to finally say, “We told you it was working.”
Why attribution matters for agency partners:
- Show real revenue impact—not just platform-reported results
- Prove which campaigns and creatives impact revenue
- Separate your performance from the chaos happening on the brand’s backend
- Strengthen your case for scaling (or shifting) budget
What this role really needs:
- Clean attribution that doesn’t rely on client access to six dashboards
- Something that builds client trust instead of platform confusion
Agency Partner Thought: "If we can’t prove results, it doesn’t matter how well the campaign is performing."
4) E-commerce Manager / Head of DTC
You’re not just managing a store. You’re juggling product launches, website performance, email campaigns, and someone on the team who keeps asking, “Can we just add a pop-up?”
You sit at the intersection of marketing, sales, and ops, which means when something isn’t converting, it lands on your desk. Attribution helps you determine whether the issue is your offer, your ad, or that one broken product page.
You sit at the intersection of marketing, sales, and ops, which means when something isn’t converting, it lands on your desk. Attribution helps you determine whether the issue is your offer, your ad, or that one broken product page.
Why attribution matters for e-commerce and DTC leads:
- See which channels are driving revenue, not just traffic
- Understand the full customer journey, from ad click to repeat purchase
- Spot hidden high performers (like email or SMS) that don’t get enough credit
E-commerce Thought: “Are people buying because of the ad, the landing page, or the promo we forgot to turn off?”
5) Creative Director / Content Strategist
You’re the one crafting hooks, headlines, and visuals. You’re always trying to balance storytelling with performance. You’d really appreciate it if someone could just tell you which video is driving purchases.
Attribution helps you stop guessing and start creating content that doesn’t just look good, but performs.
Attribution helps you stop guessing and start creating content that doesn’t just look good, but performs.
Why attribution matters for creative and content teams:
- See which visuals, messages, and formats lead to real purchases
- Connect creative performance to business results—not just engagement
- Learn what resonates with actual buyers, not just people who “liked it”
- Build content strategies that align with what’s converting across platforms
Creative Lead Thought: “So the ugly ad won again. Love that for us.”
6) Consultant / Freelancer
You’re hired to drive growth, fix what’s broken, and make everyone look good—oftentimes without full access to the data, the ad accounts, or the team Slack.
You’re making strategic decisions off of screenshots and Shopify sales spikes. You're somehow still expected to prove you’re worth the retainer. Attribution gives you the insight you need to recommend what works and prove that you’re right.
You’re making strategic decisions off of screenshots and Shopify sales spikes. You're somehow still expected to prove you’re worth the retainer. Attribution gives you the insight you need to recommend what works and prove that you’re right.
Why attribution matters for consultants and freelancers:
- Get clarity on what’s driving revenue so you can focus your strategy
- Show clients where they’re wasting money (and how to fix it)
- Prove impact without relying on platform-reported fluff
Consultant Thought: “I can’t fix what I can’t see, and right now, I’m seeing half the picture.”
7) Social Media Manager / Community Manager
You know organic growth is a marathon, not a sprint. When you can see which platforms lead to real conversions, you can run a smarter race.
Attribution helps you connect the dots between the content you’re pushing and the sales that follow.
Attribution helps you connect the dots between the content you’re pushing and the sales that follow.
Why attribution matters for social and community managers:
- See which posts and platforms drive real conversions, not just likes
- Prove the value of top-of-funnel and brand-building content
- Track how organic, paid, and influencer efforts work together
- Use post-purchase survey data to back up what the metrics don’t show
Social Thought: "We’re growing the brand. Now I want to see where that growth turns into sales."
8) Marketing Analyst / Data Team
You’re the person everyone slacks when a number looks weird. You live in Looker, Google Sheets, and five tabs of GA4. You’re constantly reconciling data from ad platforms, Shopify, survey tools, and that rogue spreadsheet someone keeps updating manually.
Attribution isn’t just another metric, it’s the thing that helps you stop firefighting and finally deliver clear, consistent reporting.
Attribution isn’t just another metric, it’s the thing that helps you stop firefighting and finally deliver clear, consistent reporting.
Why attribution matters for data teams and analysts:
- Aligns your ad platform data with what’s happening in the business
- Cuts down on time spent explaining why Meta and Shopify never match
- Centralizes performance data into one trustworthy source
- Makes reporting faster, cleaner, and way less chaotic
Marketing Analyst thought: “If the numbers don’t match, I know I’m about to get five Slack messages.”
9) Lifecycle / Email Marketing Manager
You’re building flows, writing copy, segmenting lists, and trying to send the right message to the right person at the right time, without burning your list.
Your job isn’t just retention, it’s revenue. When credit gets handed out, you need to make sure email and SMS are not left out of the conversation.
Attribution shows how your efforts drive repeat purchases.
Your job isn’t just retention, it’s revenue. When credit gets handed out, you need to make sure email and SMS are not left out of the conversation.
Attribution shows how your efforts drive repeat purchases.
Why attribution matters for lifecycle and retention teams:
- See how email, SMS, and retention flows impact overall revenue
- Understand how your efforts fit into the full customer journey
- Prove that returning customers aren’t just magic, they’re nurtured
- Attribute LTV growth to lifecycle efforts, not just first-click channels
Lifecycle Thought: “We don’t just bring people back, we build long-term value.”
10) Marketing Coordinator / Manager
You’re building the deck, launching the campaign, double-checking the landing page—all before the team meeting. You wear a lot of hats, and somehow you still make it work.
Attribution helps you stay one step ahead. It brings clarity to the moving parts and gives you quick, reliable data to make smart decisions without waiting on someone else’s report.
Attribution helps you stay one step ahead. It brings clarity to the moving parts and gives you quick, reliable data to make smart decisions without waiting on someone else’s report.
Why attribution matters for Marketing Managers and Coordinators:
- Quickly see which campaigns and channels are driving results
- Align content, creative, and media efforts using real data
- Reduce back-and-forth by giving everyone access to the same insights
- Feel confident when you say, “Yeah, this is working. Here’s the proof.”
Marketing Manager Thought: "Attribution helps me connect the dots, even when I’m juggling a million things."
11) Marketing Intern
You’re here to soak it all in, from email campaigns to ad creative to the mysterious world of marketing data. You're shadowing meetings, pulling reports, writing copy, and trying your best not to accidentally break the website.
Attribution is your secret weapon. It helps you understand how everything connects and gives you insight that many marketers take years to figure out. Mention your knowledge of attribution when you start interviewing for your first full-time marketing role, it will surely leave a lasting impression and set you apart from the competition.
Attribution is your secret weapon. It helps you understand how everything connects and gives you insight that many marketers take years to figure out. Mention your knowledge of attribution when you start interviewing for your first full-time marketing role, it will surely leave a lasting impression and set you apart from the competition.
Why attribution matters for interns and early-career marketers:
- Learn how campaigns actually drive results, not just how they’re built
- Understand the full customer journey from first click to final purchase
- Explore data in a way that’s visual and intuitive, not spreadsheet overload
- Ask smarter questions and contribute more meaningfully to the team
Intern Thought: "It’s cool to see real results instead of just tasks on a to-do list."
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