Attribution

Attribution Touchpoints records where every contact came from. Inflection stamps three moments on each contact: the first touch that counted, the touch that created the contact, and the most recent touch. Each moment carries its date, source, and campaign parameters, so marketing and sales can answer which campaigns bring in contacts and which keep them engaged. You can see the result on each contact, write it back to Salesforce, and use it in audiences and journeys.

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How Attribution Works

Every contact records three touches: A touchpoint is any event that counts toward attribution, such as a form submission or a website visit with UTM parameters. You choose which activity counts in the Where touchpoints come from section of the settings page.

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Set Up Attribution

Set up parameters and sources first, then turn on stamping. When stamping turns on, Inflection backfills existing contacts from past visits and submissions, and First Touch is set only once. Configuring first avoids stamping values you’ll want to change later.

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Configure Parameters

Parameters are the values Inflection captures from each touch. Each parameter you turn on gets a First Touch, Lead Creation, and Last Touch field on the contact.

1. Navigate to Settings > Attribution Touchpoints.
2. In the Attribution parameters card, use the Stamping switch to turn each parameter on or off.
3. Under Value when missing, select one option for each parameter:
   • Leave the field blank: keeps the field empty when a touch carries no value.
   • Stamp as: enter a fallback value, for example direct for utm_source.

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Standard Parameters

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Add a Custom Parameter

Capture your own URL parameters, such as gclid or partner_id.

1. Click Add parameter.
2. Enter the parameter name. Use 1 to 40 lowercase letters, numbers, or underscores.
3. Click Add.
4. Review the three contact fields that will be created, then click Create parameter.

You can add up to 15 custom parameters.

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Turn Off or Delete a Parameter

• Turn off: switch off Stamping. Its fields stop being stamped until you turn it back on. Stamped values are kept.
• Delete (custom only): click the delete icon on the row. This deletes the parameter’s three contact fields and all their values, and it can’t be undone. If an audience, journey, or other asset uses one of the fields, Inflection lists those assets and blocks the delete until you remove the references.

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Choose Where Touchpoints Come From

The Where touchpoints come from card lists every source that can carry attribution parameters, its status, and how it captures parameters. Status shows Active when the source counts and stamping is on, Ready when stamping is off, and Off when the source doesn’t count.

1. Click the edit icon next to a source’s scope to open its panel.
2. Turn on Include as touchpoints to count activity from this source.
3. Select the scope, if the source has one. For example, for Inflection Forms select All forms, All forms, except the ones you leave out, or Only the forms you choose, then click Choose forms to pick them.
4. Turn on Updates last touch if a newer touch from this source should move Last Touch.
5. Click Save.

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Website Tracking Levels

• First anonymous touch only: only the first visit counts. Later visits still pass their UTMs to forms. At this level, web sessions never move Last Touch.
• Sessions with attribution parameters: every visit with campaign parameters counts. Only visits that carry a stamped parameter move Last Touch.

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Include or Exclude a Single Form

You can also change inclusion from the asset itself. In the form builder, use the Include in attribution switch (Count submissions from this form as touchpoints). The switch stays in sync with the scope in Attribution settings.

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Turn On Stamping

1. In the Attribution stamping card, turn on the switch.
2. In Turn on attribution stamping?, click Turn on.

Attribution fields appear on contacts, and existing contacts are backfilled from past visits and submissions. Progress shows at the top of the page, for example Filling in history: 1,200 of 48,000 contacts. The card shows On since with the date stamping started. To stop, turn off the switch and click Turn off. Stamping stops, and the fields and stamped values are kept.

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Attribution Fields

Each touch gets its own set of contact fields, named <touch>_<attribute>. For example, first_touch_utm_source, lead_creation_utm_source, and last_touch_utm_source. Custom parameters follow the same pattern, for example last_touch_gclid. Fields are created in Unified Mapping and marked Derived field: computed by Attribution Touchpoints. You can’t delete them there or map a form or webhook key to a Last Touch field.

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Send Attribution to Salesforce

Write attribution fields back to Salesforce so sales and reporting teams see the same First Touch, Lead Creation, and Last Touch values. Each attribution field writes to a Salesforce Contact field and a Lead field.

1. Create the target fields on the Contact and Lead objects in Salesforce, if they don’t exist. Use Long Text fields for referral_url, landing_page_url, and source_name.
2. In Inflection, navigate to Unified Mapping > Contact Fields. You can also click Unified Mapping in the Attribution parameters card.
3. Search for the attribution field, for example first_touch_utm_source, and click Edit mapping.
4. Click Add destination and select:
   • Salesforce · write-back + seed for First Touch and Lead Creation fields.
   • Salesforce · write-back only for Last Touch fields.
5. Select the Salesforce Contact and Lead fields to write to.
6. Save the mapping.

The SFDC WRITEBACK column shows On once a destination is set. Fields without one show Off and needs destination.

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Writeback + Seed vs. Writeback Only

Seeding keeps attribution history you already have in Salesforce, for example First Touch values captured by a previous tool. Inflection takes the Salesforce value only while its own field is empty, then owns the field from then on.

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Count a List Upload as a Touchpoint

Use list uploads to record offline touches, such as a tradeshow or webinar list, or to load attribution history from another system.

1. Upload a CSV file. See Importing Contacts.
2. On the mapping step, select Count this upload as a touchpoint. This adds a touchpoint to each contact imported from this file.
3. Enter a Touchpoint name, for example the event name. Leave it blank to use the file name.
4. Select an Event date. Leave it blank to use the upload time. The date can’t be in the future or before 1900.
5. Map your columns and complete the import.

Whether an upload moves Last Touch is set by Updates last touch in the List uploads source panel. The panel also lists Recent CSV uploads and whether each one was counted.

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Load Attribution History From a File

Map CSV columns directly to attribution fields to bring in First Touch, Lead Creation, or Last Touch values from another system.

• Map a date column for each touch you load. For example, map a column to First Touch date when you map First Touch fields.
• For Last Touch fields, map a Last Touch date column, or count the upload as a touchpoint.
• Select Backfill attribution history to also map Source Type and Source Name from your file. They need that touch’s date column. Leave it unselected and they fill in automatically.

An upload counts as a touchpoint when Count this upload as a touchpoint is selected, or when its file has attribution columns mapped.

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Send Attribution Through the API or Journeys

• API: include attribution fields in a contact create or update request. A request counts as a touchpoint only when it sends attribution fields.
• Journeys: use an Update value step to set an attribution field. The step counts as a touchpoint only when it sets attribution fields and the journey is in scope. If the journey doesn’t count, the step shows This journey doesn’t count for attribution, so this field is skipped.

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View Attribution on a Contact

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Attribution Section

Open a contact to see the Attribution section, marked system managed. It shows three columns, First touch, Lead creation, and Last touch, each with the touch date and its parameters, including any custom parameters. You can edit attribution values by hand in edit mode. Last Touch can’t be earlier than First Touch.

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Touchpoints Tab

Click View all touchpoints, or open the Touchpoints tab, to see the contact’s web sessions, form submissions, and webhook events, newest first.

• Each event shows a First touch, Lead creation, or Last touch badge when it set that touch, or Touchpoint when it counted without setting one.
• Events that didn’t count are muted and show why, for example Excluded in your settings, Not selected in your settings, No attribution parameters, or Only the first anonymous touch counts.
• Values set by a list upload, journey step, API call, or manual edit show where they came from, for example Added by a list upload.
• Filter by source with All sources and by date range. The default range is Last 6 months. The header shows the count, for example 1 event · 1 touchpoint.

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Common Use Cases

• Report on the campaigns that create pipeline: write First Touch and Lead Creation to Salesforce and report on them next to opportunities.
• Keep history from a previous tool: use Writeback + seed so existing Salesforce First Touch values carry over, or load history from a CSV with Backfill attribution history.
• Record offline events: upload a tradeshow or webinar list with Count this upload as a touchpoint and the event date.
• Segment by acquisition channel: build audiences on fields such as first_touch_utm_source or lead_creation_utm_campaign.
• Track paid click IDs: add gclid or another key as a custom parameter.

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FAQ

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Additional Resources

• Salesforce
• Importing Contacts
• Inflection Forms
• Inbound Webhooks
• Global UTM Parameters