By Ali Orlando Wert, Databox
For years, marketing attribution felt deceptively simple. You install Google Analytics, categorize a few traffic sources, and trust the numbers to tell you what's working.
But as ClearPivot founder and Principal Chris Strom shared with us recently on the Databox podcast, reality is much messier.
Chris and the ClearPivot team have evolved their approach to attribution reporting, and we’ve implemented similar practices at Databox. With the relatively simple addition of self attribution reporting, our teams have uncovered the true (and often surprising) origins of the best leads.
Marketing Attribution Has Changed—Have You?
For agencies and organizations in the 2000s, Google Analytics and similar web analytics tools drove the default approach to marketing attribution reporting. That meant your top lead sources were likely to be:
- Organic search
- Direct traffic
- Referrals
Even with the rising popularity of multi-touch attribution reporting, the foundational analytics were often rooted in website tracking.
Makes sense, right? The trouble was, it was also incomplete.
"Google Analytics set the paradigm for how marketers thought about sourcing. But it doesn't capture the full journey," Chris explained.
In fact, Chris noticed the same pattern across companies, industries, and company sizes:
- 40% of traffic showing up as "direct" (with no known source).
- 30% as "organic," much of it actually brand-related search rather than new SEO wins.
With higher numbers of users blocking cookies plus the proliferation of “dark social,” that 40% of traffic coming from “direct” begins to look like a big black box. (And we all know that’s not thousands of people hand-typing in our company URL every month).
The result? Marketers were flying blind and making budget decisions based on surface-level traffic insights into lead sources. That’s never where we want to be.
The Shift: Trust the Customer's Words, Not Just the Traffic
ClearPivot's turning point came when they added a simple question to their forms:
"How did you hear about us?"
No dropdowns. No biasing answers. Just an open text field.
It unlocked a different view entirely:
- Word-of-mouth and personal referrals emerged as massive lead sources.
- Local signage and foot traffic—sources invisible to web analytics—were driving material pipeline for certain businesses.
- Directory sites, which looked like lead engines in volume, delivered dismal close rates under 2%.
Chris shared one story where a client thought 60-70% of their leads were gold because they came from directories. Only after layering in self-attribution data did they realize that leads from community referrals, not directories, were their highest-closing lead source.
ClearPivot learned a vital lesson:
"Attribution isn't just about where a lead technically clicked in. It's about understanding the real-world event that triggered their journey."
Building an Attribution System That Reflects Reality
ClearPivot’s evolved model looks something like this:
- Collect self-reported attribution at the point of lead capture.
- Categorize responses internally into structured lead source fields.
- Blend self-reported and web data—using the best available insight rather than relying on one source alone.
- Extend attribution to deals (not just leads) to tie efforts to closed revenue.
It’s not complicated. But it’s powerful.
It turns attribution from a “channel report” into an insight engine for strategic investment decisions.
How Databox is Applying These Lessons
At Databox, we've embraced similar principles—and the insights have been eye-opening.
By adding a “How did you hear about us?” open-text field to our free trial onboarding, we discovered:
- A 67% increase in people citing AI tools as their discovery path.
- A 60% increase in leads coming through word-of-mouth referrals.
- Confirmation that LinkedIn, past customers, and community content were quietly driving a significant share of ICP signups.
Without self-attribution reporting, we would have missed all of that.
It’s changed how we evaluate campaign effectiveness, and where we invest in brand, partnerships, and community initiatives going forward.
The Takeaway: Attribution Needs to Evolve Alongside Buyer Behavior
Today’s buyers are influenced by a thousand touchpoints: Slack messages, LinkedIn posts, conference mentions, dark social channels.
No web analytics tool will ever perfectly capture that. And that's okay—if you're listening directly to your audience.
"You’ll never fully know what drove a deal just by looking at a source field. But if you ask—and listen—you'll start to see the patterns that matter." — Chris Strom
Attribution today isn’t about perfect tracking. It's about better listening.
Want to Learn More?
- Watch the full episode featuring Chris Strom
- Listen to the podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
- Explore 200+ free Databox dashboard examples & templates
Author Bio
Ali Orlando Wert is the Director of Content & Brand at Databox, where she helps mid-sized businesses leverage data to drive better performance faster. She specializes in content marketing, messaging strategy, and storytelling that simplifies complex ideas.
