User touchpoints are everywhere — in social media, dapps, and websites — working together to drive conversions. Understanding this journey is as important as the destination, and marketing attribution models help measure and optimize each touchpoint. In crypto marketing, Web3 attribution goes further by tracking users' journey mapping with onchain behavior. In this article, we explore the importance of Web3 marketing attribution and how platforms like Formo are transforming onchain analytics.

Key Takeaways

1. Web3 attribution links both Web2 and onchain interactions to give a complete view of the user journey.

2. Wallet addresses are used instead of personal data, enabling privacy-friendly tracking.

3. Attribution models like first-touch, last-touch, linear, and custom help measure what really drives conversions.

4. UTM links + wallet connections + smart contract events = effective onchain attribution flow.

5. Platforms like Formo unify analytics across dApps, social media, websites, and wallets.

Web3 Marketing Attribution helps builders and marketers understand which marketing tactics drive conversions. 

What is Web3 Marketing Attribution?

Web3 Marketing Attribution is an analytics technique that tracks and analyzes user interactions across multiple touchpoints, helping builders and marketers understand which tactics drive conversions. 

These models assess how different channels influence consumer behavior and ROI. Web3 attribution tracks user activity across dapps, smart contracts, and wallets, and integrates offchain data such as website analytics and social media to provide a full picture of the user journey.

Example of a Web3 attribution user journey

For example, in a Web3 game campaign combining Web2 ads with an NFT marketplace, Web3 marketing attribution software tracks the entire user journey — from the ad click to the NFT purchase. This helps marketers measure and optimize ROI.

Why Should We Care About Web3 Marketing Attribution?

Marketing attribution analyzes which channels and content types drive engagement and conversions, helping you to better understand your audience based on real data rather than assumptions.

Example of a Web3 data-driven attribution model

Cross-Platform Insights

With the increasing complexity of user journeys, Web3 attribution integrates onchain data with traditional tracking methods. Web3 attribution provides a unified view of user behavior by monitoring activity across:

• Web2 platforms: Websites, social media, mobile apps

• Web3 environments: Onchain transactions, dApp interactions, token claims, NFT purchases

Understand how both types of data connect your Web2 campaigns with onchain outcomes. The hybrid approach helps builders and marketers gain a comprehensive, data-driven understanding of how users move through the user journey—from discovering a product to making an onchain purchase or interacting with a dApp. 

Privacy-Focused Tracking

Web3 attribution tracks user interactions using wallet addresses instead of PII (personally identifiable information), ensuring users remain in control of their data. Since blockchain transactions are public, transparent, and immutable, marketers can still access valuable audience insights without violating privacy concerns. 

Sharper ROI Measurement

In traditional marketing, connecting ad spending to conversions can be challenging due to fragmented data across multiple platforms. Web3 attribution solves this by linking marketing campaigns directly to onchain and offchain activities. Whether it’s tracking how an ad influences NFT sales, DeFi deposits, or governance token staking, Web3 attribution helps you effectively measure your return on investment (ROI). 

Web3 attribution allows you to map the entire user journey, identify the most effective channels, and adjust your strategies accordingly. Whether a campaign starts with a Web2 ad click and ends with an onchain NFT mint, Web3 attribution helps you understand how every touchpoint contributes to user engagement and conversion.

Web3 Marketing Attribution Models

Web3 attribution is a complex process, but different models can help simplify it, depending on your brand's goals. Models fall into two main types of Web3  marketing attribution: single-touch and multi-touch.

Example of a Web3 data-driven attribution

Web3 First-Touch Attribution

This single-touch model assigns all credit to the user's first interaction with your Web3 project, such as discovering your dApp, engaging with an NFT minting event, or interacting with a DAO. This model is ideal for demand generation and onboarding new users.

Web3 first-touch attribution

Web3 Last-Touch Attribution

This model credits the final touchpoint before conversion, such as connecting a wallet or making a token purchase. It is ideal for driving conversions in token sales, NFT mints, or DeFi protocol deposits.

Web3 last-touch attribution

Web3 Linear Attribution

A multi-touch model that equally distributes credit across all touchpoints in the user’s journey. This method works well for understanding the impact of multiple onchain and offchain interactions.

Web3 linear attribution

Web3 Position-Based Attribution (U-Shaped Model)

This model assigns 40% credit to the first and last touchpoints, with the remaining 20% distributed among all other touchpoints. It’s ideal for projects that need to balance early discovery with final conversion touchpoints.

Web3 position-based attribution

Web3 Custom Attribution 

The most flexible and sophisticated model, custom attribution helps you to define your weighting system based on onchain analytics, engagement metrics, and smart contract interactions. This is perfect for teams with access to advanced analytics tools.

Web3 custom attribution

Key Metrics in Web3 Marketing Attribution

Web3 attribution leverages various metrics to provide insights into user behavior and campaign performance:

• Total Value Locked (TVL): TVL represents the overall value of assets in a DeFi protocol, which can indicate user engagement and trust in the platform.

• Number of Active Wallets: Tracks unique wallet addresses interacting with your dApp, providing insights into your user base.

• Transaction Volume: Monitors onchain transactions, both in terms of quantity and value, to gauge platform usage.

• Time-to-Activation: Measures the time between a user's first interaction and their onchain conversion, providing insights into user journey optimization.

• Attribution by Channel: This metric identifies which marketing channels (Web2 or Web3) drive the most conversions, helping you to allocate resources more effectively.

• User Retention Rate: Tracks the percentage of users who continue to engage with your protocol, indicating long-term success.

• Revenue per User: Measures average revenue per active user, helping you assess your monetization strategy.

Example of Web3 marketing attribution analytics

Let’s say you're the growth lead at a DeFi protocol and you're launching a new staking feature. Your goal is to drive users to stake their tokens through a dApp, and you want to know which marketing channels work.

Here’s how you might approach attribution in a Web3-native way.

Channels Used

You roll out the campaign across 4 different platforms:

1. Twitter/X
   You run a series of promo threads with eye-catching meme creatives and clear CTAs like “Stake now to earn up to 15% APY.”
   → Audience: broad, attention-grabbing

2. Farcaster
   You post a launch announcement on Warpcast, targeting devs, DAO participants, and early adopters who already understand crypto.
   → Audience: crypto-native, niche, influential

3. YouTube
   You sponsor a top DeFi YouTuber to do a full breakdown of your staking product, including how-to instructions and a referral link.
   → Audience: educable, trust-driven, long-form

4. Discord
   You announce the launch organically in your protocol’s server and ping power users.
   → Audience: existing community, loyal but smaller base

Step-by-Step Onchain Attribution Setup

Follow this tracking flow to make sure you can track where staking activity comes from:

1. UTM-Tagged Campaign Links

For each channel, you create custom links that include UTM parameters.

These links ensure that when a user visits your app, the source of the traffic is captured in Web3 marketing attribution tools such as Formo Analytics.

2. Web3 Form or Session Capture

Once a user lands on your staking dApp:

• They connect their wallet to access the staking interface.

• The dApp logs their wallet address and UTM parameters in session storage or your backend.

• Optionally, you can use a Formo form to ask for additional context (e.g., “Where did you hear about us?”) and link that to their wallet address.

This step links anonymous traffic → wallet address → campaign source.

3. Onchain Event Tracking

Finally, you monitor smart contract events for wallet addresses that:

• Approve your staking contract

• Submit a successful stake transaction

• Interact with your protocol in other measurable ways (e.g. claim rewards)

You now map these onchain events back to the original traffic source by matching:

• Wallet address

• Session info with UTM/campaign source

Final Onchain Attribution Report

After a 1-week campaign, your dashboard looks like this:

Onchain Attribution Campaign Insights

Here's what the onchain attribution data tells you:

YouTube

• Conversion rate: 13.5% of visitors staked

• Avg Stake: $500

• Insight: The creator's explanation helped build trust, driving both volume and quality.

Farcaster

• Conversion rate: 15% (highest!)

• Avg Stake: $500

• Insight: Smaller audience but highly aligned. Farcaster users are power users who trust crypto-native launches.

Twitter

• Conversion rate: 10%

• Avg Stake: $400

• Insight: High visibility but lower average stake, showing wider but less committed traffic.

Discord

• Conversion rate: 10%

• Avg Stake: $300

• Insight: Loyal community engaged early but tends to stake smaller amounts—likely already holding or farming elsewhere.

What You Can Do With This Onchain Attribution Data

• Double down on YouTube and Farcaster for future campaigns—high ROI and better conversion.

• Optimize Twitter CTAs and landing page copy to increase commitment.

• Build a CRM or wallet profile system to nurture Discord users toward higher engagement.

• Create a retroactive referral reward: give the YouTuber a bonus based on actual TVL brought in.

Formo's Web3 Data Attribution Analytics

Formo's Web3 Data Attribution Analytics equips product and marketing teams with deep insights into user behavior, enabling them to optimize campaigns, maximize ROI, and drive sustainable growth. By integrating Web2 and Web3 interactions, Formo offers a comprehensive view of the user journey, ensuring your team stays ahead in the Web3 marketing landscape.

Web3 Marketing Attribution is more than just tracking where users come from; it's about understanding onchain behavior, community-driven interactions, and multi-chain engagement. By selecting the right attribution model and adopting best practices, Web3 brands build more effective, data-driven marketing strategies that achieve product-led growth.

Further sources: 

• What is UTM? How It Helps Your Web3 Analytics and Attribution

• The Benefits of Onchain Attribution in Web3 Marketing

• Wallet Analytics: Turbocharge Your Growth with Onchain Data

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter, and join our community to learn how Formo turbocharges growth for leading teams across web3!

Additional FAQs

1. What makes Web3 attribution different from traditional Web2 analytics tools?
Web3 attribution doesn’t rely on cookies or email IDs. It connects behavior through wallet addresses, smart contracts, and public blockchain data.

2. Can I track multi-chain user activity in one place?
Yes, advanced onchain attribution platforms like Formo support multi-chain analytics, allowing you to track user interactions across Ethereum, Base, Polygon, and other networks.

3. How does wallet tracking improve campaign accuracy?
Because wallet interactions are onchain and verifiable, there’s no guesswork. You can attribute staking, minting, or governance actions directly to specific campaigns and sources with high precision.

4. Is it possible to measure organic vs. paid traffic in Web3 campaigns?
Yes. By combining UTM-tagged links, session data, and wallet interactions, you can differentiate organic Discord traffic from paid Farcaster or Twitter ads — even if both users connect wallets later.

5. How can attribution insights inform community-building strategies?
By identifying which touchpoints lead to high-LTV users or retained wallet activity, you can tailor incentives, refine onboarding, and create personalized journeys for each segment (e.g., devs vs. retail users).