Matomo attributes conversions to the last seen referrer by default. How do I credit conversions to the first referrer instead?

When visitors convert a Goal, Matomo (Piwik) tries to attribute the conversion to the referrer that brought the visit to the site. Matomo will credit each Goal conversion to the last non empty referrer used by the visitor (ie. the last time the visitor came to the website with a referrer that was not a direct entry). In some cases several referrers can lead a same visitor to your website (eg. Search engines, Newsletter link).

Matomo default attribution model lets you choose whether to credit the conversion to the first referrer used or the last referrer used. If you need better visibility of all your channels touched during the customer journey, you can use the premium feature for multi channels attribution reporting.

Attribute conversions to the first referrer instead

To attribute the Goal conversion to the first referrer used instead of the last one, edit your Matomo Javascript Tracking code and add the following line just before the call to trackPageView:

_paq.push(['setConversionAttributionFirstReferrer', true]);

Multi Channel Attribution

Want to know the true value of all your marketing channels including all individual referrers?
Matomo lets you apply attribution models using the Multi Channel Conversion Attribution premium feature. Looking at only the first or the last referrer usually doesn’t let you know which channel is actually the most successful. Why? When a user visits your website several times, you only look at either the first or the last channel. However, you don’t give any credit to all other referrers the same user has used to visit your website. With the multi attribution feature, you can for example choose to give each referrer the same weight or to give all credit to the last non-direct referrer.