Your analytics show that Google Search is driving most of your conversions. So you start wondering whether it’s time to cut the TV budget, pull back on radio, and double down on what the data says is working.

Before you do that, let’s talk about final click credit and why over-relying on it is one of the most common and costly mistakes I see businesses make.

What Is Final Click Credit?

Final click credit refers to the platform or channel that gets credited for producing a desired action — a form fill, a phone call, a purchase. In most analytics setups, that credit goes to whatever the customer interacted with last before converting. Usually that’s search. Sometimes it’s social.

The problem isn’t that this data is wrong. The problem is that it’s incomplete. And incomplete data leads to bad decisions.

A Real Client Example

I had a client who was considering cutting their broadcast TV spend. It felt expensive and they weren’t seeing a clear line from TV to conversions in their analytics. They asked me to take a look and give them an outside perspective.

What I noticed was that display ads — which ran as part of their TV strategy — were the fourth leading source of new users to their website. Not a vanity metric. Real traffic from real people.

I asked them two questions. First, why would you consider stopping broadcast TV when you’ve told me multiple times that TV and radio built this business? Second, if the display ads tied to that TV buy are driving that much website traffic, what do you think the commercials themselves are doing to your brand recognition?

They kept the broadcast. They negotiated better pricing and restructured the plan. But they kept it.

Nobody Announces Why They Walked In

Think about the last time you walked into Home Depot. Did you turn to the nearest employee and announce that you came in because you saw their TV commercial last night? Of course not. Your priority as a consumer is whatever you came to buy, not explaining your decision-making process to the business.

That doesn’t mean the commercial didn’t work. It means the commercial did exactly what it was supposed to do — it built enough familiarity and trust that when you needed something, Home Depot was the first place you thought of. Google got the final click credit. The TV commercial did the heavy lifting.

No Single Platform Has 100% of Anyone’s Attention

In one 20-minute drive I might listen to local radio, switch to music on my phone, and then catch a podcast. At home I could be watching TV while scrolling through my phone, jumping over to shop for something online, and keeping one eye on the dog. Nothing has my full attention the entire time.

Your customers are the same way. The idea that you can reach all of them through one channel and measure everything cleanly is a fantasy. A diversified media strategy isn’t wasteful. It’s how you stay visible across the fragmented ways people actually consume content.

The Right Way to Think About Marketing Budget

Use your analytics to make informed decisions. Don’t use them to justify cutting anything that doesn’t show a direct, trackable return. Some of the most valuable marketing you do will never show up cleanly in a last-click report.

If the biggest brands in the world still invest in traditional media despite near-universal name recognition, there’s a reason. Your local or regional business operates on a smaller scale, but the same principles apply. Keep showing up. Keep building the brand. And don’t let incomplete data talk you out of what’s actually working.