US Patent 10395272 Value function-based estimation of multi-channel attributions

Techniques for analyzing marketing channels are described. Users are exposed to the marketing channels. User responses (e.g., purchases and no-purchases) to the exposures are tracked. Upon a request from a marketer to analyze an attribution of a marketing channel, the user responses are analyzed. The attribution represents the credit that the marketing channel should get for influencing the users exposed thereto into exhibiting a particular user response (e.g., a purchase). The analysis involves multiple steps. In a first step, a non-parametric estimation is used to generate a value function at a user-level. In a second step, a coalitional game approach is used to estimate the attribution based on the value function. A response is provided to the marketer with data about the attribution.