Insights
Beyond Last Click: How Pipeline Influence Reveals What’s Driving Revenue
Ryan McMillan
Last-click attribution tells a simple story. Someone clicks and converts and the job’s done. But B2B buying cycles are more complicated than that, as they involve multiple decision-makers consuming content over months of consideration.
Research shows that B2B SaaS companies need an average of 266 touchpoints to close a deal, so when you attribute a conversion to a single click, you’re ignoring all the other interactions that shaped the decision.
At Atlas, we've been deepening our ABM tech stack and leaning harder into pipeline influence as a key success metric. It helps us pinpoint the channels that are actually having an impact on new revenue, not just the ones capturing credit at the finish line.
We showed how much these insights can sharpen a growth engine when we worked with a US enterprise-focused B2B SaaS client that had around $30m revenue.
Deep visibility consistently led to stronger commercial outcomes for our client, which became clear after we introduced impression factors to separate light exposure (3+ impressions) from meaningful exposure (50+ impressions).
Accounts with 50+ impressions converted at 2–3x higher rates and generated 2–3x larger ACVs across every quarter we analysed.
To reflect how deals actually unfold, we used a six-month lookback window for each quarter, which meant mapping exposure to the real buying journey.
When we did this, the pattern became obvious: LinkedIn was influencing 20–55% of the total pipeline depending on the quarter.
We also created a high-exposure factor to isolate accounts that were commercially meaningful, not just active. This showed a narrow band of deeply exposed accounts driving 40–55% of revenue across multiple periods.
And the pattern held across every analysis. Greater LinkedIn exposure led to more deals, bigger deals and a larger share of pipeline.
If you're a venture-backed company pushing into new markets, your investors want to see efficient growth. They're scrutinising your LTV:CAC ratios and asking tough questions about marketing spend.
Last-click attribution makes those conversations harder. When you just credit the final touchpoint (which is often a low-effort retargeting ad or branded search click), you’re forgetting about the months of brand building and nurturing that influenced the decision.
A typical buying group for a complex B2B solution involves 6–10 decision-makers, with each of them consuming different content at different times. Single-touch attribution can’t capture that reality.
Pipeline influence measurement changes the conversation. Instead of defending channels that don’t convert, you can show how awareness investments contribute directly to revenue outcomes.
As we get ready to bring a full ABM offering to market in 2026, we're doubling down on smarter exposure modelling, clearer influence measurement and a tech stack built around pipeline impact instead of form fills.
If you’re keen to understand what’s actually driving your pipeline (not just who clicked last), let’s chat about how pipeline influence measurement could work for your business.
This article draws on insights from a recent client engagement. For more on how we help tech companies scale, explore our case studies.
