# Old vs New Touchpoint Setup
## Old vs New Touchpoint Setup
When migrating to the new Touchpoints system, you may notice differences in how attribution is calculated across reports. This guide explains *what changed*, *why it changed*, and *how to explain the differences* to teammates when questions come up.
The two primary differences are:
1. **How Website Touchpoints are counted**
2. **How Touchpoint Types are used in attribution**
***
### Website Touchpoints
#### How Website Touchpoints Worked Previously
Historically, website touchpoints were centered around the **Action Type: `Start-Session`**.
You could identify these touchpoints by navigating to one of the core UTM-based properties (e.g. `UTM Source`, `UTM Medium`, `UTM Campaign`). These properties were populated at the session level and typically looked like this:
While simple, this approach introduced several limitations.
#### Limitations of the Old Model
**Channels and Assets Were Disconnected**
Because **Website Page** was built on the `enter-page` action—but attribution relied on `start-session`—it was impossible to create reports that connected **Assets + Channels**.
For example, answering the question:
> *“Which assets and channels drove MQLs this quarter?”*
was not possible in a single report using the old setup.
**All Sessions Were Weighted Equally**
A session with a single page view was credited the same as a session with 15 page views. This made it difficult to accurately reflect true engagement.
#### How Website Touchpoints Work Now
In the new Touchpoints system, **each individual `enter-page` action is attributed as its own touchpoint**.
This means:
* Every meaningful page entry is counted
* Asset and channel data stay connected
* Engagement depth is better represented
This is now the default behavior of the Touchpoints builder.
> :information\_source: **Important**\
> Because website touchpoints are now based on `enter-page` instead of `start-session`, attribution reports created with the old Channel model will **not match 1:1** with reports built using the new Touchpoints system.
>
> While the difference is subtle, it *will* impact reporting and should be considered when referencing existing reports.
***
### Attribution modelling
The second major change is how attribution scope is determined behind the scenes.
#### How Attribution Worked Previously
In the old model, **only the properties explicitly included in a report** were used to calculate attribution.
**Example**
Imagine a simple MQL report attributed to:
* Channel
* Campaign
Attribution was calculated **only within the scope of those two properties**.
This approach was straightforward—but it had an important edge case.
#### The Problem
If you removed **Channel** and attributed **only to Campaign**, attribution scope was reduced to Campaign alone:
**Why This Was an Issue**
Consider the following scenario:
* **1 MQL**
* **4 touchpoints**:
* Event
* Organic Search
* Organic Social
* Paid Search – Google
**With Channel + Campaign (Linear Attribution)**
Each touchpoint receives **25% of the credit**, which is expected:
**With Campaign Only (Linear Attribution)**
Organic touchpoints do not have associated campaigns. As a result:
* Organic Search and Organic Social are excluded
* Paid Search – Google and Events each receive **50% of the credit**
This led to **over-attribution** toward touchpoints that happened to include Campaign data.
This was an easy report to configure—and an easy way to produce misleading results.
#### How Attribution Works Now
In the new Touchpoints system, **Touchpoint Types always define attribution scope**.
As long as a Touchpoint Type is:
* Defined in Touchpoints
* Enabled for attribution
It will be included in attribution **regardless of which properties appear in the report**.
#### Result
Revisiting the same example:
* Event
* Organic Search
* Organic Social
* Paid Search – Google
Even if your report only includes **Campaign**, attribution is still calculated across **all four touchpoint types**, assuming they are enabled.
This makes it impossible to accidentally exclude valid touchpoints and ensures attribution remains consistent, accurate, and intentional.
***
### Summary
| Area | Old Behavior | New Behavior |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------- | -------------------------------- |
| Website Touchpoints | Session-based (`start-session`) | Page-entry-based (`enter-page`) |
| Attribution Scope | Limited to selected properties | Always based on Touchpoint Types |
| Reporting Risk | Easy to misconfigure | Guardrails by default |
The new Touchpoints system is designed to produce **more accurate attribution**, **better asset-level insight**, and **safer reporting defaults**—even when reports are configured incorrectly.
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