Attribution window

Written by Hylke Reitsma, co-founder of TouchDrop

An attribution window is the time period after a marketing touchpoint during which a customer action (typically a purchase) is counted as a conversion attributed to that touchpoint.

In direct mail, the attribution window starts when the postcard is expected to arrive and ends after a set number of days. TouchDrop estimates arrival as the ship date plus transit time, 5 days by default. Any order placed by the recipient within that window can be counted as an attributed conversion.

Why attribution windows matter

Direct mail has a longer consideration cycle than a Google ad or an abandoned cart email. A postcard might sit on a customer's bench for two weeks before they act on it. A short attribution window (7 days) would miss most of these conversions. A window that's too long (180+ days) would attribute purchases that had nothing to do with the postcard.

The right window reflects the typical time between receiving a postcard and making a purchase for your specific product category.

TouchDrop's attribution window

TouchDrop uses a 60-day attribution window by default. This reflects the average time direct mail campaigns take to realise their full conversion effect, based on industry data across postcard marketing programs. A redemption of the card's unique discount code counts whenever it happens. Orders matched by customer email or shipping address count when placed within the window.

When do postcard orders arrive?

Across three win-back sends (1,901 cards in Australia and the UK, April to July 2026), the first QR scans came 3 to 5 days after lodgement. 23 orders used the card's discount code: 10 within 14 days of lodgement, a median of 15 days, 21 within 30 days and the last on day 39. Give a campaign at least a month before you judge it; TouchDrop's 60-day attribution window exists for this reason.

Attribution caveats

Attribution windows don't account for customers who would have purchased anyway. A customer who receives a win-back postcard and buys the following day might have been on the verge of purchasing regardless of the postcard. This is why measuring against a control group (customers who weren't mailed) is the most rigorous approach — though it requires a larger volume of sends to produce statistically meaningful results.