Cometly
AcademyModule 01 · Foundations
PLG + SLGReportLesson 1.3·7 min read

The Source Attribution report

Every traffic source, every funnel stage, in one table.

If you only build one report inside Cometly, build this one. Source Attribution is the single table that shows every channel’s contribution to every meaningful funnel stage in your business — from spend to closed-won — and it’s the report your team will reference more than anything else.

Why this matters

Most marketing teams stitch this view together manually every week from a half-dozen ad platform exports, a HubSpot dashboard, and a Stripe revenue export. The work takes hours, the numbers never quite reconcile, and the report is out of date the moment it’s built. A live source-attribution report inside Cometly makes that workflow disappear.

Section 01

Building the report

In the Cometly Report Builder, choose Table as the report type, then group by Source. Add Spend as the first column, then walk down your funnel adding one column per meaningful stage — Leads, MQLs, Demos Booked, Demos Attended, Pipeline (SLG) or Trials Started and New Customers (PLG), and finally Revenue and ROAS.

For B2B SLG teams, the most-used columns are Cost per Lead, Cost per MQL, Cost per Demo, Cost per Customer, and Pipeline ROAS. For PLG teams, the must-have columns are Cost per Trial, Cost per Paying Customer, MRR, and LTV ROAS.

  • Group by Source, sort by Revenue or Pipeline descending
  • Filter to paid sources for clean CAC comparisons
  • Add a 'previous period' delta column to spot week-over-week drift
  • Use Last Non-Direct Touch as the default model
  • Save it as a default tab on your team dashboard
Section 02

Reading the report

Scan the report top-down, not left-to-right. The channels with the highest absolute pipeline or MRR are obvious; the more interesting question is which channels have the lowest cost-per-deeper-funnel-event. A channel with mediocre lead volume but excellent cost-per-customer is usually a hidden winner.

Click into any cell to see the underlying contacts, accounts, and full customer journeys. Cometly preserves the source attribution at the individual-contact level, so you can always drill from an aggregate number down to the specific people behind it.

Common pitfalls

What to watch for.

  • Stopping the funnel at form fills

    Cost-per-lead is a vanity metric in B2B. Always include at least one stage past the form fill (MQL or trial converted) before making budget decisions.

  • Comparing paid and organic CAC head-to-head

    Organic doesn’t have a real spend column, so its CAC will always look infinite or zero. Filter to paid-only for CAC comparisons.

  • Letting direct traffic dominate the table

    If 'Direct' is your top row, your pixel isn’t doing its job. Fix the direct-traffic problem (lesson 1.4) before trusting the report.

Key takeaways

Recap.

  • Group rows by Source for a channel-by-channel breakdown
  • Add Spend, Leads, Cost-per-Lead, MQLs, Demos, Pipeline, Revenue, ROAS as columns
  • Filter to paid sources only when comparing CAC across channels
  • Add the previous-period comparison column to spot drift week over week
  • Click any cell to drill into the contacts and customer journeys behind the number
Put it into practice

Build this report inside your own Cometly workspace.

Most lessons can be wired up in a single 30-minute onboarding call. Connect your stack live and walk away with a working dashboard.