Last-click attribution is the simplest rule for deciding who gets credit for a sale: the last click wins. If a shopper clicked a creator’s link and bought within the attribution window, the creator is credited. If the shopper clicked something else after that, the credit moves. Google Analytics describes its paid and organic last click model as giving the last channel clicked before conversion all of the credit, ignoring direct traffic (Google). Affiliate programs often say the same in plain words; Notion’s program states that commissions are paid on a last-click basis (Notion).
The rule has two parts: which touch counts, and how far back to look. The look-back is the attribution window. Meta’s ad set setting, for example, defaults to a 7-day click window with a 1-day view window alongside (Meta).
Example. A shopper watches a creator’s video on Tuesday, taps the creator’s link, and leaves. On Friday they search the brand’s name, click the first result, and buy. Under last click, the search click is credited and the creator gets nothing. If the shopper used the creator’s discount code at checkout, code-based attribution credits the creator anyway. Example, not a rule every store follows.
When brands use it. The pain this answers: “I have no idea which creator actually drove sales.” Most stores use last click because it is easy to run and hard to game. The cost is that it undercounts creators, who often start the journey and rarely end it. The mismatch shows up in public: a brand on X, happy with its creator program, still notes that “Meta doesn’t see Trybe attribution, it sees last click attribution” (X, 29 Oct 2026). Decide which count pays the creator before the campaign starts.
The creator’s view. Before taking a share-of-sales deal, a creator should ask three questions: which touch counts (click, code, or either), how long the window is, and whether app checkouts and in-store purchases are tracked at all. Codes are the creator’s safety net under last click.
On HourlyUGC. When HourlyUGC counts sales itself, it uses last touch within 7 days, with creator links and codes, read from a connected Shopify store or HourlyUGC‘s pixel. When the brand counts sales on Meta, Meta’s attribution setting applies.