Articles
Clear thinking on marketing measurement, from first principles to advanced implementation.
47 articles on marketing measurement.
What Is Ad Attribution? A Plain-English Explanation
Ad attribution is the process of assigning credit to the ads and channels that contributed to a conversion. Here's how it works, where it breaks down, and what to do about it.
Nov 12, 2025 · 6 min read
StrategyMarketing Measurement Without a Data Team
You don't need data scientists or a warehouse to measure marketing more accurately. Here's a practical approach for teams without technical resources.
Nov 5, 2025 · 8 min read
StrategyHow SaaS Companies Should Measure Marketing (It's Different from E-commerce)
SaaS marketing measurement has unique challenges: long sales cycles, product-led growth loops, freemium conversion, and MRR/ARR as the real metric. Here's how to approach it.
Oct 29, 2025 · 9 min read
StrategyMarketing Measurement for E-commerce: What Actually Works
E-commerce brands face a specific set of measurement challenges. Here's how to build a measurement approach that gives you real answers on performance, attribution, and incrementality.
Oct 22, 2025 · 9 min read
FoundationsThe Complete Guide to Marketing Measurement
Marketing measurement is the practice of understanding what your advertising actually does. This guide covers every major method, when to use each, and how to build a measurement approach that gives you real answers.
Oct 15, 2025 · 16 min read
FoundationsWhat Is Marketing Analytics? (A Practical Definition)
Marketing analytics is the practice of measuring, managing, and analyzing marketing data to improve decisions. Here's what it actually covers, how it differs from reporting, and where most teams go wrong.
Oct 8, 2025 · 6 min read
FoundationsWhat Is ROAS? (Return on Ad Spend, Explained)
ROAS is the most commonly used metric in performance marketing. Here's what it measures, how to calculate it, and why it often overstates how well your ads are actually working.
Oct 1, 2025 · 5 min read
FoundationsWhat Is Marketing ROI? (And How to Actually Measure It)
Marketing ROI sounds simple: return on marketing investment. In practice, measuring it correctly is harder than it looks. Here's a clear breakdown of the different ways to calculate it and which one to use.
Sep 24, 2025 · 6 min read
AttributionWhy Your Google Ads Attribution Is Probably Wrong
Google Ads attribution has real limitations that most advertisers don't fully understand. Here's what it measures, what it misses, and how to calibrate it.
Sep 17, 2025 · 7 min read
IncrementalityAre You Wasting Money on Retargeting?
Retargeting almost always shows great attributed ROAS. That doesn't mean it's efficient. Here's how to tell whether your retargeting spend is driving incremental sales or just taking credit for them.
Sep 10, 2025 · 7 min read
FoundationsWhy Your ROAS Keeps Fluctuating (And What It's Actually Telling You)
Your ROAS goes up and down week by week without obvious cause. Before you blame the algorithm, here's what's actually driving those swings.
Sep 3, 2025 · 6 min read
FoundationsHow to Know If Your Facebook Ads Are Actually Working
Facebook's dashboard will almost always show positive results. Here's how to verify whether those results are real, using methods that don't rely on Meta's own reporting.
Aug 27, 2025 · 8 min read
FoundationsWhy Your Ad Results Don't Add Up (And What to Do About It)
You're running ads across multiple platforms and the numbers don't make sense. Facebook claims it drove the sale. Google claims it drove the sale. Your actual revenue doesn't match. Here's why.
Aug 20, 2025 · 7 min read
StrategyWhy Most Marketers Misread Their ROAS
ROAS is the most common metric in performance marketing, and one of the most misunderstood. Here's why reported ROAS systematically overstates advertising effectiveness, and what to track instead.
Aug 13, 2025 · 7 min read
StrategyThe Marketing Measurement Stack for 2025: MMM, Attribution, and Incrementality
What a modern marketing measurement stack actually looks like, combining MMM, attribution, and incrementality testing, and how to build one at different budget levels.
Aug 6, 2025 · 9 min read
MMMHow to Make the Business Case for Media Mix Modeling to Your CFO
Getting budget approval for MMM requires translating measurement methodology into financial language. Here's how to frame the ROI case, and what objections to prepare for.
Jul 30, 2025 · 7 min read
StrategyPrivacy-First Marketing Measurement: What Cookieless Actually Means in Practice
Third-party cookies are disappearing, iOS privacy changes have reshaped tracking, and the measurement landscape is shifting. Here's what actually changes, and what doesn't.
Jul 23, 2025 · 8 min read
IncrementalityIs Your Retargeting Actually Working? The Incrementality Problem Nobody Talks About
Retargeting campaigns almost always show strong attributed ROAS. That doesn't mean they're actually driving incremental sales. Here's why, and how to find out.
Jul 16, 2025 · 7 min read
AttributionWhy Platform Attribution Is Self-Serving (And What to Do About It)
Every major ad platform reports its own attribution data. Here's why that's a fundamental conflict of interest, and how to build a measurement strategy that doesn't rely on it.
Jul 9, 2025 · 7 min read
AttributionWhat Is Unified Marketing Measurement (UMM)?
Unified marketing measurement (UMM) combines media mix modeling and multi-touch attribution into a single framework, aiming to capture both strategic and tactical measurement insights.
Jul 2, 2025 · 6 min read
IncrementalityWhat Is a Geo Experiment in Marketing?
A geo experiment measures advertising effectiveness by comparing business outcomes in geographic markets where advertising ran vs. markets where it didn't.
Jun 25, 2025 · 5 min read
AttributionB2B Marketing Attribution: Why It's Hard and How to Do It Properly
B2B attribution is harder than B2C because sales cycles are long, buying committees are large, and most touchpoints happen offline. Here's how to approach it.
Jun 20, 2025 · 11 min read
AttributionCookieless Attribution: How to Measure Marketing Without Third-Party Cookies
Third-party cookies are gone from most browsers. Here's what cookieless attribution actually looks like and which methods still work.
Jun 20, 2025 · 10 min read
AttributionMulti-Touch Attribution: How to Give Credit Across the Full Customer Journey
Multi-touch attribution distributes conversion credit across every touchpoint in the customer journey. Here's how the models work and where they break down.
Jun 20, 2025 · 12 min read
AttributionProbabilistic Attribution: What It Is and When It's Worth Using
Probabilistic attribution uses statistical modeling to assign credit without deterministic user IDs. Here's how it works and what its limits are.
Jun 20, 2025 · 9 min read
MMMWhat Is Adstock? (Advertising Carryover Effects in Media Mix Modeling)
Adstock describes how the effects of advertising persist and decay over time after the ads stop running. It's a key concept in media mix modeling.
Jun 18, 2025 · 5 min read
IncrementalityWhat Is iROAS? (Incremental Return on Ad Spend, Explained)
iROAS (incremental return on ad spend) measures the revenue generated by conversions your advertising actually caused, not conversions that would have happened without the ads.
Jun 11, 2025 · 5 min read
StrategyHow to Set Up Marketing Triangulation at Your Company (A Practical Guide)
Marketing triangulation combines MMM, incrementality testing, and attribution into a coherent measurement strategy. Here's how to actually implement it, from first steps to full framework.
Jun 4, 2025 · 10 min read
IncrementalityHow to Calculate iROAS (Incremental Return on Ad Spend)
iROAS measures the return on advertising spend from conversions that your ads actually caused, not conversions that would have happened anyway. Here's how to calculate it and why it matters.
May 28, 2025 · 7 min read
MMMHow to Read an MMM Output (Without a Data Scientist Explaining It to You)
Media mix modeling outputs can be intimidating. Here's how to interpret the key charts and numbers, and what questions to ask if something looks off.
May 21, 2025 · 10 min read
IncrementalityHow to Design a Holdout Test for Paid Social (Step-by-Step)
A holdout test measures the incrementality of your paid social advertising by comparing a group that sees your ads to a matched group that doesn't. Here's how to design one that actually works.
May 14, 2025 · 9 min read
IncrementalityHow to Run a Geo Experiment: A Step-by-Step Guide for Marketers
Geo experiments let you measure the true business impact of advertising by comparing matched geographic markets. Here's how to design, run, and interpret one correctly.
May 7, 2025 · 11 min read
AttributionNorthbeam vs. Triple Whale: An Honest Comparison for DTC Brands
Northbeam and Triple Whale are two of the most popular attribution tools for DTC and e-commerce brands. Here's how they compare, and what neither can fully solve.
Apr 30, 2025 · 9 min read
MMMBayesian vs. Frequentist Media Mix Modeling: What the Difference Actually Means
Most modern MMM tools use Bayesian statistics. Here's what that means in practice, and why it matters for the quality of your model.
Apr 23, 2025 · 8 min read
AttributionLast-Click vs. Data-Driven Attribution: What Actually Changes When You Switch
Data-driven attribution is promoted as a significant upgrade over last-click. But what actually changes when you switch, and does it solve the real problems with attribution?
Apr 16, 2025 · 8 min read
MMMGoogle Meridian vs. Meta Robyn: Choosing an Open-Source MMM in 2025
Both Google Meridian and Meta Robyn are free, open-source Bayesian media mix modeling tools. Here's how they compare, and which one to choose.
Apr 9, 2025 · 9 min read
AttributionMMM vs. Incrementality Testing vs. Attribution: How They Differ and When to Use Each
Media mix modeling, incrementality testing, and attribution measure marketing performance in fundamentally different ways. Here's what each method does, where it breaks down, and how to choose.
Apr 2, 2025 · 10 min read
AttributionAttribution Modeling: The Complete Guide for Marketing Teams
Attribution models assign credit to marketing touchpoints along the customer journey. Here's what each model measures, where each breaks down, and how to use attribution data without misleading yourself.
Mar 26, 2025 · 12 min read
IncrementalityIncrementality Testing: The Complete Guide
Incrementality testing is the most rigorous way to prove whether your advertising is actually driving conversions, or just taking credit for sales that would have happened anyway.
Mar 19, 2025 · 13 min read
MMMMMM: The Complete Guide to Media Mix Modeling for Marketers
MMM (media mix modeling) uses statistical analysis to measure how each marketing channel contributes to sales, without cookies or user tracking. Everything you need to know.
Mar 12, 2025 · 15 min read
StrategyThe Complete Guide to Marketing Triangulation
Marketing triangulation combines media mix modeling, incrementality testing, and attribution to give you an honest picture of what your advertising actually does. Here's how to use all three together.
Mar 5, 2025 · 14 min read
FoundationsGA4's Limitations: What Every Marketer Needs to Know
GA4 is better than Universal Analytics in some ways and worse in others. Here's what it can't tell you, and why you shouldn't build your measurement strategy around it alone.
Feb 26, 2025 · 6 min read
FoundationsWhy Last-Click Attribution Is Misleading (and What Actually Happens)
Last-click attribution is still the default in most marketing stacks. Here's why it systematically misleads you, and what to use instead.
Feb 19, 2025 · 6 min read
FoundationsAttribution Models Explained: First-Touch, Last-Touch, Multi-Touch, and Everything In Between
A clear breakdown of the main attribution models, what they measure, where they break down, and how to use them without fooling yourself.
Feb 12, 2025 · 10 min read
FoundationsIncrementality Testing: How to Prove Your Ads Are Actually Working
Incrementality testing is the most rigorous way to measure whether your advertising is driving real incremental conversions, or just taking credit for sales that would have happened anyway.
Feb 5, 2025 · 9 min read
FoundationsWhat Is MMM? Media Mix Modeling Explained for Marketers
MMM (media mix modeling) uses statistical analysis of historical data to measure how each marketing channel contributes to business outcomes, no cookies required.
Jan 22, 2025 · 8 min read
FoundationsWhat Is Marketing Triangulation? A Framework for Honest Marketing Measurement
Marketing triangulation combines MMM, incrementality testing, and attribution to give you a complete picture of what's actually driving your business results.
Jan 15, 2025 · 7 min read