Peter Quadrel's Linkedin Analytics

Meta, Google, TikTok and every other ad channel is misleading you. Third-party attribution tools like Triple Whale and North Beam aren't much better... See, after iOS 14, tracking became harder, leading to a surge in third-party solutions. But these "solutions" provide conflicting data, making it tough to find the truth. So, what is the truth? The only reliable way to measure your marketing efforts is through incrementality tests. These tests answer the question, "What if this channel or ad never existed?" By showing ads to one group and withholding from another, you can measure the true impact on revenue and profit. For example, if you're running Facebook ads and selling on Shopify and Amazon, incrementality tests reveal how Facebook ads impact Amazon sales. Without the initial Facebook touchpoint, an Amazon purchase might not have happened, even though traditional attribution wouldn’t show this. This is why ROAS and third-party attribution aren’t accurate. They use models that can be thwarted by privacy settings and cross-channel purchases. By running incrementality tests, you discover the true impact of your marketing efforts. We ran a 14-day Meta holdout test and found that zip codes shown ads generated 50% more Amazon revenue than those not shown ads, despite sending traffic to Shopify. Now is the perfect time to run these tests. Q1 is calm, free from major holidays that skew results. This is your chance to optimize before we get too deep into the new year. If your brand generates seven figures annually, this should be a top priority to grow profits in Q1.