Analytics & Attribution

Incrementality

Quick definition

The revenue that would not have happened without a specific marketing channel running. The cleanest measure of true channel value.

What it actually means

Incrementality testing isolates the causal contribution of a channel by holding it out in some markets or audiences and measuring the revenue gap. Common methods: geo holdouts (turn off Meta in 5 states for 4 weeks), conversion lift studies (Meta/Google native tools), and PSA tests (replace ads with public service announcements for a control group). Real incrementality is usually 30-60% lower than last-click attribution suggests — meaning most brands overestimate paid-media value and underestimate organic/brand contribution.

Related terms

Attribution

The model used to assign credit for a conversion across the marketing touchpoints that influenced it.

MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio)

Total revenue divided by total marketing spend across all channels. The cleanest profitability proxy at the business level.

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