A simple change in the attribution model can dramatically shift budget decisions. Explore how different models assign value across a customer journey.

Attributed Revenue

Platforms like Facebook, Google, and TikTok can claim the same sale. Watch how their claims can add up to more than actual revenue. This is why calibration exists.

Ground Truth: Total Sales$100,000
$100k
Facebook Claimed$0
Google Claimed$0
TikTok Claimed$0

Prefer a step-by-step exercise? Open our simple walkthrough ↗

Use past holdout data to calibrate MTA and reveal true campaign impact.

Last Quarter's Holdout Test (Ground Truth)
Actual Conversions (from Test)600
MTA-Attributed Conversions (during Test)800
This Quarter's Attribution (MTA)
Campaign A1,800
Campaign B1,200
Your Calibration Task
Calibrated Campaign A
Calibrated Campaign B
Calibrated Total

When sales and ad spend both rise, it’s easy to assume causation. But is the growth real, or just correlation? This simulation reveals the expensive truth of confusing the two.

Apparent Return on Ad Spend

This view suggests a 17x return, justifying aggressive spending. However, it fails to account for customers who would have converted anyway.

$1,700,000
Observed Revenue
$100,000
Ad Spend
17x
Apparent ROAS

Find where more spend stops working and how long your marketing efforts last.

$500K

Diminishing Returns

As spend increases, each additional dollar brings back less revenue. The aim is to stop before your Marginal ROAS falls too low.

$693K
Total Attributed Revenue
1.39x
Overall ROAS
1.12x
Marginal ROAS
#mmmreadiness

The more you want to learn, the more data you need.

MMM works best when you have time on your side, movement in budgets, and a focused set of questions. The tiles below outline the key signals that indicate readiness for a successful MMM project.

📊

SIGNAL

Historical Data

≥ 2 years of weekly data (or 4-5 years monthly) allows the model to see seasonality and trends.

🔄

SIGNAL

Budget Movement

Flat budgets hide impact. Sensible increases and decreases are required for the model to learn.

🧩

SIGNAL

Focused Questions

Every channel, control, and seasonal factor costs data. Start with a focused scope.

🎯

SIGNAL

Stable KPI

Use a consistent metric like revenue or conversions. Noisy or sparse data may need aggregation.

💰

SIGNAL

Ad Budget

While there's no magic number, MMM becomes more cost-effective as media spend grows ($1M+/yr).

🛠️

SIGNAL

Model Maintenance

Markets change. Plan to retrain your model on a cadence that matches your planning cycles.

A short plan beats a hundred random events. Watch the quick explainer, then sketch your own plan with the interactive builder.

You have tracking. But no shared measurement plan.

No one agrees on goals, events, or what "good" looks like. You want a short, written plan that maps real business outcomes to GA4 and the rest of your stack.

See the difference between scattered tracking and intentional measurement. One creates confusion, the other creates clarity.

Measure everything
Events everywhere, no clear objective
Tracked events
  • page_view
  • scroll_depth
  • cta_click_test
  • signup_old
  • misc_event_01
How the data behaves
page_view ⇄ scroll_depth ⇄ cta_click_test ⇄ signup_old
⇵     ⇵       ⇵        ⇵
Leads ⟻ all events (different definitions)
Bookings ⟻ all events
Revenue ⟻ all events
Everything connects to everything. No one agrees.
  • Leads
  • Bookings
  • Revenue
Without a plan, "measure everything" becomes a tangle. Different events are added "just in case," they all appear to relate to every outcome, and it's hard to agree on what success actually looks like.
Simple measurement plan
Fewer events, a clear path to one outcome
Planned events
  • view_pricing
  • generate_lead
  • booking_confirmed
Measurement objective: See how many visitors reach pricing, become qualified leads, and complete a booking.
Clear event → outcome path
view_pricing → generate_lead → booking_confirmed → Booked customer
GA4 event → GA4 event → GA4 event → Business outcome
One path. One owner. One definition of success.
  • Booked customer (primary outcome)
With a plan, events form a small, intentional graph that answers a specific question. The team agrees on the outcome, each key event has a clear name and purpose, and it's easier to see how changes affect the result.

Answer five quick questions. We'll generate a mini measurement plan and a prioritized implementation table you can export.

Step 1 — Business win
What is the main way this site creates value?
Measurement starts from the business model—not from GA4 menus.
WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOUR MEASUREMENT PLAN
Pick 3-6 primary KPIs
Start with the few that actually move revenue. You can always add more later.
Too many KPIs. Keep to 3-6 for focus.
Translate KPIs into events
For each KPI, here's a suggested event name. Edit to match your naming convention.
KPISUGGESTED GA4 EVENT NAMEOTHER TOOLS
Reality check: Budget and effort
This helps prioritize which events to implement now vs. later.
We have dev time available this quarter
We already use Google Tag Manager
Perfect setup firstFast wins first
IMPLEMENTATION RECOMMENDATIONS
Your mini measurement plan
A summary you can share with your team or use as a starting point.
PLAN SUMMARY
Business Model
Primary KPIs
Implementation Priority
Balanced
EVENT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
KPIEVENT NAMEPRIORITYNOTES

Set your efficiency goal, add your channels, and instantly see which to scale, hold, reduce, or cut.

CPA mode: enter spend and conversions. Lower CPA = better performance.

100%
Decision FrameworkGoal: $100
SCALE
HOLD
REDUCE
CUT
Channel Builder
ChannelCategorySpendConv.CPA

No channels yet. Click "+ Add" to get started.

Contact Us

(813) 922-8725 (8139-CAUSAL)Whether you're interested in discussing potential opportunities, sharing insights about analytics challenges, or simply want to connect over shared interests in causal inference and measurement, I'd love to hear from you.

Thank You

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