Know which marketing actually pays.
36 plain-English guides to attribution, return on ad spend, privacy changes and client reporting. Every statistic links to where it came from.
All articles
- Platforms
A Google Ads conversion-tracking checkup for small businesses
A plain-English Google Ads conversion tracking audit: check primary actions, counting, duplicate tags, enhanced conversions and consent before you trust CPA.
3 min read · 8.6% sales uplift in Search that ASOS recorded with…
- Platforms
Amazon Ads ACoS and TACoS explained
Amazon ACoS and TACoS explained in plain English: the formulas, how to find your break-even ACoS from profit margin, and why TACoS shows the bigger picture.
3 min read · $19.8B Amazon advertising services revenue in Q2 2026
- Attribution
Attribution windows explained (and how they change your numbers)
Attribution windows explained: default click and view windows on Google Ads, GA4, Meta and TikTok, how they change reported sales, and how to choose one.
3 min read · 90 days Default Google Analytics 4 lookback window for…
- Agencies & reporting
Automated marketing reports: what to automate and what to read yourself
Automated marketing reports done right: what to hand to software, when to schedule it so the data is complete, and which judgments still need a person.
3 min read · 15 hours for Google Ads conversion data under non-last-…
- Metrics
Blended ROAS and marketing efficiency ratio (MER) explained
Marketing efficiency ratio (MER) and blended ROAS explained: how to calculate MER from real revenue and total spend, and why it beats adding up platform ROAS.
3 min read · 62.6% Share of total media spend going to awareness …
- Metrics
Break-even ROAS: the number every advertiser should know
How to calculate break-even ROAS from your contribution margin, with a worked example and margin table, so you know the minimum ROAS an ad campaign must hit.
3 min read · 56.88% Average gross margin for US apparel companies,…
- Agencies & reporting
Client reporting that agencies can stand behind
An agency client reporting guide: how to build monthly reports clients trust, separate platform claims from verified sales, and disclose fees honestly.
3 min read · 39% of CMOs plan to cut back on agency budgets (Ga…
- Privacy & tracking
Consent, GDPR and Consent Mode: what advertisers need to know
Consent Mode and GDPR explained for advertisers: why cookie consent matters, basic vs. advanced Consent Mode, what v2 added, and how modeling fills the gaps.
3 min read · 54% of EU internet users refused to allow use of p…
- Strategy
Conversion rate basics: small fixes that make ad spend work harder
Conversion rate basics for small businesses: how to measure it honestly, where shoppers drop off, and small site fixes that make every ad dollar go further.
3 min read · 70.22% average documented online cart abandonment rat…
- Metrics
Cost per lead: how to measure it and what moves it
Cost per lead explained: how to calculate CPL, 2026 search ad benchmarks by industry, and why cost per qualified lead matters more than the cheapest leads.
3 min read · $66.69 Average cost per lead for search advertising i…
- Metrics
Customer acquisition cost: how to calculate the real number
How to calculate customer acquisition cost (CAC) honestly: which costs to include, why ad spend alone understates it, and how to count only real new customers.
3 min read · 24.5% Labor's share of total marketing budgets in 20…
- Metrics
Customer lifetime value without the jargon
Customer lifetime value (CLV) in plain English: a simple formula using your own sales records, why to use profit not revenue, and how CLV sets your ad budget.
3 min read · 5–25x How much more it can cost to acquire a new cus…
- Privacy & tracking
First-party data: why your own records are your best measurement
A plain-English first-party data strategy: what counts as first-party data, why it beats ad platform reports, what the research shows, and how to earn trust.
3 min read · 2.9x maximum revenue lift for brands using first-pa…
- Platforms
How to measure email marketing ROI
How to measure email marketing ROI when open rates are unreliable: the formula, which costs to include, and how to tie clicks to real orders with UTM tags.
3 min read · 76.56% of email opens tracked by Litmus came from App…
- Agencies & reporting
How to reconcile ad platform data with your Stripe or store sales
How to reconcile ad platform data with Stripe or store sales: line up dates, currencies, refunds and fees so you can see how many claimed sales really happened.
3 min read · 2.9% + 30¢ Stripe's standard US fee per successful domest…
- Strategy
How to split a small marketing budget across channels
Marketing budget allocation for small businesses: how to split a limited budget across channels, keep a test fund, and move money based on verified sales.
3 min read · 7.7% of company revenue went to marketing budgets i…
- Attribution
How to test whether your ads actually cause sales
An incrementality testing guide for small firms: holdout, geo and pause tests that show whether your ads cause sales, plus how to read the results honestly.
3 min read · 1% to 50% Holdback size you can set in a Google Ads Conv…
- Attribution
Last-click vs. multi-touch attribution: which should you trust?
Last-click vs. multi-touch attribution compared in plain English: how each splits credit, where each misleads, and how small firms can pick one and check it.
3 min read · <3% Share of Google Ads web conversions using the …
- Attribution
Marketing attribution explained for small businesses
What is marketing attribution? A plain-English guide for small businesses to attribution models, lookback windows and which ads really earned the sale.
3 min read · <3% Share of Google Ads web conversions using firs…
- Attribution
Marketing mix modeling for businesses without a data team
Marketing mix modeling explained simply: what MMM is, how much data it needs, why small budgets struggle with it, and a lighter version any business can run.
3 min read · 2 years minimum weekly history Google recommends for a…
- Platforms
Measuring the return on organic social media
How to measure organic social media ROI for a small business: count your real costs, track clicks and sales with UTM tags, and judge posts by business results.
3 min read · 84% of US adults say they use YouTube (2025)
- Platforms
Measuring TikTok ads honestly
How to measure TikTok ads honestly: what the default attribution window counts, why view-through credit inflates results, and how to check against real sales.
3 min read · 37% of US adults say they use TikTok (2025)
- Metrics
ROAS vs. ROI: the difference that decides your ad budget
ROAS vs ROI explained: why a strong return on ad spend can still lose money, how to calculate each one, and which number should decide your ad budget.
3 min read · 37.76% Average gross margin across US companies, Janu…
- Strategy
Seasonality, holidays and currency: reading international ad results
How seasonality, holidays and currency swings distort international ad results, and how to compare periods and countries fairly using one exchange rate per day.
3 min read · $14.25B spent online in the U.S. on Cyber Monday 2025,…
- Privacy & tracking
Server-side tracking and conversion APIs in plain English
Server-side tracking and conversion APIs explained in plain English: how Meta's Conversions API and Google enhanced conversions work, and what they don't fix.
3 min read · 17.8% Average lower cost per result Meta reported fo…
- Metrics
The LTV to CAC ratio: what a healthy number looks like
What is a good LTV to CAC ratio? How to calculate it with profit, why 3 to 1 is the usual benchmark, and when a ratio that looks too high means you should grow.
3 min read · Above 3:1 LTV to CAC ratio of the best SaaS businesses, …
- Agencies & reporting
The marketing KPIs that belong on a small-business dashboard
Which marketing KPIs belong on a small-business dashboard: the handful of numbers tied to verified sales, how to define them, and what to leave off the screen.
3 min read · 53% of marketing decisions are influenced by data …
- Privacy & tracking
Third-party cookies in 2026: what actually changed for advertisers
Third-party cookies in 2026: Chrome kept them, retired most of Privacy Sandbox, while Safari and Firefox block them. What that means for your ad measurement.
3 min read · 66% of worldwide browsing happened in Chrome, whic…
- Privacy & tracking
US state privacy laws: a marketer's plain-English overview
US state privacy laws explained for marketers: how many states have them, the opt-out rights that affect ads, what California fined firms for, and what to fix.
3 min read · 19 states with comprehensive privacy laws, per th…
- Strategy
UTM parameters: the simple habit that fixes messy reporting
What UTM parameters are, which ones to use, and a simple naming convention that stops one campaign from splitting into many rows in GA4 and your ad reports.
3 min read · 3 UTM tags Google says to always use: source, me…
- Attribution
View-through conversions: what they are and why they inflate results
View-through conversions explained: how platforms credit sales to ads people only saw, why that inflates ROAS, and how to report view-through credit honestly.
3 min read · 1 day Default Google Ads view-through conversion win…
- Strategy
What AI can (and can't) do for marketing analytics
AI in marketing analytics, plainly: what AI tools do well with ad and sales data, where they make mistakes, and how to check an AI answer before you act.
3 min read · 78% of organizations reported using AI in 2024, up…
- Privacy & tracking
What Apple's App Tracking Transparency did to ad measurement
How Apple's App Tracking Transparency changed ad measurement: what ATT is, what research found about lost clicks and revenue, and how advertisers adapt today.
3 min read · 37% drop in click-through rates for conversion-opt…
- Attribution
Why ad platforms claim more sales than you made
Why ad platforms over-count conversions: overlapping attribution windows, view-through credit and double counting, plus how to check claims against real sales.
3 min read · 30 days Default Google Ads click-through conversion wi…
- Strategy
Why honest ad numbers protect the people you love
Claimed vs. proven ad sales: why checking what your marketing really earned protects payroll, family savings and everyone who depends on your business.
3 min read · 45.9% Share of US private-sector workers employed by…
- Platforms
Why Meta Ads numbers don't match your store
Why Meta Ads purchases rarely match your Shopify or Stripe sales: attribution windows, view-through credit, click-date reporting, duplicates and time zones.
3 min read · 48 hours window in which Meta deduplicates matching Pix…