2026 Annual Report on Causal Measurement
Most marketing dashboards measure activity. The best brands measure impact.
Our new annual report explores how leading brands are moving beyond platform-reported ROAS and adopting causal measurement to understand what actually drives revenue.
Drawing on 75 data points from 20+ sources, it reveals why traditional metrics often overstate performance and the strategies top teams are using to make more confident investment decisions.
We’re in New York This Week | CommerceNext
The Lifesight team is on the ground in New York for CommerceNext.
Stop by Kiosk #214 to talk causal measurement, incrementality, AI-powered planning, and how leading brands are turning marketing data into growth decisions.
Want dedicated time with our team? Book a meeting while we’re in NYC and let’s discuss your measurement strategy and growth roadmap.
Prompt of the Week
Most marketing budgets overfund demand-capture channels and underfund demand creation. This week’s prompt, using Lifesight MCP:
“Stress-test my Q4 plan. Where am I over-investing, and what would a 20% reallocation to upper-funnel channels look like in incremental revenue?”
In this example, Brand Search, Retargeting, and Branded Shopping showed low marginal iROAS of 1.2–1.5×. Reallocating 20% of spend to upper-funnel channels like CTV, YouTube, and TikTok increased projected incremental revenue from $14.2M to $16.9M.
Same budget. +$2.7M incremental revenue. +19% lift.
Now Live on The Profit and Proof Podcast🎙️
Sales and marketing alignment isn’t a meeting problem. It’s a revenue problem.
In this episode, Tony Wiedenski shares his Sales-First Marketing framework, covering how to improve lead quality, align teams around pipeline, and use AI to create better collaboration across the buyer journey.
Listen now for practical advice on turning alignment into growth.
Listen Now on
Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
Why MTA Is Giving You the Wrong Answer
Multi Touch Attribution (MTA) doesn’t measure marketing effectiveness, it measures the appearance of it. It can’t tell an ad that drove a sale from one that just reached someone already going to buy, which is how 50-70% of “attributed” retargeting conversions turn out to be demand you already owned.
Our latest blog breaks down the 5 reasons MTA is broken and why unified measurement (MMM + incrementality + calibrated attribution) is the only honest fix.
Tip of the Week
Your Measurement Is Only as Good as Your Experiment Design
Running a geo-test or holdout sounds scientific, but a bad experiment design is worse than no test at all. It gives you false confidence.
The Most Common Mistakes:
- Test and control regions aren’t statistically comparable (different population sizes, seasonality, or baseline sales trends)
- Test windows are too short to account for delayed purchase cycles
- Only measuring the advertised product instead of total revenue (see: Halo Effect)
The Checklist Before You Run Any Test:
- Match regions on at least 3 historical revenue periods
- Run for a minimum of 2-4 weeks (or one full purchase cycle)
- Define your success metric before you start, not after you see the results
Good measurement isn’t just about what you test. It’s about whether your test was designed to tell the truth.
