In a world awash with data, many C-suite dashboards are anchored to a single, deceptively simple metric: the click. But what happens when that anchor is holding your business back? We’re joined by Anastasia Braitsik, a global leader in SEO, content marketing, and data analytics, who specializes in helping organizations navigate this very challenge. She argues that an over-reliance on click-based attribution creates a distorted view of performance, starving the very initiatives that build long-term brand value.
Today, we’ll explore how to move beyond these vanity metrics and build a measurement framework that truly reflects business impact. We’ll discuss how to make invisible, upper-funnel touchpoints visible to leadership, the art of convincing a CFO to invest in brand over easily-tracked conversions, and the operational shifts required to thrive in a privacy-first world. Anastasia will guide us through creating narrative-driven dashboards that connect marketing efforts to sustainable growth, revealing how a portfolio of measurement techniques can paint a far more accurate and strategic picture of success.
The article highlights an attribution “canyon” where touchpoints like video views are missed. How can leaders start quantifying the impact of these “invisible” touches for an executive team that is used to seeing simple, clean click metrics on their dashboards?
That “canyon” is the perfect way to describe it, and it’s where so much value gets lost. The key is to shift the conversation from “what was clicked” to “what influenced the decision.” You have to show executives what they are currently missing. I often start by mapping out a realistic customer journey. For example, a buyer sees a compelling video on LinkedIn, then a week later reads a third-party review, and finally, days after that, types the brand name directly into Google to make a purchase. The last-click report gives 100% of the credit to that final branded search, completely ignoring the video and the review that built the trust and intent in the first place. You can start small by using tools like brand lift studies or even post-purchase surveys that ask, “Where did you hear about us?” When you present that qualitative data alongside the click data, it’s a powerful moment. It visually demonstrates that the clean, simple click metric isn’t the whole story; it’s just the final chapter.
The article warns that a click-based focus starves upper-funnel investments. Can you walk us through a step-by-step process for convincing a CFO to shift budget from a high-performing retargeting campaign to a brand awareness initiative with less immediate, trackable ROI?
This is a conversation I have almost weekly, and it requires empathy and evidence, not just a demand for more budget. The first step is to acknowledge their perspective. You can start by saying, “I understand completely why we value the real-time ROI from our retargeting. It’s clean, and it’s immediate.” This builds trust. The second step is to propose a small, controlled test, not a massive budget overhaul. You can say, “Let’s carve out a small portion of that spend and run an incrementality test on a brand campaign in a specific market.” This isn’t about gut feeling; it’s about measuring the true lift. Step three is to define the metrics for success beforehand, and they can’t be clicks. We’ll measure things like brand lift, share of voice, and, most importantly, the impact on customer lifetime value for cohorts exposed to the campaign. Finally, after the test, you present the results as a business case. You show that while the immediate clicks weren’t there, the campaign generated a 5% incremental lift in revenue and attracted a customer segment with a higher LTV, proving that the investment compounds over time. You’re not just asking for money; you’re presenting a data-backed strategy for more sustainable growth.
With privacy changes making click tracking a “house of cards,” what are the most significant operational shifts that media and creative teams must make? How should their daily collaboration and KPIs change when they can no longer optimize for a simple click or conversion?
The breakdown of third-party cookies is forcing a much-needed reunion between media and creative teams. For years, they’ve operated in silos: media buys the clicks, and creative makes something click-worthy. That model is now broken. The most significant operational shift is moving from optimizing for an action (a click) to optimizing for an impression (a quality interaction). This means their daily collaboration has to become seamless. Instead of a media buyer just looking at cost-per-click, they need to talk to the creative team about attention metrics like time-in-view or brand recall scores from a new ad. Their KPIs have to evolve in lockstep. The media team’s goal might shift from a low CPA to maximizing reach against an audience that shows high brand affinity, while the creative team is measured not on click-through rate, but on message resonance and creative recall. It forces a more holistic conversation where the central question is no longer “Did they click?” but “Did we make an impact and build brand equity?”
You advocate for a “portfolio approach,” blending MMM with incrementality and LTV. For a company just starting this transition, what is the most practical first step? Please provide an example of how it can introduce one of these new frameworks alongside its existing click-based reports.
The most important thing is not to rip and replace the existing dashboard overnight, as that creates chaos and distrust. The most practical first step is to introduce one new lens—and I believe incrementality testing is the perfect place to start because it directly challenges the assumptions of click-based models. For example, a company can take their “best-performing” branded search or retargeting campaign and run a simple holdout test. They would serve the ads to one group and a placebo or no ad to a similar control group. The existing last-click report might show 1,000 conversions from that campaign. But the incrementality test might reveal that 800 of those people would have converted anyway, meaning the campaign’s true, incremental impact was only 200 conversions. You then place this finding right next to the old click report in the executive dashboard. You’re not telling them the old data is wrong; you’re providing crucial context that shows what marketing actually added to the bottom line. This single insight is often enough to spark the critical conversation needed to begin embracing a full portfolio approach.
Instead of data reporting, the article recommends “data storytelling” for executives. Can you share an anecdote or a specific example of a narrative-driven dashboard that successfully shifted a leadership team’s focus from short-term click volume to long-term outcomes like customer lifetime value?
Absolutely. I worked with a direct-to-consumer brand whose leadership was obsessed with the cost per acquisition from their social media ads, which were mostly bottom-funnel retargeting. Their dashboard was a sea of daily CTRs and conversion rates. We completely redesigned the first page of their dashboard to tell a story. We led not with clicks, but with a cohort analysis chart. It showed two lines: one for customers acquired via upper-funnel content marketing and brand campaigns, and another for those acquired via low-cost retargeting ads. The story was immediately clear on the screen. While the initial cost to acquire the brand campaign customers was slightly higher, their 12-month LTV was 40% greater, and their churn rate was significantly lower. The headline on the dashboard wasn’t “Channel Performance”; it was “Building a More Valuable Customer Base.” We showed that by focusing only on the cheapest click, they were actively acquiring less valuable, less loyal customers. That single visual narrative flipped the switch. The conversation in the next budget meeting wasn’t about lowering CPCs; it was about how to fund more content initiatives to attract higher-value customers.
What is your forecast for marketing measurement over the next five years, especially as AI and predictive modeling become more central to strategy?
My forecast is that marketing measurement will finally shift from being a rearview mirror to a forward-looking GPS. For the last decade, we’ve been consumed with reporting on what just happened. AI and predictive modeling will change that, but they won’t be the magic “silver bullet” many are hoping for. Instead, they will act as powerful accelerators for sound strategic thinking. Over the next five years, AI will become adept at simulating business outcomes. Leaders will be able to ask, “What is the likely impact on revenue and market share if we shift 15% of our performance budget into a brand-building campaign in this new market?” The models will run scenarios based on historical data and market signals to provide a probable range of outcomes. This moves the analytics team from being data reporters to strategic advisors, helping the C-suite model the future and make smarter investment decisions with a clearer understanding of potential risk and reward. The focus will be less on perfect attribution of the past and more on confident forecasting for the future.
