incrementality

Definition

The measure of whether your marketing actually caused additional sales or just took credit for purchases that would've happened anyway. It's the uncomfortable question that keeps attribution models honest and marketers defensive.

Example Usage

Our incrementality test revealed that branded search ads had zero lift—we were literally paying Google to show up where we already ranked first organically.

Origin

Marketing measurement and econometrics terminology from academic research

Fun Fact

Studies suggest up to 80% of attributed conversions in some channels would've happened without the ad, meaning marketers have been taking credit for other people's work since the dawn of analytics.

Source: Marketing science and measurement methodology

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