Google AdsWhy promotions flatter reports
A sale brings in customers who would have bought at full price. Attribution often credits ads for those sales too, so revenue rises whether the offer helped or not.
A fair baseline
- Compare with the same days last month and the same days last year, adjusted for known season.
- Compare traffic and spend too. A quiet baseline week makes almost any sale look strong.
- Write the baseline period and its offer in the report, so the comparison is visible to the reader.
What to show
- Revenue, orders, average order value and discount depth, side by side.
- Margin after the discount, using the same definition as the break-even line.
- MER for the period, with the spend it was based on.
Made-up scenario: a 20 percent sale ran for four days. Revenue rose 30 percent, from 40,000 to 52,000, against the same days last month. Gross margin fell from 55 percent to 44 percent. Cash margin went from 22,000 to 22,880, so it rose about 4 percent while revenue rose 30. The report shows both.
Words to avoid
- 'The campaign drove the record week' when no test or holdout shows it. Say what ran at the same time.
- 'Record' without the comparison period written next to it.
