Series: Measuring What Matters.
How much of your ad budget actually drives revenue?
If you cannot answer that, you are not alone. Most marketing teams still rely on metrics that measure visibility, not value.
They track impressions, clicks, and bounce rates. However, none of these confirm that a customer saw an ad, walked into a store, and made a purchase.
If your measurement ends at engagement, your strategy ends in assumptions.
What Is Spend-Based Attribution?
Spend-based attribution measures what happens after media exposure. It does not just follow the click. It tracks the outcome.
You see the connection between:
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Media exposure and in-store visits
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Verified ad views and purchases
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Campaigns and revenue uplift
Instead of estimating value, you prove it.
Why It Matters Now More Than Ever
According to the 2024 IAB Brand Disruption Report, 64% of marketers report that the pressure to demonstrate business outcomes from media spending has increased year-over-year.
However, only 32% believe their current tools are designed to achieve this.
As third-party cookies fade and budgets tighten, marketers need more effective solutions. Stakeholders want results. Not reach.
The Problem With Traditional Models
Old models assign credit to the last digital interaction. If someone sees an ad on a connected TV, walks into a store, and buys lunch, that behavior is invisible to standard analytics.
Without identity and purchase data, you cannot track that journey. That means budgets go to the loudest channels, not the most effective ones.
Click-through rates can look great. But they rarely explain who converted or what influenced the sale.
The AiOpti Approach: Verified Identity Meets Real Spend
AiOpti resolves real people using first-party data. Our Super AIdentity Graph is built from over 2,000 real signals per profile.
We integrate:
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Card swipe and point-of-sale data
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Loyalty and CRM records
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Mobile location behavior
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Permission-based identity graphs
This means we can confirm that a known individual saw your ad and made a purchase, online or offline.
What Does This Look Like in Practice?
Imagine running a campaign for a national franchise. You want to know if people who saw your connected TV ad also visited one of your locations and used a credit card.
Using AiOpti’s spend-based attribution framework, you could:
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Resolve that viewer into a verified household
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Match their visit to an in-store transaction
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Report back revenue impact, not just impressions
No modeling. No extrapolation. Just data tied to dollars.
A More Accurate Way to Measure Performance
To help clarify the difference, here is how spend-based attribution compares to traditional click models:
| Capability | Click-Based Models | Spend-Based Attribution |
|---|---|---|
| Tracks actual purchases | No | Yes |
| Measures offline outcomes | No | Yes |
| Privacy-compliant without cookies | No | Yes |
| Optimizes media efficiency | Sometimes | Consistently |
| Links exposure to revenue | No | Yes |
This approach helps brands reallocate budget to what is actually working. Not what appears to be.
What Can You Do With This Insight?
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Justify spend across channels with real-world results
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Shift budget to high-performing campaigns
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Understand cross-channel impact on physical and digital behavior
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Report ROI with clarity to finance and leadership
It does not require a leap in tech. It requires better data and the right partner.
AiOpti helps brands prove what actually works.
We use verified identity and real spend data to show which campaigns drive visits, purchases, and growth.
Want to see how attribution moves from assumptions to outcomes?
