Start with the decision, then the model
A trading meeting, a creative review and an investment decision ask different questions. A trading team may need the order total after cancellations and returns. A creative team may compare ads inside one platform. A budget owner may need evidence of additional demand. Give each discussion a named measurement basis instead of expecting one column to answer every question.
For a fashion business, returns, delayed purchases and seasonal collections add context. A sale assigned to a channel this week may relate to a product discovered earlier, and its final commercial value may change after a return. Write down the date basis and revenue definition alongside the model.
Keep three views distinct
Use a consistent order or financial source to describe the business result. Use an explicitly named attribution report to describe how credit is allocated. Use a suitable experiment when the question is whether an action caused additional purchases. These views can inform one another without becoming interchangeable.
When multiple platforms report revenue against the same purchase, adding the reports does not produce a new company revenue total. Nor does reducing their totals proportionally establish which individual orders overlap. That requires suitable transaction-level evidence.
Choose a useful starting point
Begin with one closed reporting period, a clear purchase definition and a question the team can act on. Check currency, timezone, account filters, channel mapping and the treatment of returns. Record which fields are unavailable rather than replacing uncertainty with zero.
The guides below separate simple allocation rules, platform-specific behaviour and the distinction between attribution and incrementality. Start with the page matching the decision in front of you; a more complex model is not automatically a more useful answer.
A collection campaign across three touchpoints
A shopper discovers a collection through paid social, returns through search and buys after an email. The same €120 illustrative order receives different credit under different rules. The rule changes the allocation; it does not change the original €120 purchase.
Turn the guide into a useful review
- Name the business question and decision owner.
- Define the purchase value, reporting period and source.
- Inspect the attribution rule, scope and available interactions.
- Record what the comparison cannot establish.
Reference material
Platform guidance checked 3 October 2026. Examples and working checklists are Faccelerate editorial illustrations.
Bring the question.
Keep the context.
Map the relevant sources and specialist workflow for your team.
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