PINTEREST ATTRIBUTION : HOW TO TRACK THE REAL ROI OF A SLOW-BURN CHANNEL

Pinterest is one of the most misjudged channels in ecommerce advertising, and the reason is timing. Pinterest users are often in the research and inspiration phase, saving ideas and planning purchases they will make weeks or months later. That makes Pinterest a powerful demand-creation channel, and it also makes it one of the easiest channels to undervalue, because the sale it started often closes much later through another touch. If you judge Pinterest on last-click or a short platform window, you will almost certainly underrate it. Here is how to track the real ROI of your Pinterest ads.

HOW TO PREDICT YOUR CUSTOMERS' BUYING CYCLE: THE TIMING DATA THAT TELLS YOU WHEN TO SPEND

Most marketers obsess over which ad drove a sale. Far fewer ask a question that's just as valuable - how long does it take? The gap between a customer's first click and their purchase — their buying cycle — is one of the most useful and most ignored numbers in ecommerce. Get a handle on it and you stop killing campaigns too early, stop misjudging ROI and start timing your spend to how your customers actually buy. Here's how buying-cycle prediction works and what to do with it.

HOW TO OPTIMIZE YOUR AD CAMPAIGNS : THE 3 THINGS THAT ACTUALLY MOVE ROI

There is no shortage of advice on optimizing ad campaigns, and most of it is noise about bidding tweaks and creative hacks. After tracking billions of dollars in ad spend, we have found that campaign optimization really comes down to three things, and none of them are tricks. They are about measuring the right way so you make the right calls. Here they are.

HOW TO USE THE SALES VELOCITY REPORT TO MAKE SMARTER AD DECISIONS 

One Wicked Reports customer almost canceled his most profitable Facebook campaign. He was measuring response every week, and on that timeline only 4.4% of new leads from those ads had purchased, so the campaign looked like a loser. But more than half his leads took over a week to buy, and over time those ads generated more than $800,000 in revenue on $125,000 of spend. Measuring weekly nearly cost him his best campaign. Measuring the real buying cycle saved it.

That is the entire point of the Sales Velocity Report. It answers a question most advertisers cannot answer, and the answer decides whether you scale profitably or bleed budget. How long does it actually take your leads to buy? 

WHAT SALES VELOCITY ACTUALLY MEASURES

Sales velocity is the time it takes a lead to become a customer, measured from a real starting point such as first click or first opt-in through to the purchase. The Wicked Reports Sales Velocity Report shows you that timing across your customers, broken down by the milestones that matter.

First click to purchase.

How many days, on average, between a customer's very first interaction with you and their first order.

First opt-in or new lead to purchase.

For lead-based funnels, how long between someone becoming a lead and becoming a buyer, which tells you how much time your nurture sequence actually has to work.

The report shows that buying cycle alongside the value of each first purchase, measured by total, by percent that purchased, and by percent that did not, and you can filter by any element to drill down. Rather than a single blur of "some people buy fast and some buy slow," you get the real shape of your buying cycle, so you can plan around it instead of guessing.