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We're burning cash for awareness

By
Mukund Kabra

Awareness spend is wasted when nobody measures what it changes. Set a measurable goal for it, such as growth in branded search, direct traffic or lower acquisition costs, and test it with holdout regions or periods.

Category:
Measurement
Reading time:
2
min read
Published on:
October 24, 2026
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Measurement
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We're burning cash for awareness

We're burning cash for awareness

Problem

A large share of your budget goes to awareness, and nobody can say what it buys.

Reach and impressions look impressive in reports. Whether more people search for you, choose you or pay less to acquire is anyone's guess.

So awareness spend is either cut entirely or defended on faith.

Insight

Awareness can be measured, just not with clicks.

Good awareness spend shows up indirectly: more people searching for your brand, more direct visits, better conversion on other channels, lower acquisition costs. Testing it in some regions or periods and not others shows its real effect.

That turns a faith-based budget into an evidence-based one.

How we approach it

We measure awareness by what it changes.

  1. We pick the indirect measures that matter for your business, such as branded search and direct traffic.
  2. We design tests with holdout regions or time periods to isolate the effect.
  3. We shift awareness budget toward what shows real lift.

You keep the brand spend that works and stop funding the rest.

Tags:  
Product Adoption Analytics; User Activation; Adoption Tracking; Behavioral Mapping; Onboarding Metrics; Engagement Analytics
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