What DTC Brands Get Wrong About Attribution

May 16, 2025

Discover the art of marketing success by focusing on individual campaigns and their strategies. Delve into the complexities of marketing attribution and the unique challenges faced by smaller brands. Learn why marginal return on ad spend is crucial in today's digital landscape, especially with evolving privacy concerns. Explore the transformative role of AI in analyzing marketing performance, and navigate the hurdles of managing marketing across multiple agencies. Uncover advanced measurement techniques to truly understand the impact of your advertising efforts.

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INSIGHT

Campaigns Drive Performance

Marketing success depends on campaign specifics, not the platform itself.
Creative, targeting, signal quantity, and budget allocation matter more than Facebook vs TikTok.

INSIGHT

Tailor Attribution Models

Marketing measurement is complex and must be customized to business specifics.
Attribution models require adjustments for unique strategies and sales cycles to be effective.

ADVICE

Start Simple, Scale Carefully

Use simple attribution models when starting with small budgets to avoid fragmentation.
Complex budget allocations require fine-tuned attribution to avoid costly misattributions at scale.

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In this episode of Chew on This, Ron and Ash are joined by Constantine Yurevich, Founder of SegmentStream, to discuss the challenges and future of marketing measurement and attribution. If you care about scaling profitably, avoiding wasted ad spend, and finally getting clarity on what’s actually driving results — this one’s for you.

What You’ll Learn: Why one-size-fits-all attribution models just don’t cut it

We talk about why standard setups miss the mark — and why your measurement approach needs to reflect how you actually sell and market, not someone else’s template.

When attribution becomes a make-or-break issue

If you're spending big, measurement mistakes get expensive. We get into why attribution becomes non-negotiable as budgets grow — and how smaller teams can still start smart.

How to surface conversions that don’t get credit

Some channels drive value you can’t see in your analytics dashboard. We dig into how things like geolocation and session behavior can expose what’s really moving the needle.

Why marginal ROAS tells a more honest story than averages

Looking at average ROAS is easy — but misleading. We unpack why marginal ROAS gives you the real picture, especially when scaling campaigns.

Who you can actually trust when it comes to attribution advice

Spoiler: It’s not always your media agency or the platform reps. We talk about why having someone with no skin in the game is crucial for objective decision-making.

Plus: Real-world stories of brands that got attribution wrong — and what they did to turn things around.

About SegmentStream:

SegmentStream partners with DTC growth leaders to drive more revenue from paid media through full-funnel attribution, incrementality measurement and automated cross-channel budget allocation.

Learn more at: https://segmentstream.com/

Follow Constantine Yurevich:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/yurevichcv/
X - https://x.com/weird_ceo

Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:11 - Understanding marketing measurement and attribution
4:02 - Fine-tuning attribution for better marketing measurement solutions
5:02 - Measuring influencer impact on traffic
6:08 - Starting with a small budget can be effective for basic attribution
7:30 - Misattribution can lead to significant wasted spend in marketing
9:01 - Traditional analytics may not capture all upper-funnel activities
10:35 - Understanding audience engagement for effective marketing
20:06 - Evolving attribution models to adapt to changing marketing landscapes
25:48 - A single source of truth in analytics
26:02 - Not fully trusting attribution metrics
28:03 - Brands that misjudged their marketing effectiveness
30:12 - Diminishing returns in marketing campaigns
31:32 - Proper measurement for lower-funnel channels
34:11 - AI in marketing attribution and modeling
36:03 - Incrementality studies and their challenges in measurement
39:15 - Managing multiple agencies for effective budget allocation
45:07 - Drawbacks of last-click attribution metrics
49:50 - Final chew

Ron Shah - https://twitter.com/obviceo
Ash Melwani - https://twitter.com/ashvinmelwani
Chew On This - https://twitter.com/chewonthisdtc