Introduction
The Spend Strategist (Beta) Dashboard is a valuable tool using Fospha's saturation curves chart, that you can use to gain insights into the performance and effectiveness across different channel/source segments. By plotting average daily spend against relevant metrics, such as conversions or new conversions, and modelling the relationship that we see between them, you can visualize how incremental increases in marketing spend can impact the desired outcome. You can also see the historic data for up to a year, to compare seasonal trends on year on year basis.
Please note that as Spend Strategist is in Beta phase, there are some known limitations with the dashboard. We would like to get further information on any limitations you face as you are using the dashboard.
If you see an outputs that are concerning please let us know so that we can continue to improve on the outputs provided by predicted conversions chart!
How to Use and Understand Spend Strategist
Video Explainer
What is a Channel Segment?
The predicted conversions chart is populated using the Channel Segment filter, which consists of market, channel/source, campaign objective and strategy, for example:
UK_PaidSocial_Facebook_Awareness_Prospecting
UK = Market - This allows us to determine important difference in how effective marketing channels are per country
PaidSocial_Facebook = Channel Group_Source - We segment by each channel and source to ensure the model learns differences between how users interact between platforms
Awareness = Campaign Objective -The objective type (Awareness, Consideration, Conversion) informs on the expected action the user is required to take
Prospecting = Campaign Strategy - This informs the type of user and how far along they are in the funnel.
How would you use this dashboard?
Saturation Curve Chart
Use the Saturation Curve chart to:
Understand specific channel segments
Understand whether there is still room to grow
Understand what is the forecasted return of average conversions expected upon different spend levels
Understand how the performance was for selected historic period
Saturation curves are graphical representations that illustrate the relationship between marketing spend and a specific performance metric. The curve demonstrates how the performance metric responds to increases in marketing spend.
Chart features:
The light blue vertical line on the graph area is your average spend for the period, which is detailed at the top of the dashboard
The dark blue vertical line on the graph area is the saturation point - spending beyond this point may lead to diminishing returns
The yellow dotted line is your paid media cost per purchase target, taken from your KPI Health Check dashboard
The area between the grey lines represents a 95% confidence interval
The purple line is the Saturation Curve - this is where the magic is!
Performance is better than target when the Saturation Curve line is above the yellow dotted target line - this is your sweet spot!
Recommendations Table
Use the table to get all the context you need before taking any actions or decisions.
Table features:
View your paid channels ranked from highest to lowest average spend
See your headroom to push spend further
See whether there has been an observed saturation point - nb. if there is a 'null' symbol this means the model has not observed a saturation point and is a good indication of an opportunity!
Spend Strategist is the perfect partner to Fospha Attribution - if you see a positive signal in your Fospha Attribution metrics, and an opportunity for the same in Spend Strategist, our recommendation is to always start small with a test, making sure to work closely with our Customer Success team to set up a test and measure it accurately!
Definitions and Details
Filters
Market - you can look at saturation curve data per market using the market filter
Lead KPI - you can filter for either CPP or CAC to see data for conversions or new conversions respectively
Period - this contains groups for months which you can select and see historic data for
Channel Segment - this filter populates the predicted conversions chart, you can select the channel segment you would like see saturation curve for
Currency - to convert your cost data in the currency you would like to see the data for
KPIs Featured
Average Daily Spend - This refers to the average amount of money spent on a given channel segment each day
Average Daily Conversions - It represents the average number of conversions that occur each day as a result of the average daily spend in a channel segment
Average Daily Predicted Conversions/New Conversions - This indicates the projected or estimated average number of conversions or new conversions that are expected to occur on average daily based on modelled data
CPP/CAC Target - This is the target provided by you, however to plot the line on graph we take an array of spend values for the interval we want to draw and we divide every value in that array by the cost per purchase target
Headroom - It shows the gap or difference between the actual average daily conversions and predicted average daily conversions. It represents the potential for improvement in performance.
Saturation Point - This represents the point at which further increasing in spend could lead to diminishing returns as it is saturated.
How to read the chart
When the curve (purple line) starts to flatten out, indicating that further increases in marketing spend yield diminishing returns.
Saturation point (vertical dark blue line) is the point at which the metric reaches its maximum potential with the existing marketing spend. Beyond this point, additional investment may not significantly impact the metric.
The gap between the current performance and the saturation level is the headroom, it represents the potential for improvement through increased marketing spend.
You can read different channel segments prior to making spend decisions to best understand where to allocate further resources and set achievable goals.