As 2025 winds down, it’s time to take stock of what worked, what didn’t, and what you want to achieve in 2026. That includes one of the biggest questions every e-commerce leader faces this time of year: How much budget do we need to hit next year’s targets?
Budget conversations often open with high-level performance data, including:
- Revenue by channel
- ROAS by channel
- The business’s overall MER
Pulling all of this together can be tough. Manual reporting leaves plenty of room for mistakes, platform-reported numbers are biased and inflated, and last-click attribution overlooks every touchpoint that influenced the customer before the final click. On top of that, relying on platform data can lead to double-counted revenue. It creates an incomplete and sometimes misleading picture right when you need clarity most.
It doesn’t help that marketers are frequently challenged on their data. Leadership sees Meta reporting one number and Shopify (or other e-commerce platform) reporting another, and suddenly the burden is on the marketing team to explain the gap.
This fragmented picture makes budget conversations tough. If you can’t clearly show which channels are actually driving growth, it’s hard to justify the investment you’re asking for.
The Proof That Unlocks Budgets: ThoughtMetric in Action
Cole Haan’s UK team put it perfectly:
“Biggest win is that, with the help of ThoughtMetric’s reporting software, we are able as a regional team to back all the required justifications to our leadership in order to secure future funds to grow the business.”
— Alex Souter, Vice President and General Manager UK, Cole Haan
This is what every e-commerce leader wants heading into planning season: a clear story about what your team contributed and what more you can do with additional budget.
Here’s how ThoughtMetric gives you that story.
Multi-Touch Attribution Shows the Influence of Every Channel
Leadership teams want to know what actually drives revenue. Last-click reporting hides the true value of brand awareness and mid-funnel campaigns. When only the final click gets credit, entire marketing efforts look unprofitable.
ThoughtMetric changes this by giving teams access to our recommended multi-touch attribution model. Some examples of what multi-touch attribution reveals:
- How brand awareness and mid-funnel campaigns influence purchases
- Data from the post-purchase “How did you hear about us?” survey, which gives you access to user-reported insights, such as customers saying they discovered the brand through word of mouth.
When teams show leadership the full customer journey, the conversation shifts from “Why spend here?” to “How much more can we put into what’s clearly working?”
Product-Level Attribution Proves What’s Driving Profitable Growth
Once leadership sees which channels drive revenue, the next question is: Which products are performing best because of marketing?
For example, you’ll be able to point out:
“Our Meta campaigns drove $1 million in revenue for our top 5 products. Increasing spend here has measurable payoff.”
“Our Meta campaigns drove $1 million in revenue for our top 5 products. Increasing spend here has measurable payoff.”
Eliminating Double-Counted Revenue
As mentioned earlier, one of the biggest issues finance teams highlight is overlapping data, especially between Meta and Google.
ThoughtMetric solves this by assigning revenue based on the attribution model you select. No more biased and inflated numbers.
Tie Real Customers to Real Journeys
An added bonus is the ability to drill into individual customer journeys. If a major customer appears to come in from Google Ads, leadership can easily explore their full path, every touchpoint, and every interaction, all tied to a customer profile. It builds trust in the data and reassures teams that the numbers reflect real behavior.
Final Thought: Leadership Invests in What They Understand
Marketing leaders win bigger budgets when leadership can see numbers behind the marketing efforts. This is exactly why Cole Haan’s teams rely on ThoughtMetric to justify spend and secure future funds.
If you want to walk into your 2026 planning meetings with complete clarity and confidence, ThoughtMetric gives you everything you need to make your best case yet.
To learn more, book a quick demo.
