Incrementality is increasingly part of how paid media performance is evaluated, yet many budget decisions are still guided by in-platform metrics that prioritise conversions over true growth. In this Q&A, Viktoriya Dyachenko, Strategic Insights Lead at Crealytics, explains how incrementality provides a more accurate view of channel contribution by distinguishing between demand capture and demand creation. By uncovering where spend is over-attributed and where it genuinely drives new revenue, incrementality helps teams rethink channel roles, prioritise investment based on marginal impact, and scale more effectively. The result is a more disciplined approach to budget allocation, grounded in measurable business outcomes rather than surface-level efficiency metrics.‍

Q1: How Do Incrementality Results Influence Budget Shifts Across Channels?

Incrementality forces you to move away from “what looks good in-platform” to “what actually drives growth.” And those are often two very different things.

What we typically see is that budgets are heavily skewed toward channels that harvest existing demand - because they show strong ROAS. But once you run incrementality tests, it becomes clear that a big chunk of that spend isn’t actually driving new revenue.

So the shift is straightforward:

· You pull budget out of over-attributing channels (brand, retargeting, affiliates)  

· And you reinvest into channels that create demand (prospecting, paid social, video, upper funnel)  

The real mindset change is this:

It’s no longer about “which channel performed best?” but about “where does the next euro create the most incremental value?”

Q2: Which Marketing Channels Overclaim Performance Without Incrementality Measurement?

There’s a clear pattern here, and it shows up in almost every audit.

Channels that sit closest to the conversion will almost always overclaim:

· Branded search – capturing intent that already exists  

· Branded shopping – same story, just with more visual dominance  

· Retargeting – high conversion rates, but often low incremental lift  

· Affiliates / coupon sites – intercepting users right before purchase  ‍

· CRM (email, push) – re-engaging users who were already going to convert  

We’ve seen cases where huge portions of budget are effectively spent on users who would have converted anyway. That’s not uncommon and in fact, it’s one of the most consistent patterns in large-scale audits.  

That doesn’t mean these channels are useless. It just means:

They’re often overfunded as growth drivers, when they should be treated as efficiency or defensive channels.

Q3: How Do You Prioritise Channel Investment Using Incrementality Insights?

We usually simplify this down to a pretty practical way of thinking.

The first step is separating channels by what they’re actually doing in the funnel. Some channels are there to capture demand like branded search, shopping, affiliates, while others are there to create it, like paid social, video, or display prospecting. Then you layer incrementality on top of that.

Once you do that, the picture becomes much clearer. Some channels that look incredibly strong on paper suddenly turn out to have very limited incremental impact, while others that looked less efficient are actually driving new customers.

From there, prioritisation becomes less about average performance and more about marginal impact. In practice, that often means being willing to scale channels that don’t have the best reported ROAS, but are genuinely driving growth, while putting tighter controls around channels that are mainly capturing existing demand. The teams that do this well are constantly adjusting budgets based on these signals, rather than locking into static allocations.

Q4: What Should You Do When Incrementality Lift Is Low?

Low incrementality is one of the most useful signals you can get, but it’s also one of the easiest to misinterpret.

The instinctive reaction is often to cut spend, but that’s usually the wrong move. The better question to ask is why the lift is low in the first place.

In most cases, it comes down to a few recurring themes. You might be over-targeting the same users, especially with heavy retargeting. You might be heavily investing in a segment that primarily captures existing demand, like branded search or shopping. Or you’ve simply pushed spend to a point where you’re hitting diminishing returns. Sometimes it’s even more fundamental, like creative that isn’t strong enough to actually change behaviour.

In paid search specifically, competition is another key factor here. When competition is low, low incrementality usually means you’re capturing demand that would have converted anyway, so it makes sense to cap spend. But in highly competitive auctions, paid search becomes more defensive - your ads help prevent users from going to competitors, which increases its real contribution even if measured lift looks modest.

What you do next depends on that diagnosis. If the channel is inherently defensive, you keep it but control the spend. If it’s over-harvesting, you shift the strategy toward prospecting. If it’s saturated, you pull back to the last efficient level. And if creative is the issue, you fix that before touching budgets.

Only after that do you start reallocating spend, and even then, it’s done gradually. The real takeaway is that low incrementality doesn’t mean a channel has no value—it usually means it’s being used in the wrong way for growth.

Q5: How Do You Scale High-Incrementality Channels Effectively?

Scaling is where things tend to get tricky, because what works at a smaller spend level doesn’t automatically hold as you increase investment.

To scale effectively, you need to expand your reach without defaulting back into the same high-intent audiences. That usually means broadening targeting, entering new segments or geographies, and making sure you’re not just recycling the same users across platforms. At the same time, creative becomes absolutely critical. Without a steady flow of new messaging and formats, performance tends to plateau or decline very quickly.

Another important piece is monitoring marginal returns. The first tranche of spend is often highly incremental, but each additional layer tends to be less efficient. If you’re not watching that closely, it’s easy to scale past the point where the channel is actually driving value.

And finally, scaling requires continuous validation. Incrementality isn’t static, so as you increase spend, you need to keep testing and validating that the channel is still delivering real impact.

In the end, scaling high-incrementality channels is less about spending more and more about maintaining the conditions that made them incremental in the first place.

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Need help identifying which channels are over-attributing performance and which truly create demand? Reach out to us? Reach out to us!

Relevant Insights:

· Case study: Unlocking Incremental Growth for Paid Social: How Retailer X Proved the Value of Meta Ads Prospecting

· Report: Mastering Incrementality in 2025 and Beyond: A Practical Guide for Smarter Marketing Decisions

· Report: Crealytics Incrementality Benchmark Report: How to Measure True Marketing Performance Across All Channels

About Crealytics

Crealytics is an award-winning full-funnel digital marketing agency fueling the profitable growth of over 100 well-known B2C and B2B businesses, including ASOS, The Hut Group, Staples and Urban Outfitters. A global company with an inclusive team of 100+ international employees, we operate from our hubs in Berlin, New York, Chicago, London, and Mumbai.

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