What This Chart Shows
This chart displays a heatmap of marketing activity across your channels over time. Each row is a channel (or campaign group), and each column is a time period (day, week, or month). Cell color shows the intensity and direction of attributed activity for that channel in that period. The chart lets you see when channels were active and how their contribution varied across the measurement window. A range slider at the bottom allows you to scroll or zoom into specific time periods.
Key Questions This Chart Helps Answer
- Which channels were most active in a given week or month?
- Are there seasonal or periodic patterns in channel activity?
- When did a specific channel ramp up or wind down?
- Which time periods had the most (or least) overall marketing activity?
- How do activity patterns compare across the top channels vs the "Other" aggregate?
Axes, Metrics, and Units
Element | Description |
|---|---|
| X-axis | Time period (day, week, or month depending on granularity setting). Labels show date or week number with calendar date below. A range slider at the bottom allows scrolling/zooming. |
| Y-axis | Channel / Campaign group. Shows top-N channels by total activity (default 20), plus an "Other" row for aggregated remaining channels. |
| Cell color | Activity: modeled attributed contribution for that channel in that period. Violet = positive Blue = negative White = near zero. Color intensity indicates magnitude. |
| Grid lines | Weekly or monthly boundaries shown as dashed vertical lines (for weekly/monthly granularity). |
All values are modeled, not raw spend or impressions.
Control Options Reference
Control | Meaning |
|---|---|
| KPI classification / hierarchy / drilldown | Which outcome (KPI / target series) to attribute to. |
| Granularity | Daily, Weekly, or Monthly. Determines the time resolution of each column. |
| Date range | Optional start/end date filter. Only periods within this range are displayed. |
How to Interpret the Results
- Color intensity: Darker violet = stronger positive contribution; darker blue = stronger negative contribution. Use this to spot high-activity periods per channel.
- Row comparison: Compare rows to see which channels were active at the same time vs different times.
- Column patterns: Look for vertical bands of color indicating periods when many channels were active (e.g., a product launch or promotion).
- "Other" row: If large, many smaller channels contribute. If blank, top-N covers most activity.
- Range slider: Scroll horizontally to move through time; zoom in/out to adjust how many periods are visible at once.
Practical Applications for Marketers
Application | How to use this chart |
|---|---|
| Campaign timing | Align bright columns with known in-market dates and post-mortems. |
| Channel stewardship | Spot channels with long runs of negative cells for creative/ops follow-up. |
| Portfolio reviews | Use monthly view in exec readouts; daily for tactical teams. |
| Budget questions | Combine with cost/ROI views—activity here is attributed lift, not spend. |
| KPI checks | Change KPI and confirm which channels move for the outcome you care about. |
Common Mistakes & Misinterpretations
Mistake | Why it is a problem | How to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Treating cell value as spend | Cell color = attributed lift, not raw spend or impressions. | Use axis/colorbar labels; treat as "attributed activity." |
| Ignoring "Other" row | If "Other" is large, significant activity is hidden in the aggregate. | Increase Top N or drill into specific channels. |
| Assuming all channels are comparable | Channels may have different scales of activity; color is relative to the 95th percentile of all displayed values. | Compare patterns/timing, not just color intensity across channels. |
| Misreading negative (blue) as bad | Negative lift can mean cannibalization or saturation, but it is still part of the model's attribution. | Understand that negative contributions are legitimate causal outputs, not errors. |
| Using daily granularity for long time spans | Daily view can be very dense and hard to read over many months. | Switch to weekly or monthly for longer windows; use range slider to zoom. |
Caveats & Considerations
- Channel strategy only: This chart always uses channel grouping. It does not support other grouping modes (source type, topic, etc.).
- Color scale bounds: Set at 95th percentile times 1.2 to avoid outlier washout. Extreme values may saturate the color scale.
- Row padding: If fewer than 12 channels are active, blank rows are added to fill the grid (no data in those rows).
- Date labels: Daily view shows week numbers with Sunday labels; weekly view shows week start dates; monthly view shows month abbreviations with date.