What This Chart Shows
This chart shows how modeled marketing contributions add up day by day, week by week, or month by month, broken out by channel. The vertical stack at any date is the sum of positive contributions from each shown series at that period—so you see which channels are driving the stacked total and how that mix evolves across the window you select.
Key Questions This Chart Helps Answer
- How does each channel’s modeled contribution to the KPI accumulate in the stack over the period?
- When did the mix shift (e.g., one band grows while another shrinks)?
- At daily vs weekly vs monthly grain, does the story look stable or noisy?
- Which handful of channels dominate the stack, and how much sits in Other?
- After narrowing the date range, where do contributions concentrate in time?
Axes, Metrics, and Units
Element | Description |
|---|---|
| X-axis | Time period with calendar context Daily: day offsets with week dividers. Weekly/Monthly: period indices mapped from reference dates. Optional range slider below for zooming. |
| Y-axis | Cumulative KPI (Stacked Lift). Sum of all channel contributions per period. |
| Colored area | One filled area per top channel (up to 10 channels). “Other” = gray aggregate of remaining groups. |
| Lines | Thin spline outlines between points for readability. |
Values are modeled, not raw reported KPI.
Control Options Reference
Control | Meaning |
|---|---|
| KPI classification / hierarchy / drilldown | Which KPI (or target) to use for baseline and, where applicable, for attribution. |
| Granularity | Chooses whether the temporal ledger is Daily (default), Weekly, or Monthly. |
| Date range | Optional start and end date. Filters the ledger to periods inside this window. |
| Smoothing | Chart smoothing available for readability. |
There is no grouping-mode selector on this chart.
How to Interpret the Results
- Read band thickness at a date as that channel’s positive contribution that period; taller total stack ⇒ larger combined positive contributions (after clamping).
- Slope / shape of a band shows timing of that channel’s modeled lift, not necessarily spend or impressions.
- “Other” growing means many smaller channels (or non-top-10) together matter; shrinking means concentration in the named top channels.
- Weekly/monthly views smooth daily noise; daily shows more detail and may look spikier.
- Negatives in the source data are not shown as a downward area in the stack (clamped to 0 for stacking); interpret negatives only if you use other views that show signed lift.
- Use the range slider to focus on sub-periods without changing global filters.
Practical Applications for Marketers
Application | How to use this chart |
|---|---|
| Budget / allocation narrative | Show when key channels contributed to the modeled KPI stack in a review or plan. |
| Channel optimization | See if one channel’s band persistently dominates or spikes around campaigns. |
| Campaign evaluation | Align visual bumps in bands with known flight dates (causal story + calendar). |
| Reporting | Export or screenshot weekly/monthly for executive-friendly less noise. |
| Hypothesis generation | Spot regime changes (mix shifts) to investigate in waterfalls or experiments. |
Common Mistakes & Misinterpretations
Mistake | Why it is a problem | How to avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Treating the stack as actual revenue | Y-axis is stacked modeled contribution (φ), not banked revenue. | Pair with finance/KPI actuals elsewhere; read axis title. |
| Assuming negative contributions appear | Stack uses clamp(min=0); negatives are dropped from the visible areas. | Use signed temporal or lever views for downside. |
| Calling “Other” one channel | Other is many groups aggregated. | Treat as “long tail,” not a single tactic. |
| Over-reading daily wiggles | Daily φ can be noisy; small moves aren’t always strategic. | Switch to weekly/monthly for stability. |
| Ignoring date range | Full window drives top-10 choice (ranked by abs sum). | Compare the same window when comparing two screenshots. |
Caveats & Considerations
- Weekly/monthly: If rollups are empty → “No weekly/monthly attribution data available” with note to populate rollup families.
- Date filter empty: “No data in selected time window” with the range shown.
- Top 10 + Other: Long-tail detail is compressed in Other; here it’s 10 channels + Other.