Outcome measurement shows platform-reported metrics alongside two measurements from BlueConic: BlueConic-observed and last-touch conversions. This article defines each metric, which touchpoints qualify, how each growth play is measured, and how shared campaigns and recovered carts are handled. Use it when numbers differ between BlueConic and your platforms, or between growth plays.
Three ways to count conversions
Measure | Where it appears | What it counts | Use it to |
Platform-reported | Media metrics, such as impressions, clicks, and spend, across the dashboard | The values each platform reports, including the conversions it credits to itself. Platform-reported conversions aren't deduplicated across platforms. | Compare with the platform's own reporting |
BlueConic-observed | Conversion metrics in the KPI cards and Performance over time | Orders and revenue from profiles with a qualifying touchpoint from the growth play during the attribution window | Measure how the audience a growth play reached performed |
BlueConic last-touch | Conversion columns in the Last touch breakdown | Each order credited to at most one touchpoint: the most recent qualifying touchpoint linked to exactly one growth play | Compare growth plays without counting an order twice |
Metric definitions
Hover over a metric in a filter menu on the Outcomes tab to see how it's calculated.
Calculated metrics
Media metrics are calculated from the values the platform reports:
Click-through rate (CTR): Percentage of impressions that resulted in a click: clicks ÷ impressions × 100.
Cost per click (CPC): Average cost per click: spend ÷ clicks.
Cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM): Average cost per 1,000 impressions: spend ÷ impressions × 1,000.
Outcome metrics in the Last touch breakdown are calculated from the conversions credited to a campaign by its last tracked visit, and the spend or clicks the platform reports:
Return on ad spend (ROAS): Conversion value ÷ spend.
Return per click: Conversion value ÷ clicks.
Cost per conversion: Spend ÷ conversions.
Note: Email platforms don't report impressions or spend, so metrics calculated from them, such as CPM and ROAS, don't apply to email rows.
Email metrics
Klaviyo and Mailchimp report delivered, bounces unique, opens unique, clicks unique, unsubscribes unique, conversions, and conversion value. BlueConic calculates open rate and click rate:
Open rate: Unique opens ÷ delivered, the formula your email platform uses, applied to the days in the selected period. Opens are counted per day and deliveries on the send date, so open rate can read higher than in your email platform, and can exceed 100% when the date range cuts across a send.
Click rate: Unique clicks ÷ delivered, applied to the days in the selected period. Like open rate, it can exceed 100% when the date range cuts across a send.
How conversions are attributed
BlueConic-observed conversions
BlueConic-observed conversions count an order for every growth play with a qualifying touchpoint inside the attribution window before the order.
Qualifying touchpoints are:
A Campaign Visit event from a campaign linked to the outcome
A Dialogue Click event on a dialogue in the growth play
Because every growth play with a qualifying touchpoint counts the order, the same order can appear in several growth plays or outcomes. Review each outcome separately instead of adding the totals together.
Last-touch attributed conversions
Last-touch attribution credits an order to at most one touchpoint: the most recent qualifying touchpoint that is linked to exactly one growth play. Last-touch metrics appear in the Last touch breakdown.
Attribution window
The attribution window is the time between a qualifying campaign visit or dialogue click and the order. It's 30 days for every growth play.
How orders are counted
When an existing order event is updated, BlueConic doesn't count its conversion and revenue a second time.
Orders placed before the outcome was created don't count, including order events imported later with an earlier date.
Metrics where the conversion happens once, such as a first purchase or a profile becoming known, count once per profile. Revenue metrics count every order in the attribution window.
What counts for each growth play
Each growth play is measured on the metric that fits its goal. The primary metric is the one you set a target for. Supporting metrics add context.
Growth play | Primary metric | Supporting metric |
Look-alike audience expansion | Conversion value (observed) | ROAS (observed) |
Intent-based media targeting | ROAS (observed) | Return per click (observed) |
Abandoned Cart Recovery | Recovered cart revenue (observed) | Recovery rate |
First-Party Audience Building | New known profiles | Conversion value from newly known profiles (observed) |
First-Purchase Acceleration | First-time buyers | Time to first purchase |
Smart Replenishment & Upselling | Conversion value (observed) | – |
Dormant Customer Reactivation | Conversion value (observed) | Reactivation events |
New known profiles
Used by First-Party Audience Building. New known profiles counts profiles whose Unique identifier profile property was filled for the first time within the reporting period, and that the growth play reached through a linked campaign visit or dialogue click before they became known.
First-time buyers
Used by First-Purchase Acceleration. First-time buyers counts profiles with no earlier order that placed an order within the attribution window after a qualifying touchpoint from the growth play.
A first order from a profile the growth play never reached doesn't count.
Later orders from the same profile aren't first purchases and don't count for this growth play.
Time to first purchase
Used by First-Purchase Acceleration. Time to first purchase is the time between a profile's first visit and its first order.
Dormant Customer Reactivation
At the qualifying touchpoint, the profile must have placed at least one earlier order, and its most recent order must be more than 90 days old. Every order within the attribution window after that touchpoint counts toward conversions and conversion value, including several orders from the same profile. Orders placed before the outcome was created don't count.
Reactivation events: Only the first order after a dormant period counts as a reactivation event. Later orders don't count as more reactivation events, unless the profile goes more than 90 days without an order again, receives another qualifying touchpoint, and orders again. The 90-day dormancy gap is fixed. When the timeline event limit or a retention period removed a profile's earlier orders, a reactivation can be missed.
Smart Replenishment & Upselling
Every order within the attribution window after a qualifying touchpoint counts. BlueConic doesn't check the product category, the SKU, the predicted reorder window, or whether the order is a repeat purchase, because the growth play reaches profiles that have already ordered.
Recovered orders for Abandoned Cart Recovery
Recovery rate is available for the Abandoned Cart Recovery growth play. BlueConic divides recovered orders by cart abandonment events. A recovered order is the first order placed within 48 hours after a cart abandonment event. A newly measured outcome can take up to 48 hours to show a complete recovery rate.
Shared campaigns and dialogues
A touchpoint linked to several growth plays is skipped for last-touch attribution, and credit moves to the next most recent eligible touchpoint. BlueConic-observed conversions still count for every growth play the touchpoint is linked to.
When you link a campaign that another outcome already uses, a warning names that growth play. In the Last touch breakdown, a warning icon marks shared campaigns and dialogues.
Tip: To get a clear last-touch result for each growth play, use a separate campaign or dialogue for each one.
Dialogue attribution details
Click-through only: A dialogue view without a click doesn't qualify as a touchpoint.
Historical association: BlueConic records the growth play association when the click occurs. Later canvas changes don't affect earlier clicks.
Next steps
Check whether any campaigns or dialogues are shared between growth plays, and decide whether to separate them.
Review the setup per platform in Outcome measurement data sources.
Review results on the Outcomes tab in Outcome measurement overview.