New-to-brand: why we don't take the platform number at face value

Each platform counts it differently

Amazon counts a shopper as new to brand if they haven't bought from you on Amazon in the last 12 months. Meta and TikTok count against what their own pixel can see. None of them see each other.

So a shopper who found you on TikTok and bought on your site, then bought again on Amazon, can be counted as new twice. And a loyal DTC customer making their first Amazon purchase shows up as an Amazon acquisition.

Where we look instead

• 01Amazon Marketing Cloud, which shows new-to-brand across Sponsored Ads and DSP in one place
• 02Repeat behavior over the next few months, since real new customers should show up again in repeat and Subscribe & Save numbers
• 03Order-level data from your own site, wherever we can match it against what each platform claimed

What it changes in the budget

Once new-to-brand is measured properly, the budget conversation changes. A prospecting campaign with an average ROAS that's bringing in real new customers is often some of the best money in the account. A retargeting campaign with a great ROAS might be charging you for customers you already had.

It's also how we'd grade an event like Prime Day: how many new customers came in, and what each one cost. Sales alone don't tell you whether the discount paid off.