Marketing Attribution Sanity Checks for CFOs

Board-ready attribution is not a single magical model—it is a set of tests that prevent expensive self-deception. If a model cannot survive a holdout, incrementality checks, and skeptical finance questions, it is not ready to steer budget.

Start with the decision

Are you optimizing short-term pipeline, long-term brand, or partner-sourced revenue? The right model depends on the decision—and mixing goals creates mush.

Sanity checks that work

1. Incrementality experiments — geo or audience holdouts with pre-registered analysis
2. Blended models — combine touch-based signals with experiments for calibration
3. Scenario ranges — report uncertainty; point estimates alone mislead

Question	Healthy answer
What changed last quarter?	Drivers + confidence intervals
What happens if we cut channel X?	Bounded scenario, not vibes
Do paid and organic overlap?	Documented overlap rules

Culture: finance as partner

Give CFOs tools they can interrogate. Transparency builds speed.

DigiiMark helps teams build attribution narratives that survive scrutiny—so growth investments compound instead of arguing in circles.