What is brand lift?
How does a brand lift study work?
Two groups of people. One saw the campaign. The other, the control group, did not. Both are asked the same questions, such as "Have you seen an ad from this brand?" or "Which of these brands have you heard of?"
The difference in answers between the groups is the brand lift. It is a lift: the difference in results between an exposed group and a comparable control group. The control is what makes it more than a before-and-after chart.
The result is often called a brand lift study or brand lift survey. Same thing.
What does it tell you, and what not?
It tells you whether the campaign changed what people remember or know. That matters for reach-based campaigns, where clicks are a poor yardstick.
It does not tell you the campaign sold anything. Awareness is a step on the way, not the destination. A campaign can lift recall and leave sales unchanged.
So brand lift needs a second question: what links it to sales? That is where incrementality comes in: the extra sales a marketing activity caused. Brand lift can be an early signal that points in that direction. It cannot replace it.
Our view: Use brand lift to judge whether people noticed. Use a sales-based test to judge whether it paid.
Worked example
Easily confused with
Brand lift vs Conversion lift study
A platform-run experiment where users are split into a group that can see the ads and a control that cannot. The difference measured is in conversions, not survey answers.
Brand lift vs Lift
The general idea: exposed group against control. Brand lift applies it to brand metrics. Conversion lift applies it to purchases and other conversions.
Brand lift vs Halo effect
One channel's effect on results elsewhere. A brand effect is sometimes offered as the explanation for it.
FAQ
Is brand lift the same as conversion lift?
No. Brand lift measures survey answers such as recall. Conversion lift measures conversions such as orders. One does not guarantee the other.
Do I need a control group for brand lift?
Yes. Without a control, you cannot tell whether the change came from the campaign or from something else.
Is brand lift worth measuring for a small brand?
Sometimes. If you run reach campaigns, it shows whether people noticed. If you only run direct-response ads, sales-based tests answer the question more directly.
Let’s find what’s actually working.
Next step. See what your ROAS figure leaves out. Use the Is your ROAS real? calculator.