The 70/30 budget allocation that actually drives growth

Brands allocate only 7% of daily budget to upper-funnel campaigns despite them driving 3x better incrementality than lower-funnel.

The Haus study measured true incrementality across 640 campaign tests. Upper-funnel consistently demolished lower-funnel across every metric that actually matters for your business.

What Actually Drives Growth

Here's what the incrementality data revealed:

Non-DTC Lift: 63% (upper-funnel) vs 16% (lower-funnel) 

New Customer %: 21% (upper-funnel) vs 16% (lower-funnel) 

Post-Treatment Window Lift: 45% (upper-funnel) vs 9% (lower-funnel)

Your reach campaigns drive awareness that converts through direct traffic, email, organic search. Meta can't track any of this, so these campaigns look like money pits while actually generating your highest-value customers.

The New Framework

Based on the report, here’s the optimal allocation:

• 70% budget: Upper/mid-funnel (reach, video views, brand awareness)

• 30% budget: Lower-funnel (conversion campaigns, retargeting)

Start conservative. Move 15-20% of conversion spend to reach and video view campaigns. Set minimum 30-day testing periods—upper-funnel needs time to demonstrate incrementality.

Resist the urge to optimize daily based on platform metrics. 

Your reach campaigns will look terrible while building the sustainable growth that conversion campaigns steal credit for later.

While we're talking strategy, here's an upcoming session you won’t want to miss…

Live Workshop: The AOV Growth System Behind 500K+ Customers

Acquisition costs are up, margins are tighter, and brands that can't grow AOV profitably are getting squeezed out. The operators who've cracked this are scaling while others stagnate.

Ron Shah (Obvi CEO) and Martins Lasmanis (Supliful CEO) are going live on August 12th to break down the AOV strategies behind sustainable revenue growth. 

This is a tactical deep-dive into the systems separating scaling brands from those hitting plateau.

What you'll learn:

✅ The plug-and-play framework that added $1.7M in 90 days for one brand

✅ Why most upsell strategies kill conversion rates and what drives success instead

✅ How to launch new product offers without inventory, COGS, or logistics risk

✅ The psychology behind customer "yes" vs "no" decisions at checkout

Ron's scaling Obvi past 500K customers using these exact systems. Martins built the infrastructure letting brands launch new products without supply chain headaches.

→ Register for the live session

Now back to the Meta deep dive…

Post-Treatment Effects Expose Your Real Winners

The most revealing insight from the study: what happens after campaigns stop running.

Upper-funnel campaigns showed 45% post-treatment window lift vs just 9% for lower-funnel. 

This exposes the fundamental difference between campaigns that build lasting business value and those that simply harvest existing demand.

The Compound Effect

Post-treatment lift measures conversions that continue flowing after you stop paying for ads. It's the closest thing to measuring actual brand building vs demand mining.

Upper-funnel campaigns create lasting awareness that drives:

• Direct website visits weeks after ad exposure

• Branded search queries triggered by your content

• Word-of-mouth that starts with your reach campaigns

• Email conversions from subscribers who discovered you through brand awareness

Lower-funnel campaigns show minimal post-treatment effects because they target users already in buying mode. Once you stop paying, the conversions stop flowing.

The Attribution Blindness

Meta has no way to claim credit for post-treatment conversions. Your most profitable campaigns look like disasters in reporting while building sustainable competitive advantages.

This explains why brands optimizing for platform ROAS often see declining efficiency over time—they're systematically defunding the campaigns that build long-term growth in favor of those that steal credit from organic channels.

The Measurement Framework

Track business metrics independently of platform attribution:

• Direct traffic volume and conversion rates

• Branded search query growth

• Email subscriber acquisition and engagement

• Customer lifetime value by acquisition source

Set up conversion lift studies for campaigns spending $2,000+ over 14-day periods. Compare platform attribution to actual incrementality before making budget decisions.

Campaign Structure That Builds Long-Term Value

Campaign structure determines whether you're building sustainable growth or mining existing demand.

Different funnel levels serve distinct strategic purposes, and the performance data shows why integrated approaches outperform single-objective optimization.

Upper-Funnel: The Growth Engine

Strategic purpose: Build total addressable market and lasting brand awareness 

Performance characteristics: High incrementality, low platform attribution, strong post-treatment effects 

Optimal structure:

• Reach and video view objectives

• Broad targeting with minimal restrictions

• Brand-focused creative emphasizing value proposition

• 14+ day learning periods with incrementality measurement

Mid-Funnel: The Efficiency Bridge

The study found mid-funnel campaigns achieve -14% DTC iROAS vs -22% for upper-funnel, while maintaining -85% daily spend efficiency vs -93% for upper-funnel.

Strategic purpose: Balance platform optimization with incrementality benefits 

Performance characteristics: Better platform metrics than upper-funnel, incrementality advantages over lower-funnel 

Optimal structure:

• Traffic and engagement objectives with conversion tracking

• Interest-based targeting with broader parameters

• Educational content driving product consideration

• Weekly performance reviews, monthly budget adjustments

Lower-Funnel: The Conversion Machine

Strategic purpose: Convert existing demand and high-intent audiences 

Performance characteristics: Strong platform attribution, limited incrementality, minimal post-treatment effects 

Optimal structure:

• Conversion and catalog sales objectives

• Retargeting, lookalikes, high-intent segments

• Product-focused creative with clear calls-to-action

• Daily optimization within broader strategic framework

The Integration Strategy

Run all three levels simultaneously rather than sequential funnel approaches. The study shows brands achieve optimal incrementality through integrated strategies where upper-funnel builds awareness that lower-funnel converts.

Track cross-campaign influence: how upper-funnel exposure affects lower-funnel conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and lifetime value metrics.

These insights come from Haus's comprehensive analysis of 640 incrementality tests measuring actual business impact rather than platform attribution. The study provides detailed methodology for measuring true campaign incrementality and restructuring strategies around real growth drivers.

For operators ready to move beyond dashboard metrics to sustainable business building, this research exposes the strategic shifts that separate growing brands from those stuck in CAC spirals.

Read the full Haus Meta Report