A lot of sellers have been measuring success in the wrong window. That was one o
By Joeshelerud · November 3, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
A lot of sellers have been measuring success in the wrong window.
That was one of the clearest takeaways from my conversation with Steven O'Reilly at unBoxed. Historically, the focus has been short-term ROI. And that usually means targeting the same existing customers over and over.
Steven's point is that AI changes that. It helps advertisers find and reach more new-to-brand customers, and it lets brands judge sales performance over something like a 12-month horizon instead of the immediate return.
The thing is, that only works if you can see the whole journey. Not just the immediate purchase, but the ad view, the add-to-cart, the delayed purchase, and the repeat order. AI tracks all of it cumulatively across the funnel.
And it's showing up in the results. Steven shared that full-funnel campaigns using AI have lowered acquisition costs for new-to-brand buyers and delivered a stronger overall ROI.
From where I sit, this is a data story as much as an advertising one. Full-funnel visibility is only as good as the systems feeding it.
If short-term ROI is still the main scorecard for your campaigns, let's talk.