Study: 80% Marketers optimise without verified purchase data
May 22, 2026
Despite years of significant technological investments, most marketers still cannot connect ad exposure to actual purchases in real-time for measurement or optimisation, according to research released by the Affinity Solutions Outcomes Marketing Council, a collaborative forum that includes leaders from DoubleVerify, Claritas, Lexitas and more, focused on advancing outcomes-based advertising and measurement.
The study found that four in five respondents said they primarily optimise campaigns in-flight using signals other than verified purchase data, and when those decisions are later reconciled against actual sales outcomes, roughly 35 per cent find they don’t hold up. This shows that marketers remain heavily reliant on proxy metrics such as attributedconversions, modeled outputs, and brand lift studies due to the disconnect between reliable, real-time data delivery.
The findings are detailed in Measurement’s Tipping Point: The Optimization Blueprint for Brand Growth, a report based on a March 2026 survey of 210 senior marketing leaders across brands and agencies exploring how marketers are navigating growing pressure to connect advertising investments to verified business outcomes in real time.
The research also highlights that more than two-thirds of marketers estimate at least 11 per cent of their media budgets are wasted due to optimisation lag, while more than a third believe waste exceeds 26 per cent. With marketers spending billions of dollars a year, this amounts to billions in annual waste. Adding to the challenge, 91 per cent of marketers say platform-reported results are overstated to some degree, highlighting growing concerns around the reliability of modern measurement systems.
“Marketing is still optimising against signals that are too slow, fragmented, and disconnected from actual sales,” commented Damian Garbaccio, Chief Commercial & Marketing Officer at Affinity Solutions. “That creates enormous systemic waste. The marketers who close the gap between media spend and verified outcomes will have a major competitive advantage.”
Additional findings from the report include:
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Strong upside for early adopters: Nearly half of all respondents expect double-digit ROAS gains from real-time purchase signal optimisation, while roughly one in five marketers already use verified purchase data as a primary optimization signal.
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Systemic barriers remain: Data latency, limited access to transaction data, privacy constraints, internal processes, and budget all emerged as major obstacles to purchase-based optimisation.
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Long data paths slow decision-making: Nearly two-thirds of marketers report three or more steps between a transaction and a campaign optimisation decision, increasing latency and degrading data quality.
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AI adoption is accelerating, but data quality lags: More than three-quarters of campaign optimisation involves some degree of automation, but only 20 per cent is fully automated. Poor data quality is the top factor limiting AI effectiveness.
“We’re at an inflection point. The marketers pulling ahead aren’t waiting for better tools. They’re operating on better data,” said Chase Miller, Chief Growth Officer at Claritas. “When verified purchase data drives optimisation and AI has deterministic inputs to work with, performance stops being episodic and starts being continuous. That’s the opportunity in front of every marketer today.”
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