A marketing team uses Google Ads for paid search and also runs paid campaigns on a third-party social media platform. They've linked their Google Ads account but haven't imported cost data for their social media campaigns. What will happen when they use the Scenario Planner to optimize their future budget?
Correct Answer
The tool will be unavailable, showing a screen that explains the eligibility requirements, including the need to import non-Google campaign data.
Why is this the correct answer?
The tool will be unavailable, showing a screen that explains the eligibility requirements, including the need to import cost data. Return-on-investment analysis across channels depends on knowing what each channel cost, and Analytics only receives cost data automatically from linked Google properties. Spend on a third-party social platform has to be imported, and without it Analytics can see conversions attributed to that channel but has no spend figure to compare them against. Rather than presenting a misleading comparison built on a missing number, the tool explains what is required. That behaviour is worth remembering, because it reflects a broader principle: cross-channel ROI reporting is only as trustworthy as its cost inputs, and a channel showing revenue with no recorded cost will always look artificially efficient in any analysis that does manage to run.
Why are the other options wrong?
The tool will recommend allocating 0% of the budget to the social media channel because it interprets the missing cost data as zero investment.
The tool does not treat missing cost as zero budget-worthiness and recommend 0%. It reports the eligibility requirement instead.
The tool will provide accurate recommendations by using Google’s machine learning to estimate the missing cost data from the social media channel.
Missing spend is not estimated by machine learning. Cost data must be imported for the analysis to run.
The tool will overestimate the return on investment (ROI) from social media, as it will see conversions from that channel without any associated costs.
This describes the danger that would exist if the tool ran regardless, which is precisely why it does not run without cost data.
Real-world example
A retailer expects to compare Google Ads and paid social side by side, and instead sees the eligibility screen. They set up a scheduled cost data import for social spend, after which the comparison runs and shows social ROI well below the figure the team had assumed.
Topics in this question
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