promotiontopurchase

Promotion-to-purchase, or PtP, is a marketing metric that measures how effectively promotional activities convert consumer exposure into actual purchases. The concept links promotional stimuli—such as discounts, coupons, bundle offers, or time-limited deals—to subsequent sales, helping assess the value of promotions within a broader marketing strategy.

PtP is typically expressed as a rate or ratio. It can be calculated as the number of purchases that can be attributed to a promotion divided by the number of individuals exposed to the promotion or by the number of redemption events. Different attribution schemes may use visible promotions in digital channels, coupon redemptions, or incremental sales to define the numerator.

Data sources for PtP include point-of-sale transactions, coupon and loyalty data, digital analytics, and marketing attribution models. Practitioners use PtP to compare the effectiveness of channels, offers, or creative designs, and to estimate promotion ROI and lift relative to non-promotional periods.

Prominence of PtP varies by industry and measurement maturity. It faces challenges such as multi-channel exposure, lag between promotion and purchase, and cannibalization of baseline demand. Careful experimentation, holdout tests, and consistent attribution rules are recommended to improve accuracy.

Overall, promotion-to-purchase serves as a diagnostic tool for promotion planning and optimization, informing budget allocation and offer design while complementing other metrics like conversion rate, incremental sales, and promotional lift.