Consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketers often struggle to measure the return on investment (ROI) for promotions, especially in-store sales, which still account for about 80% of purchases despite growing e-commerce trends. On November 3, Ibotta introduced LiveLift, a tool designed to address this challenge.
LiveLift is an in-flight campaign measurement and optimization solution that analyzes billions of transactions from over 80 major retailers, including Walmart, Instacart, and DoorDash. It compares groups of consumers who have and have not seen specific promotions to identify baseline sales and incremental lift caused by campaigns.
The tool has been piloted by companies such as Kimberly-Clark, Hain Celestial, and Liquid Death. In Liquid Death’s test, LiveLift generated a 19% sales increase and a 23% rise in daily units sold. Benoit Vatere, Liquid Death’s Chief Media Officer, called the tool a “no-brainer” for optimizing promo spend toward incremental sales rather than existing buyer behavior.
Looking ahead, Ibotta plans to expand LiveLift with features for more frequent measurement and enhanced optimization, aiming to improve performance marketing capabilities for CPG brands. Bryan Leach, Ibotta’s CEO, highlighted that LiveLift brings digital-level measurement precision to national promotion strategies, enabling scalable, efficient volume growth.
Liquid Death, traditionally focused on top-of-funnel marketing without heavy media investment, is using LiveLift to funnel consumers through temporary price reductions and boost incremental revenue. Vatere emphasized the importance of targeting promotions carefully to avoid spending on consumers who would purchase regardless.
This launch follows Ibotta’s partnership with analytics firm Circana, which enhances measurement with AI-powered Household Lift analytics. Circana studies show Ibotta campaigns delivering strong incremental sales above category benchmarks. For Liquid Death, LiveLift-backed campaigns are a vital part of their lower-funnel strategy, balancing budget constraints with the need for both top and lower-funnel marketing.
“The biggest issue with smaller brands is thinking because they have less dollars, they should just be in the lower funnel,” Vatere said. “You need to have both. The mix has to always be the same, but the dollar amounts will vary.”