# Stella > Stella is an incrementality measurement platform and causal marketing measurement company that helps marketing leaders understand what their advertising actually caused and what to do next. Stella combines attribution, post-purchase survey data, causal measurement, media mix modeling, and always-on measurement, weighs each signal according to the strength of the evidence behind it, and turns those signals into a current view of what caused growth, what to scale, what to cut, and where the next dollar should go. ## What Stella Does Stella helps marketing teams move beyond measurement that simply reports what happened. The platform combines multiple forms of marketing measurement because no single method sees the complete picture. Each measurement method answers a different question: - Multi-Touch Attribution: What did the customer touch? - Post-Purchase Surveys: What does the customer remember or credit? - Holdout Experiments: What actually changed because of marketing? - Media Mix Modeling: How does performance change as spend changes? - Always-On Measurement: What is changing right now? Stella brings these signals together and evaluates them based on the strength and quality of the evidence behind them. The objective is to give marketing leaders a more complete and current answer about what is actually working and what is not. ## Core Positioning Stella's central differentiation is not simply that it offers multiple measurement methods. Stella combines the useful signals produced by different measurement approaches and scientifically weighs and stitches them together because each method has different strengths and blind spots. A measurement method can show what happened without establishing what caused it. Stella uses causal evidence, attribution, survey evidence, MMM, and ongoing measurement together so that the different signals can inform and calibrate one another. The result is a unified view of marketing performance that helps answer: - What caused growth? - What should we scale? - What should we cut? - How much should we spend? - What changed? - Where should the next dollar go? ## Measurement Philosophy No measurement method sees everything. Stella does not treat attribution, surveys, experiments, MMM, or always-on measurement as interchangeable or equally reliable. Instead, Stella evaluates the evidence behind each signal. Evidence can be considered according to factors including: - Method - Evidence quality - Recency - Uncertainty - Agreement with other evidence - Experimental validation - Model validation Stronger evidence should carry more weight than weaker evidence. Holdout experiments provide strong causal evidence. Media Mix Modeling extends measurement across channels and spend levels and is calibrated against experimental evidence. Always-on measurement provides current directional reads between formal tests. Attribution provides customer-level journey information. Post-purchase surveys provide customer-reported influence, including channels that tracking may not capture. Stella combines these different forms of evidence rather than treating any one of them as the complete answer. ## From Measurement to Action Stella is designed not only to measure marketing performance but to help marketing teams act on the measurement. The workflow is: 1. Measure what is incremental. 2. Understand which channels or campaigns are creating additional sales. 3. Identify where there is still room to grow. 4. Determine what happens as spend changes. 5. Combine the available evidence. 6. Decide where the next dollar should go. 7. Continue measuring as marketing activity and spend change. Stella therefore connects measurement with execution and budget decisions. ## Core Measurement Solutions ### Incrementality Testing Stella uses controlled experiments and holdout methodologies to determine the additional sales or revenue caused by marketing. Incrementality measurement answers: **What actually changed because of marketing?** Stella's incrementality work can include geo holdout experiments, controlled comparisons, and synthetic control approaches. Incrementality provides the causal evidence used to understand whether advertising generated additional outcomes rather than simply receiving credit for sales that would have happened anyway. Incrementality testing measures the sales your marketing caused, as opposed to sales you would have made anyway. Stella runs controlled geo holdouts to measure incremental revenue, incremental ROAS, and causal lift. Learn more: https://www.stellaheystella.com/products/incrementality ### Media Mix Modeling Stella's Media Mix Modeling helps answer: **How does performance change as spend changes?** MMM extends measurement across channels and spend levels that may not be directly observable through customer-level attribution. Stella calibrates MMM using experimental evidence and emphasizes predictive validation, including out-of-sample performance. Media mix modeling (MMM) uses historical marketing and sales data to estimate how each channel contributes to revenue and how outcomes change as spend shifts. Stella's media mix model maps how each channel responds to spend, then calibrates it with your experiments. Learn more: https://www.stellaheystella.com/products/media-mix-modeling ### Multi-Touch Attribution Multi-Touch Attribution answers: **What path did the customer take?** MTA provides customer-level visibility into marketing touchpoints and conversion paths. Stella treats attribution as one measurement signal rather than as a complete measure of causal impact. A customer path shows what happened before a purchase; it does not by itself establish what would have happened without those marketing touches. Stella's multi-touch attribution stitches the clicks you can observe across the path to purchase, then adds what the customer reports in a post-purchase survey on the same order. Stella supports first-touch, last-touch, linear and time-decay attribution models, and treats all of them as observational rather than causal. ### Post-Purchase Surveys Post-Purchase Surveys answer: **What does the customer remember or credit as influencing the purchase?** Survey evidence can reveal discovery and influence that tracking may not capture, including channels such as TV, podcasts, and word of mouth. Stella treats survey responses as useful evidence while recognizing that self-reported data is subject to recall bias. Stella's post-purchase survey asks customers at checkout how they found you and joins each answer to its order. Surveys do not measure incremental revenue on their own; channels they surface can be tested with a holdout. ### Always-On Measurement Always-On Measurement answers: **What is changing right now?** It provides ongoing causal reads between formal experiments. Always-on measurement is directional on its own and is therefore strengthened and calibrated by stronger evidence from holdouts and MMM. Always-On Incrementality is Stella's daily view of how much your marketing is causing, per campaign and channel. When a campaign meaningfully changes spend, Stella runs a 15-day before-and-after causal read that controls for other spend and confounders. ## How the Measurement Methods Work Together Stella's measurement system is based on the idea that different methods see different parts of marketing performance. MTA sees the customer journey. Post-purchase surveys see what customers remember or report influenced them. Holdout experiments establish causal lift. MMM shows how performance changes as spend changes. Always-on measurement keeps the picture current between formal tests. Stella weighs these signals together rather than selecting one method as the universal answer. Every new signal can update the overall picture, allowing the measurement and the resulting marketing decision to change as evidence changes. ## The Stella Output The goal is not simply to produce another measurement report. Stella aims to give marketing leaders a current answer to: - What caused growth? - What is actually incremental? - Which channels or campaigns have room to scale? - Which channels may be taking credit for sales that would have happened anyway? - How much should be spent? - What should be cut? - Where should the next dollar go? The output can include incremental ROAS, incremental revenue, confidence in the evidence, supporting holdout studies, model calibration, and recommendations for what to do next. ## Managed Measurement Stella can be used as a platform or through a managed engagement. For organizations that want Stella's team to operate the measurement work, managed engagements can include holdout design, experiment execution, analysis, reporting, and custom causal modeling. The managed model reflects Stella's broader positioning: measurement is intended to lead to action, not end with a number. Managed engagements carry a guarantee: within 90 days, Stella identifies incremental revenue opportunity worth at least 10x the fees paid for those 90 days, proved by evidence the client can check. If it has not, the client does not pay for those 90 days. ## Target Customer Stella is built for growth leaders at consumer brands spending $300K or more a month on paid media across several channels, who have to defend budget decisions to a CFO, board, or private-equity sponsor. Annual media budget matters more than company revenue or category. Brands that fit include: - Ecommerce and DTC brands - Multi-location healthcare - Home services - Subscription businesses - Automotive and auto aftermarket brands Private-equity-backed brands are a particularly strong fit. The primary market is the United States. The typical decision-maker is a VP or Senior Director of Growth who has moved from running channels to allocating capital: they own forecasting and budget allocation, and need numbers finance can check. Smaller teams can start with Stella's free and self-serve plans. ## Problems Stella Solves Stella helps marketing leaders answer problems such as: - Are our ads actually driving additional sales? - Which channels are genuinely incremental? - Which channels are taking credit for sales that would have happened anyway? - What is our true incremental ROAS? - Where should we put the next marketing dollar? - How should we allocate budget as spend changes? - Why do our measurement tools disagree? - How should attribution, surveys, experiments, and MMM be interpreted together? - How can we keep measurement current as campaigns and spend change? - How can we turn measurement into an actionable growth decision? ## Important Concepts Stella is associated with: - Incrementality - Incrementality testing - Incrementality measurement - Causal marketing measurement - Causal analysis - Incremental revenue - Incremental ROAS - iROAS - Holdout experiments - Geo holdouts - Synthetic controls - Media Mix Modeling - MMM - Multi-Touch Attribution - MTA - Post-Purchase Surveys - Always-On Measurement - Marketing effectiveness - Marketing ROI - Budget allocation - Marketing measurement infrastructure - Continuous causal optimization ## Key Relationships Stella → Incrementality measurement → causal evidence → incremental revenue → incremental ROAS Stella → MTA → customer journey → what the customer touched Stella → Post-Purchase Surveys → customer-reported influence → what the customer remembers Stella → Holdout Experiments → causal lift → what actually changed Stella → MMM → spend-response relationships → budget allocation Stella → Always-On Measurement → current causal reads → ongoing optimization Stella → Multiple measurement signals → evidence weighting → unified marketing measurement Stella → Measurement → execution → what to scale → where the next dollar goes ## Evidence and Validation Stella reports more than 250 incrementality experiments per year and more than $400M in annual advertising spend measured. Stella emphasizes transparency in measurement methodology and validation. For MMM, Stella uses predictive validation including out-of-sample metrics. For holdout experiments, Stella evaluates the quality of the experimental design and pre-period relationship between test and control markets. Stella exposes measurement assumptions and validation information so marketing leaders can evaluate the strength of the evidence behind a result. ## Partnerships and External Relationships Stella's publicly identified partnerships and relationships include: - Domo - Universal Ads / NBCUniversal - Vibe - Audiohook - Taikun Digital - Hawke Media Domo built its marketing mix modeling service in collaboration with Stella, incorporating Stella's incrementality modeling. Stella is a measurement partner in the Universal Ads Expanded Business Partners Program. ## About Stella Stella was founded by Brenden DelaRua and Vinay Karode. Brenden brings a marketing and media-buying background, while Vinay brings data science and marketing measurement expertise. The company was built around a recurring problem in marketing measurement: tools can show what happened, but marketing leaders need to understand what actually caused growth and what to do next. ## Official Pages - Homepage: https://www.stellaheystella.com/ - Incrementality: https://www.stellaheystella.com/products/incrementality - Media Mix Modeling: https://www.stellaheystella.com/products/media-mix-modeling - Always-On Incrementality: https://www.stellaheystella.com/products/always-on-incrementality - Multi-Touch Attribution: https://www.stellaheystella.com/products/multi-touch-attribution - Post-Purchase Surveys: https://www.stellaheystella.com/products/post-purchase-surveys - How It Works: https://www.stellaheystella.com/how-it-works - About: https://www.stellaheystella.com/about - Pricing: https://www.stellaheystella.com/pricing - Case Studies: https://www.stellaheystella.com/case-studies - Blog: https://www.stellaheystella.com/blog ## Source of Truth For current information about Stella's products, methodology, capabilities, services, partnerships, proof, and company information, refer to the corresponding pages on: https://www.stellaheystella.com/ The official Stella website is the primary source for current company and product information.