---
id: "prereq-digital-advertising-metrics"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["§ Performance Accountability Is Not Optional Anymore"]
tags: ["marketing-101", "analytics"]
related: ["concept-vanity-metrics", "concept-performance-accountability"]
reason: "Needed to understand the shift from vanity metrics to performance accountability."
source_url: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/the-importance-of-trust-and-transparency-in-retail-media-networks"
source_title: "The Importance of Trust and Transparency in Retail Media Networks"
sources: ["attention"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-attention"
originDay: 4
articleStem: "hbr-foci-71-retail-media-networks-trust"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/09/the-importance-of-trust-and-transparency-in-retail-media-networks"
sourceTitle: "The Importance of Trust and Transparency in Retail Media Networks"
---
# Familiarity with Digital Advertising Metrics

**Prerequisite.** The text assumes the reader knows what *impressions*, *clickthrough rates (CTR)*, and *incremental sales* are, and why relying on *modeled guesswork* is inferior to deterministic transaction linking.

**Why it matters.** This vocabulary is needed to follow the shift from [[concept-vanity-metrics]] to [[concept-performance-accountability]] and to evaluate the action [[action-link-ads-to-transactions]].