Lab // Articles / A thousand confirmations
Marketing articles from the LabThe science behind growth, in plain language.
The InTrendz Lab publishes practical articles on AI search, performance marketing, growth math, B2B go-to-market and AI marketing operations. Every article answers one question, cites its sources, shows when it was last updated, and links to a free tool so you can check the math yourself.
What is generative engine optimization (GEO)?
Generative engine optimization, or GEO, is the practice of improving how often AI engines such as ChatGPT, Perplexity and Copilot mention or cite your brand in their answers.
Showing 31 of 31 articles
- AI Search and GEO / 1 min read
How to get your brand cited by ChatGPT
To get cited by ChatGPT, publish pages that answer specific buyer questions in the first sentence, back claims with named sources, and keep your brand facts consistent across the web.
- AI Search and GEO / 1 min read
Answer engine optimization checklist for 2026
Answer engine optimization, or AEO, prepares your pages to be used as direct answers in featured snippets, voice assistants and AI summaries.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
What is a good ROAS for your business?
A good ROAS is any figure comfortably above your break-even ROAS, which equals one divided by your gross margin.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
Break-even ROAS explained with examples
Break-even ROAS is the return on ad spend at which a campaign earns no profit and no loss after product costs.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
What is adstock and why does it matter for ad budgets?
Adstock is the carryover effect of advertising: spend in one week keeps influencing sales in later weeks, fading at a steady rate.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
How to find your optimal ad spend with a saturation curve
Your optimal ad spend is the level at which one more dollar returns exactly one dollar of revenue, or of profit if you model profit.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
How to lower your cost per click without losing conversions
You lower cost per click by raising your click-through rate and ad relevance, since auctions reward ads that users find useful.
- Growth Loops and Referrals / 1 min read
What is a K-factor and how do you calculate it?
A K-factor measures viral growth: the number of new users each existing user brings in.
- Growth Loops and Referrals / 1 min read
How to build a referral program that pays for itself
A referral program pays for itself when the reward cost per referred customer is lower than the cost of acquiring that customer through other channels.
- Unit Economics and Measurement / 1 min read
CAC payback period: how to calculate it and what to aim for
CAC payback period is the number of months of gross profit needed to recover what you spent to win a customer.
- Unit Economics and Measurement / 1 min read
Margin vs markup for ecommerce sellers
Margin is profit divided by the selling price, while markup is profit divided by cost.
- Content and SEO Economics / 1 min read
SEO vs paid ads: which costs less over two years?
Paid ads cost less to start and stop working the day spend stops, while SEO costs more up front and keeps earning for years.
- Content and SEO Economics / 1 min read
How to write answer blocks that AI engines quote
An answer block is a 40 to 60 word passage placed directly under a heading that answers the heading's question in full.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
Ad creative fatigue: how to spot it and when to refresh
Ad creative fatigue shows up as a steady fall in click-through rate and a rise in cost per result while spend stays flat.
- Growth Loops and Referrals / 1 min read
How to forecast product adoption with the Bass model
The Bass model forecasts adoption with two rates: innovation, from people who buy on their own, and imitation, from people influenced by earlier buyers.
- Unit Economics and Measurement / 1 min read
How to calculate customer lifetime value with churn and discounting
Customer lifetime value is the gross profit a customer generates over their time with you, adjusted for the chance they leave each month and for the time value of money.
- Unit Economics and Measurement / 1 min read
How many SDRs do you need to reply to leads within five minutes?
The number of SDRs you need depends on peak leads per hour, the time each lead takes to handle and the reply time you want.
- Unit Economics and Measurement / 1 min read
How to find your conversion funnel bottleneck
Your funnel bottleneck is the stage where a small improvement adds the most sales.
- Unit Economics and Measurement / 1 min read
How to size an A/B test before you launch it
Size an A/B test by choosing your baseline conversion rate, the smallest lift worth detecting, a confidence level of 95 percent and a power of 80 percent.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
How to allocate a marketing budget across channels with risk in mind
Allocate budget by treating channels like a portfolio: estimate each channel's expected ROAS and its volatility, check how closely the channels move together, then choose the split that gives the best expected return for the risk you accept.
- Content and SEO Economics / 1 min read
How often to email customers, using the forgetting curve
Email often enough that recall stays above a level you choose, and no more often.
- Content and SEO Economics / 1 min read
When does SEO pay back? A breakeven model for content
SEO pays back when the paid-media cost of the traffic your content earns passes the cost of making it.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
Share of voice and market share: how much spend it takes to grow
Share of voice is your spend as a share of total category spend.
- Unit Economics and Measurement / 1 min read
How much can you raise prices before customers notice?
Customers usually notice a price change once it passes a threshold proportional to the current price, often 5 to 10 percent.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
How tax on ad invoices changes your real ad budget
When an ad platform adds tax to your invoice, the real cost is the budget times one plus the tax rate, unless you can claim the tax back.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
GST and HST on Google and Meta ads for Canadian advertisers
Tax on ads changes your real cost per click and your ROAS.
- Growth Loops and Referrals / 1 min read
CASL email marketing rules: a practical guide for referral programs
Canada's anti-spam law, CASL, requires consent before you send commercial electronic messages, a clear sender identity and a working unsubscribe link.
- Unit Economics and Measurement / 1 min read
Calculating ecommerce margin in Canada after GST, HST and duties
Ecommerce margin in Canada should be calculated on the price before sales tax, after product cost, shipping, duties and payment fees.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
Setting a marketing budget for a Canadian small business
Many small businesses set a marketing budget between 7 and 12 percent of revenue, with growth-stage companies spending more.
- Paid Media Math / 1 min read
GST on Google and Meta ads in India: how it changes your ROAS
Advertisers in India usually pay 18 percent GST on Google and Meta ad invoices, and GST-registered businesses can often claim it as input credit.
- Growth Loops and Referrals / 1 min read
WhatsApp referral marketing for Indian small businesses
WhatsApp is a practical referral channel for small Indian businesses because customers already share links and offers there.
Topics
Browse by topic
AI Search and GEO
AI search optimization helps your brand appear in answers written by ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot and Google.
Pillar 02Paid Media Math
Paid media math turns ad platform numbers into budget decisions.
Pillar 03Growth Loops and Referrals
Growth loops are systems where each new customer helps bring in the next one.
Pillar 04Unit Economics and Measurement
Unit economics describe what a single customer or sale earns and costs.
Pillar 05Content and SEO Economics
Content economics asks what a page costs to produce, how long it earns and when it beats paid media.
ReferenceGlossary
Short, exact definitions of marketing terms.
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