Quick Start

This guide walks through a practical first setup for a DriveMetaData workspace. It is written for a marketer or growth operator working with an analytics or engineering partner.

Before you begin

Confirm that you have:

• Access to your DriveMetaData workspace.
• Permission to add or request data source connections.
• A list of priority events and KPIs.
• The campaign naming convention used by paid media channels.
• Consent, suppression, and data handling requirements from your internal team.

Step 1: Create the workspace plan

Create a short setup plan with these fields:

Field	Example
Primary objective	Improve paid acquisition measurement
Priority channels	Google Ads, Meta, TikTok, email
Priority events	Signup, trial started, purchase, subscription renewed
Primary KPIs	ROAS, CAC, conversion rate, LTV
First report	Acquisition funnel by campaign and channel

Step 2: Connect initial data sources

Start with the sources needed to answer one business question. A common first setup connects:

• Website or app behavior events.
• Ad platform campaign data.
• CRM or subscription records.
• Purchase, booking, or conversion data.
• Offline conversion imports if they are important to final revenue reporting.

See Connect data sources for a more detailed workflow.

Step 3: Validate identity and events

Open a small sample of users and check:

• Anonymous activity is attached to a known profile after signup or login where permitted.
• Campaign parameters are captured consistently.
• Conversion timestamps reflect when the user actually completed the action.
• Duplicate events are not inflating conversion or revenue counts.
• Test users and internal traffic are filtered or labeled.

Step 4: Build the first funnel

Use a funnel that maps to the first business objective. For example:

1. Ad click
2. Landing page view
3. Signup started
4. Signup completed
5. Purchase

Break the funnel down by campaign, channel, device, and segment only after the overall numbers look credible.

Step 5: Create a starter segment

Create one operational audience such as:

• High-intent visitors who viewed pricing but did not convert.
• Trial users who activated a feature but did not purchase.
• Customers with repeat purchase signals.
• Users with churn risk based on declining engagement.

Review Create a segment before sending the segment to a channel.

Step 6: Launch with controls

Before activating an audience:

• Confirm suppression lists.
• Confirm consent and channel eligibility rules.
• Preview audience size and sample members.
• Use a short test period.
• Compare results against a holdout, baseline, or prior campaign where available.

Troubleshooting

Issue	What to check
Conversions do not match ad platforms	Attribution window, timestamp timezone, deduplication, and source of truth
Segment size is too large	Event conditions, lookback window, identity merge rules, exclusion criteria
Segment size is too small	Missing events, stale source sync, strict filters, consent limitations
ROAS looks incorrect	Revenue event mapping, refunds, currency handling, campaign cost imports

note

Do not treat the first report as final until the source data, event definitions, and attribution logic have been reviewed with the teams that own them.