From Attribution Noise to Causal Truth: How Maxma Supports Outschool's Always-On Testing Cadence

About Outschool

Outschool is a leading online education platform offering live, small-group classes for kids ages 3–18. It offers more than 140,000 live online classes to more than 1,500,000 learners in 183 countries worldwide.

Executive Summary

The marketing team at Outschool understood the biases in attribution and wanted to use scientifically rigorous incrementality testing to measure true causal impact and guide day-to-day decisions. Maxma provided a platform that automates the end-to-end workflow—from setup to launch to evaluation—with optional expert support when needed.

In the first 2 months using Maxma, the team:

• Ran 4 tests across top-of-funnel, lower-funnel, and new channel expansion initiatives
• Scaled a top-of-funnel tactic that proved incremental even when under-credited by attribution
• Right-sized lower-funnel investment based on true lift
• Avoided wasted budget on an expansion that didn’t qualify at the current setup

With the foundation in place, the team now runs incrementality tests always-on—so growth decisions stay anchored on evidence of what truly works for their business, not attribution assumptions.

The Challenge

The team was already sophisticated about attribution biases. They knew that upper-funnel efforts often look weak in UTMs and platform reporting—even when they create real lift—because of tracking limitations, view-through behavior, and delayed conversions. They also knew that “great-looking” lower-funnel campaigns like retargeting can be partially non-incremental, taking credit for conversions that would have happened anyway.

What they needed was a scalable way to answer, continuously: what’s incremental, by how much, and at what cost? So incrementality could guide day-to-day decisions—what to scale, what to cut, and validate new bets before committing a meaningful budget.

The Maxma Solution

Maxma provided a SaaS platform that automates the end-to-end incrementality workflow—from setup to launch to evaluation—making the process fast and streamlined. The team also added optional Maxma consultancy or managed service as needed, supported by our flexible per-test pricing model.

Week 1 — Data onboarding

Maxma integrated directly with the customer’s database to pull non-PII, first-party KPI data (covering 5+ key metrics) as the source of truth. This removed ongoing CSV handoffs and dependency on the data team—so every test can be evaluated against the latest KPI data with minimal overhead.

Week 2+ — Run tests end-to-end on demand

• Design: Set up a rigorous test vs. holdout plan—control selection, holdout size, test length, and budget—tuned to the team’s constraints and the efficiency/detectability threshold they care about.
• Launch: Deploy (and revert) the test setup through ad platform integrations with push-button ease (when applicable).
• Evaluate: Read results anytime during or after the test—supporting midpoint checks, early stops, and measurement of delayed lingering effects.

The Outcome

Within just 2 months of partnering with Maxma, the team ran 4 causal tests with minimal operational overhead. They were able to:

• Test a new channel with the minimum measurable budget, saw it wasn’t delivering incremental impact at the current setup, and avoided premature scaling.
• Scale a top-of-funnel initiative with confidence, despite it being under-credited in platform/UTM reporting due to view-through and delayed conversions.
• Right-size lower-funnel investment, preventing over-scaling while keeping what met their efficiency bar.

This is just the beginning: with the foundation in place, the team plans to keep incrementality testing running all the time—unlocking a real shift in how they operate. Instead of debating attribution numbers or following generic playbooks, they’re building a culture of testing, learning, and finding what truly works for their business—and letting proven business impact (not attribution assumptions) guide where they invest next.

Final Takeaway: From Manual to Always-On

Most teams treat incrementality testing like a one-off project. The real win is weaving it into the workflow and culture—so teams can test more, learn faster, and run an evidence-based, continuous growth loop. A highly automated incrementality testing platform is the foundation that makes this cadence operationally realistic.