You’ve got the report – you’ve dug into the data – then BOOM! You notice some differences in data/conversions – HELP!

As digital marketers, we swear by the necessity of data to guide our every step in building, optimizing, and reporting.

But sometimes the data doesn’t line up properly between Google Ads and Google Analytics, or between Facebook Ads and your Lead Tracking Portal. It’s crucial to understand that no ad platform, no analytics tool, no automation system, and no CRM will ever give you 100% perfect data. Here are some of the common reasons why you may see different results between your Lead Tracking Portal, your advertising campaigns, Google Analytics, and more.

1. Attribution Varies Between Platforms

Different marketing platforms use different attribution models. An attribution model is the rule, or set of rules, that determines how credit for conversions is assigned to touchpoints in conversion paths. Each attribution model can attribute your conversions differently to give you different perspectives and results on how your ads are performing.

Some platforms, like the lead tracking platform, credit the way the visitor first got to your website as the source of the conversion. This is called First-Click Attribution. Other platforms, like Facebook Ads, use Last-Click Attribution to register the last method the visitor got to your site as the source of the conversion. And others still, like Google Ads, use a variety of data-driven attribution methods to try to assign the conversion based on machine learning. Because your report pulls from a variety of platforms, there may be some discrepancies between different sections of your report depending on which source is providing the data.

Sound complicated? It is. While we strive for accurate reporting, we recommend allowing for a small margin of error on conversion reporting between platforms.

2. Duplicate Conversion Events

Conversion events fire when certain events take place on your website or booking system. For many, a conversion event is generated when a user sees a confirmation page after filling out a form, booking an appointment, or completing a purchase. If the user reloads this page, or if they navigate away and return to the confirmation page again in the future, the conversion event tag will fire again, creating a duplicate conversion. Unfortunately, these can not be filtered out of reporting. We recommend using your lead tracking portal, booking system, or CRM to track measurable results.

3. Conversion Events Not Firing

Are leads showing up in your Lead Tracking Portal, but not registering in other sections of the report as conversions? Usually, this means that the conversion event is not firing. First, you can reach out to your marketing specialist who will verify that the conversion event is set up properly on the website. If it is, something else is causing the conversion event from firing. Browsers like Safari and Firefox have been rolling out tracking protection, which can prevent ad tracking cookies from firing by default. Additionally, the use of ad blockers is on the rise, which can also limit the functionality of tracking codes.

There are lots of reasons why you might see different results reported between different platforms. If you have any questions about your report, reach out to marketing@cybermark.com so that your Marketing Specialist can help diagnose the disconnect.