Attribution window
Definition: An attribution window is the period after an ad click or view in which an advertising platform may credit a purchase to that ad. Each platform has its own windows and rules, so the number of purchases “from ads” in Meta, in Google Ads and in the shop is never the same.
A gap between a platform’s purchase count and shop orders is usually not an error. It comes from different windows and counting rules.
Also called: conversion window, lookback window, attribution setting
The demo has sample data; the login comes to your e-mail.
Why it matters for a shop
When you compare a Meta report with orders you compare two different definitions. The platform counts purchases it credits to ads inside its window; the shop counts every order. Until you know which window the platform uses, you cannot tell whether numbers drift apart because of an error or because of the definition.
How Basketly handles it
- Reports mark every figure with a truth level: shop orders, platform claims (by its window) and Basketly’s last click.
- For an ad channel the panel names its attribution window on a separate line.
- The channel table shows the sum of platform claims next to shop orders with the overlap ratio; this is information, not an error.
Sources
A general description. Meta’s official page on attribution windows could not be read on 2026-10-29, so we give none of its numeric settings.
What Attribution window does not do
- An attribution window does not say which ad actually sold a product.
- Changing the window changes reported numbers, not sales.
Meta counts purchases it credits to ads in its window; the shop counts every order. Unaccepted or delayed purchases add to the gap.
None is “true”. What matters is to compare periods with the same window and to know which window stands behind a number.
No. Platforms can credit the same purchase to both, and each has its own window.
See also
- ROAS (return on ad spend)The value of purchases credited to an ad divided by what was spent on that ad.Read
- MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio)Shop revenue divided by all ad spend, with no purchases credited to particular ads.Read
- Cost per purchaseAd spend divided by the number of purchases a platform reported.Read
- Sales reportOne sentence on how the shop is doing, the six key figures and conclusions with a next step — and tabs below, each answering one question. Every number with its truth level: the shop, a platform or the last click.Read
- Why does Meta show fewer purchases than my shop? Six causes and a 10-minute checkMeta shows fewer purchases than your shop has orders? Six causes: attribution windows, consent, blockers, bank-redirect payments, duplicates, timing. A 10-minute check.Read
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