When you’re tracking conversions with multiple systems, you’ve probably noticed that the numbers never quite match up. While this can be extremely confusing, do not panic! It’s completely normal to see some slight discrepancies between your conversion metrics across various systems. Why? Because, different tracking solutions use different attribution models.

In this blog post, we’re going to explain what attribution models are, how attribution works with the AdStage pixel, and why we’ve built it this way.

What Are Attribution Models?

Attribution models are designed to determine how a conversion is counted. When building out an attribution model, ask yourself the following essential questions:

• If multiple ads were clicked by the same visitor, which ad receives credit for the conversion?
• If multiple conversions occur by the same visitor, are all conversions counted or only conversions from unique visitors?
• If a visitor clicks on an ad but converts on a later day, what date will the conversion count on?
• If a visitor clicks on an ad but converts on a later day, what time frame, or attribution window, is appropriate to attribute conversion credit to the ad?

How AdStage Counts Conversions

If you’re using AdStage Conversions, below is a detailed explanation of how our attribution model was built to count conversions.

• If a visitor clicks multiple ads, the last ad that was clicked prior to conversion will receive credit for the conversion.
• If a visitor converts multiple times, each conversion is counted in the AdStage Conversions column.
• If a visitor clicks on an ad and converts on a later day, the date of conversion will becounted as the day the ad was clicked, not on the day the conversion occurred.
• If a visitor clicks on an ad and converts on a later day, the ad will receive credit for the conversion if the click occurred within 30 days prior to the conversion.

Let's walk through a complete example to see how AdStage Conversions works, using our own ads as an example. Like you, we run ads on all the major ad networks to drive traffic to our site and encourage people to sign up for a trial of AdStage.

We’ve already done the following:

1. Set up conversion goals in our AdStage account
2. Installed the conversion code across every page of our site
3. Tagged all of our ad destination URLs with as_clids, the AdStage click ID

Now we can start counting conversions! Here’s an example:

How will AdStage count Carl's conversion?

The Bing Ads creative he clicked on Friday will receive credit for the conversion. The AdStage Conversions column for Friday will increase the number of conversions by one.

Why Does AdStage Count Conversions This Way?

We created our attribution model to help you make better optimization decisions, such as how to budget and daypart your ads.

In the above example, the AdStage Conversions column will increase by one on Friday, which is the day the visitor clicked but not the day he converted. Because Carl converted on the ad he clicked on Friday, but did not click an ad on Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, we may decide to pause our campaigns on the weekends and increase our daily budgets on Fridays to drive more conversions.

However, keep in mind that not one attribution model can meet all your needs. While this is one use-case, you can use multiple conversion tracking services to get multiple perspectives on the same data. Google Analytics, due to its popularity, is often what people think of first when they implement conversion tracking, but AdWords , Facebook , and Twitter offer alternative conversion tracking models. AdStage Conversions is no different, with its own way of counting conversions to help you better understand how your ads are performing.

AdStage is always considering additional conversion tracking services and data sources to incorporate into the platform. Is there a conversion tracker you’ve loved, hated, used in the past, or would like to see integrated into AdStage? Let us know in the comments below!