TrueMetriks documentation: How revenue attribution works (and how to reconcile with Facebook, Google and TikTok) https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue-attribution/ Generated from the TrueMetriks documentation. Paste the whole of this file into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Cursor or any other AI. I use TrueMetriks, a server-side tracking and conversion attribution platform. It tracks my website visitors, ties every sale back to the ad that produced it, and sends those conversions back to my ad platforms. Help me with this specific task: How revenue attribution works (and how to reconcile with Facebook, Google and TikTok). Learn how first-touch, last-touch, and any-touch attribution work, why a sale can show under a different channel than Facebook or Google, and how to match them up. HOW TO GUIDE ME - This file has three parts: THE GUIDE is today's task, BACKGROUND is a prerequisite to confirm with me before you start THE GUIDE, not optional reading, and LINK MAP is the only place a real link comes from. - Ask me ONE thing at a time and wait for my answer before moving on. - At the start of every step, ask me: "do you want the written steps, or the video?" If I pick the video, give me the exact link from the LINK MAP at the bottom and wait until I tell you I have watched it. If I pick the written steps, give them to me from this file. - Only ever give me links that appear in the LINK MAP below. Never invent a URL, never guess an anchor, and if I ask for something that has no link here, say so and point me at https://docs.truemetriks.com/ instead. - Never ask me for my password, my API key, my MCP key, or any card details. You are reading me the steps; I am the one clicking in my own account. - Confirm each step worked before starting the next one. - Keep it short. I am doing this while looking at my screen, not reading an essay. - Everything you need is in this file. You do not need to browse the web. =============================================================================== THE GUIDE: How revenue attribution works (and how to reconcile with Facebook, Google and TikTok) https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue-attribution/ =============================================================================== If a sale shows up under a different channel in TrueMetriks than it does in Facebook or Google, nothing is broken. The two are answering different questions, and each is right about its own question. Once you see which question each one asks, the numbers stop looking like they disagree. This page covers the three attribution models, why the date range changes the answer, and how to compare TrueMetriks against an ad platform. ## What are the three attribution models? The **Attribution** dropdown on the [Revenue](https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue/) page decides which channel gets credit for a sale. Pick a model and the whole table recalculates. - **First-touch** gives the credit to the channel that first brought the person in. Use it to see what starts journeys. - **Last-touch** gives the credit to the channel on the visit where the sale happened. This is the default. Use it to see what closes sales. - **Any-touch** gives credit to every channel the person touched on the way to buying. If someone touched Facebook, then Google, then email before buying, all three get credit for that one sale. Any-touch credits one sale to more than one channel, so the per-channel numbers can add up to more than your real sales count. That is normal. The channel columns can add up to more than the **Total** row, but the Total row still shows the true number of sales. No revenue is counted twice; one sale is just shown in every channel that helped. For a deeper look at the models and how to read one buyer's path, see [Buyer journeys and attribution models](https://docs.truemetriks.com/features/buyer-journeys-attribution/). ## Why does a sale show under a different channel than Facebook or Google? The table only counts the touches inside the date range you picked. That is on purpose. It answers "in this range, which channels drove sales," not "across all time." Change the range and you change which touches are in view, which can change which channel gets the last-touch credit. Here is the example that confuses people. Someone: 1. Clicks a **Facebook** ad on day 1. 2. Clicks a **Google** ad on day 2. 3. Opens an **email** and buys on day 3. Look at day 3 on its own with last-touch and TrueMetriks credits **Email**, because email is the only touch in that one day and it is the visit where they bought. At the same time, Facebook still counts the sale, because it looks back several days from the ad click and sees its day-1 click. Google does the same thing with its own click on day 2. Every ad platform works this way: it looks back over its own window and claims any sale that followed one of its clicks. So the same sale can honestly show up in TrueMetriks under Email, in Facebook, and in Google all at once. To see the full picture in TrueMetriks, widen the date range to cover day 1 through day 3 and switch to any-touch. Now Facebook, Google, and Email all show credit for that buyer, which matches what each ad platform tells you. ## What is the difference between Purchases and Buyers? These two columns count different things, and it is easy to mix them up. - **Purchases** counts orders. One person who orders three times is three purchases. - **Buyers** counts people. That same person is one buyer, no matter how many times they ordered. Use **Buyers** when you want to know how many customers you won, and **Purchases** when you want to know how many orders came in. When you compare against an ad platform, use **Purchases**, because ad platforms count conversions (orders), not unique people. ## How do I compare TrueMetriks with an ad platform? To check TrueMetriks against Facebook, Google, or TikTok for a period: 1. Set the date range to the period you want to compare. 2. Switch **Attribution** to **Any-touch**. This credits every channel that helped, which is the closest match to how ad platforms count. 3. Filter the **Channel** to the exact platform, for example `Facebook Paid`, `Google Paid`, or `TikTok Paid`. Pick the exact platform, not a broad group. Choosing **Paid Social** also pulls in Google and TikTok, so the number comes out too high to compare against a single ad manager. `Facebook Paid` shows only the traffic you can line up against Facebook, `Google Paid` against Google Ads, and `TikTok Paid` against TikTok. See the [Facebook](https://docs.truemetriks.com/ad-integrations/facebook/), [Google Ads](https://docs.truemetriks.com/ad-integrations/google-ads/), and [TikTok](https://docs.truemetriks.com/ad-integrations/tiktok/) guides for how that data arrives. ## Why won't the numbers match 100%? Aim for about 95%, not a perfect match. A few honest gaps sit between any two tools, and it helps to know them so you do not chase a number that cannot exist. - **Sales from people who only saw the ad.** Facebook and Google both count some sales from people who saw an ad but never clicked it. A tool that measures clicks cannot see a view that was never clicked, so the ad platform will always claim a few sales TrueMetriks gives to another channel. - **Clicks from before you installed the tracker.** A new tracker only knows about clicks that happened after it went live. Sales from earlier clicks look unattributed until enough time passes. - **Blocked signals.** Safari, ad blockers, and privacy settings hide a small share of clicks on every platform. This is a few percent, not most of your traffic. None of these mean a tool is broken. They are why two correct tools land close to each other instead of exactly on top of each other. Use last-touch to see what closes sales, any-touch to see every channel that helped, and the steps above when you need to compare a period against Facebook, Google, or TikTok. =============================================================================== LINK MAP Use these exact URLs. Anything ending in a # anchor opens on that section or that video. Nothing else is a valid link. Never invent a URL and never guess an anchor. How revenue attribution works (and how to reconcile with Facebook, Google and TikTok) The guide ................................... https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue-attribution/ What are the three attribution models? ...... https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue-attribution/#what-are-the-three-attribution-models Why does a sale show under a different channel than Facebook or Google? https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue-attribution/#why-does-a-sale-show-under-a-different-channel-than-facebook-or-google What is the difference between Purchases and Buyers? https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue-attribution/#what-is-the-difference-between-purchases-and-buyers How do I compare TrueMetriks with an ad platform? https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue-attribution/#how-do-i-compare-truemetriks-with-an-ad-platform Why won't the numbers match 100%? ........... https://docs.truemetriks.com/dashboard/revenue-attribution/#why-wont-the-numbers-match-100