Why Attribution Numbers Change
Why Attribution Numbers Change
Overview
If you pull attribution data on different days for the same date range, the numbers may not match exactly. This is expected behavior, not an error. Attribution data continues to update for a period of time after a conversion occurs and stabilizes as it reconciles. Once reconciliation completes, the numbers are considered final. We typically see this to be the case after 7 days.
What Causes the Shift
Data revisions from platform APIs (Google, Meta, etc). Ad platforms revise their own reported numbers after the fact, from delayed conversion counting, bot filtering, or their own internal reconciliation. Our numbers reflect whatever the platform is reporting at the time of the pull, so a pull today and a pull next week can differ for the same historical date.
Data that backfills based on a reconciliation period (for example, linear TV). Some sources do not report in near real time. Linear TV is a common example, where spend and airing data is reconciled and delivered on its own schedule. Until that reconciliation completes, the data is incomplete by design and continues to fill in.
Data that is processed and backfilled based on channel type. Direct mail is a good example of this, where a file might be sent after a drop and needs to be backfilled, updating attribution data
Changes in account configuration. If a channel, campaign, or account level setting changes (for example, updates to conversion definitions, channel groupings, or attribution rules), historical numbers can shift when the data is reprocessed under the new configuration. This is a real change in calculation, not a data quality issue.
We are not able to review discrepancies or changes in data that account for less than 10% variance, since this level of movement is consistent with the normal platform revisions, backfill timing, and processing behavior described above.
If you are seeing variance at or above 10%, that is worth flagging to support@rockerbox.com for review.