This page explains how the numbers are calculated. To read the Attribution board, see Attribution reports. For the
fpc_*, lpc_* and fopc_* events Upstack sends to ad platforms after each purchase, see Purchase Event Attribution. That feature has its own window setting and doesn’t change your reports.One order, three models
A customer visits your store three times, then orders 120 USD of product on Friday:
Each model credits that order differently:
First click and Last click give each order to one source, so their totals add up to your attributed revenue. Any click gives full credit to every source the customer clicked, so its rows add up to more than you sold. Use Any click to see which channels appear anywhere in buying journeys, and don’t add its rows together.
Visits with no detectable source only win First click or Last click when the customer has no other visits in the window. A customer who clicked an ad and later typed your URL in directly is credited to the ad.
What counts as a touchpoint
A touchpoint is a tracked visit by the same person inside the attribution window. Upstack looks at these events:page_view, view_content, view_category, add_to_cart, initiate_checkout, add_payment_info, lead, and purchase. Page views referred from another page on your own site are skipped, so moving around the store doesn’t create new touchpoints.
“Same person” includes every browser and device that identity resolution has linked to the customer. A click on a phone can earn credit for an order placed later on a laptop.
How the source is detected
For each visit, Upstack takes the first of these it finds:- A source parameter on the landing URL:
up_source, thenutm_source, thentw_source, thensource - An ad click ID:
fbclidmeans Meta,gclidorgbraidmeans Google,ttclidmeans TikTok - The referring site
facebook, fb, ig, and instagram all become Meta. google, adwords, and gads all become Google.
Meta, Google, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat are then split into paid and organic. A visit is labeled paid, Meta Ads rather than Meta Organic for example, when its landing URL has a campaign name, a campaign, ad set, or ad ID, or utm_medium=paid. For Google, a gad_source parameter also counts as paid. Untagged ad links land in the organic bucket, so set up UTM parameters on every ad.
Attribution window
The window is how far back from the order Upstack looks for touchpoints. On the Attribution board you can pick 1d, 7d, 14d, 30d, 60d, 90d, or Lifetime. Until you change them, the board uses First click and a 7-day window. The window counts back from when the order was created. If you switch the board’s Source option from Orders to Tracked Events, it counts back from the conversion event you pick instead, such aslead.
A longer window reaches further back, so First click can move to an earlier channel.
Why Upstack and ad platforms disagree
Each ad platform counts the conversions it can link to its own ads, using its own rules. Two platforms can each count the same order. Upstack credits each order once under First click or Last click, using visits it recorded on your site, so the same order can’t land in two channels.Related
Attribution reports
Read the Attribution board and compare models by channel.
Purchase Event Attribution
First and last paid-click events Upstack sends to Meta, TikTok, and Google Ads.
Set up UTM parameters
Tag ad URLs so visits land in the right channel and campaign.
upstack query-attribution
Run the same attribution query from the command line.