Understanding Differences Between Ruler and Advertising Platform Reporting

Ruler provides a de-duplicated view of your marketing performance, helping you understand the different marketing touchpoints that contribute to a conversion or sale throughout the customer journey.

As Ruler and individual advertising platforms use different approaches to attribution and reporting, it is normal to see differences when comparing data between systems.

Why Do Reporting Differences Occur?

Advertising platforms typically report on the conversions they attribute to their own advertising activity. Each platform can use its own:

• Attribution model
• Attribution or conversion window
• Conversion definitions
• Click and impression tracking
• Reporting methodology
• Data processing and reporting times

Ruler takes a broader view of the customer journey and connects marketing touchpoints to conversions and revenue. As a result, the same conversion may be attributed differently depending on the platform and attribution model being used.

Attribution Windows

An attribution window determines how long after an interaction a conversion can be attributed to that interaction.

Different platforms may use different attribution windows, meaning a conversion could be attributed to an advert by one platform but not by Ruler, or vice versa.

Attribution Models

The attribution model used can also have a significant impact on reporting.

For example, a click-based attribution model will only consider relevant click interactions when assigning credit for a conversion. Other models may also consider impressions or multiple touchpoints across the customer journey.

Changing the attribution model can therefore change the number of conversions or revenue attributed to individual marketing channels.

Common Meta Reporting Differences

Meta reporting and Ruler reporting can often differ when using a click-based attribution model in Ruler.

This is because Meta can include impression and view-based attribution within its reporting, alongside click-based attribution, depending on the attribution settings and reporting window being used.

For example, a customer may see a Meta advert without clicking it, and later visit your website directly before converting. Meta may attribute that conversion to the advert based on its impression/view-based attribution methodology.

A click-based attribution model in Ruler would not assign credit to that Meta interaction because there was no recorded click.

This can result in Meta reporting a higher number of attributed conversions than Ruler for the same period.

Other Factors to Consider

When comparing Ruler with an advertising platform, it is important to ensure you are comparing like-for-like data.

Before investigating a discrepancy, check:

1. Date range – Are both platforms reporting on exactly the same period?
2. Attribution model – Are both systems using the same attribution approach?
3. Attribution window – Are the conversion/lookback windows the same?
4. Conversion definition – Are both systems counting the same type of conversion?
5. Click vs. impression attribution – Does the platform include view-through or impression-based conversions?
6. Reporting delays – Has enough time passed for both systems to fully process the relevant data?
7. Tracking configuration – Are the relevant campaigns, landing pages, and conversion events being tracked correctly?

What Difference Is Expected?

There is no universal expectation that Ruler and an advertising platform will report exactly the same number of conversions or revenue and a level of variance is to be expected.

Differences are expected when systems use different attribution methodologies. The important consideration is understanding why the numbers differ and ensuring that your Ruler configuration reflects the attribution approach you want to use for measuring marketing performance.

If you identify a large, unexpected, or persistent discrepancy, please reach out to a member of the Ruler team. We can help review the data, attribution settings, and tracking configuration to identify the potential cause.