<b>Timezone alignment — the silent reporting killer</b>

<b>Timezone alignment — the silent reporting killer</b>

Timezone mismatch fakes conversion gaps, shifts daily numbers, and makes A/B windows overlap wrong. Align everything to one zone.

The alignment checklist:

— Set your tracker's reporting timezone to UTC, or to one fixed business timezone — and never change it mid-quarter
— Confirm the traffic source reports in the same zone, or note its offset in your reconciliation sheet
— Confirm the network panel's timezone — many default to a US zone regardless of your account
— When comparing tracker vs network, force both exports to the same zone before subtracting
— For dayparting rules, decide whether "day" means the user's local time or your tracker time — and apply it consistently

Why it matters:

— A 7-hour offset moves late-night conversions into the "next day," faking a drop on one day and a spike on another
— Cohort analysis breaks when click-day and conversion-day use different zones

Write the canonical timezone at the top of your reporting doc so every analyst uses the same clock.

Save this SOP. Run this before every launch.