Why your conversions show up late (the attribution window)

Why your conversions show up late (the attribution window)

New to sweeps? Beginners panic when clicks come in but leads don't — yet. Here's the calm explanation.

There's a delay built into tracking called the attribution window. It's the length of time a conversion can still be credited back to your click after it happens.

In plain terms: a person clicks now but might enter the sweep an hour later, or tomorrow. The window decides whether that later action still counts as yours.

Worked example. You send traffic at 9 AM. By 9:15 you see 80 clicks and 0 leads. You feel sick. But many people finish entering between 9:30 and noon. By 1 PM your report shows 5 leads — they were always coming, just delayed.

The DOI twist. DOI = Double Opt-In, where the user must click a confirmation email. People check email on their own schedule, so DOI conversions often trickle in over many hours. A DOI report at minute 10 will always look scary.

The beginner rule: never judge a campaign in its first hour, especially a DOI one. You're reading a half-developed photo and calling it blank.

Next step: after your next test, set a phone reminder to check results 6 hours later — not 10 minutes later. Let the window do its job.