eCommerce Attribution & Reporting
eCommerce Attribution and Reporting That Reconciles to Your P&L
Meta CAPI server side events, Google Ads, Shopify orders and Klaviyo stitched into one source of truth, so every number traces back to an order you can look up.
- Blended MER and contribution margin, not platform reported ROAS
- Net new customer CAC separated from repeat orders
- Set up in the first two weeks, before a dollar of new spend goes out
- Works alongside Triple Whale or Northbeam, or instead of them
The problem with platform numbers
Add up what your ad accounts claim and you'll usually find they've sold more product than your store did.
Meta counts a purchase if someone saw an ad in the last seven days. Google counts the same order if the buyer clicked a branded search on the way to checkout. Klaviyo counts it again if a flow email went out that morning. None of them are lying exactly. They're each answering "did I touch this order", and three yeses to that question produce three claims on one piece of revenue.
The gap gets expensive when you act on it. Budget flows toward whichever channel is best at claiming credit, which in practice means retargeting and branded search, which in practice means paying to reach people who had already decided. Spend goes up. Contribution margin doesn't move. Everyone's dashboard looks fine.
We've walked into accounts where roughly a third of spend was buying orders that were going to happen regardless. That isn't an optimisation problem. You can't optimise your way out of measuring the wrong thing.
Quick answers
What is eCommerce attribution?
Attribution is the process of deciding which marketing activity gets credit for a sale. It matters because budget decisions are made on it. The practical problem in eCommerce is that ad platforms self report attribution using their own rules and their own lookback windows, so the same order is frequently claimed by two or three channels at once. Useful attribution starts from the store's order data and works backwards, rather than starting from what each platform says it did.
How do you fix over attribution?
Three things, in order. Get server side events firing with proper deduplication so the platforms stop double counting their own conversions. Enforce UTM discipline so channel data is clean at the source. Then report against blended MER and net new customer CAC, using Shopify as the system of record, so no platform grades its own work.
Do I need a separate attribution tool?
Often not. Triple Whale, Northbeam and their peers are good products, and above roughly $200K a month in spend they usually pay for themselves. Below that, most brands get the same decisions out of clean server side tracking, disciplined UTMs and a properly built reporting layer. We'll tell you which side of that line you're on before you buy anything.
What we actually build
Server side event tracking
Meta CAPI and Google enhanced conversions firing server side with event deduplication, so browser and server events don't both count. It's also what keeps match quality up as browser tracking keeps degrading.
UTM governance
One naming convention across every channel, enforced at campaign level. Sounds boring. It's the difference between a GA4 report you can read and one you can't.
Order level reconciliation
Shopify orders are the denominator. Paid spend, email revenue and organic sit on top, so the numbers in the report add up to the numbers in the bank.
Net new vs returning
First time customer CAC reported separately from repeat orders. Usually the first report that changes someone's mind about where budget should go.
Contribution margin reporting
Revenue after COGS, shipping, payment fees and ad spend. The number that decides whether growth is worth having.
Dashboard plus a written read
The dashboard is for checking. The monthly written read is for deciding, and it says what we're changing and why.
How the setup runs
Days 1 to 3 · Audit
We map every event currently firing, check deduplication, score event match quality, and audit UTM hygiene across 12 months of spend. You get a written findings list.
Days 4 to 10 · Build
Server side events go in, deduplication gets fixed, UTMs get standardised, and the reporting layer gets wired to Shopify order data.
Days 11 to 14 · Reconcile
We run the new reporting against the last full month and show you where it disagrees with what the platforms claimed. This is the part clients tend to remember.
Ongoing
Monthly reconciliation, and a standing check on event match quality so it doesn't quietly rot.
Sound familiar?
Your channels have sold more than your store
Meta claims 4.2, Google claims 6.1, Shopify says you're flat.
You can't answer "what did that campaign make us"
Not because nobody looked, but because three systems give three answers and none reconcile.
Reporting takes a week to assemble
Someone is pasting CSVs into a sheet on the first of the month, and by the time it's done the month is a third gone.
Something broke and nobody's sure what
Match quality dropped, conversions got noisier, and the fix keeps getting deferred.
Attribution and reporting FAQs
Can you do this without changing our ad agency?
Yes. We do the tracking and reporting build as a standalone engagement fairly often, and some of those brands keep their existing media buyers. It tends to be an awkward first month for whoever was reporting the old numbers.
Which platforms do you connect?
Meta, Google Ads, TikTok, Klaviyo, Shopify and GA4 as standard. Amazon, Pinterest and Snap where they're running. If you're on a headless or non Shopify stack, tell us the platform before we quote.
What about GA4?
We use it, and we don't treat it as the source of truth. GA4 is good for on site behaviour and path analysis. It's not good at reconciling revenue, because it samples and models by default. Order data settles disputes.
How long until the reporting is trustworthy?
The build takes about two weeks. You need one full month of clean data after that before the trend lines mean anything. Call it six weeks to a report you'd make a budget decision on.
Do you replace Triple Whale or Northbeam?
No, and we'll happily work alongside either. If you already pay for one, we'll make sure it's configured properly, which in our experience it frequently isn't. If you don't, we'll tell you whether your spend level justifies it.
Is this included in a retainer or priced separately?
It's built into the first two weeks of any retainer at no separate charge. Retainers start at $5,000 per month. If you only want the tracking and reporting build and not the media management, we'll quote that as a standalone project.
Find out what your platforms are over claiming
We'll reconcile your last full month against Shopify and show you the gap. No obligation to hire us.
Get the reconciliationPart of every retainer · also available as a standalone build · see the full performance offering