Missing or Incomplete Conversion and Revenue Data Troubleshooting

Introduction

This page serves to be a reference for issues that might be seen by clients regarding their revenue and conversions. Please review based on your Tracking method.

Revenue Upload

No Revenue / Conversion Data In The platform For Yesterday Or For Last Few Days

Fix: Check the Revenue Diagnostics page to see if the platform received the revenue file and processed it without any errors. You can also check the Status widget in the Dashboard to see if the platform received the revenue file and that it has finished processing. If the platform did not receive the file, please check your system of record and FTP setup.

You can check if we received the required revenue file by applying the following filter in the Activity Log:

  1. User = ftp.client_revenue.com (Note: This is an example username. Yours will usually be a username which is solely used for revenue uploads)
  2. Description = Incoming data file transformation

When looking at the results, you may notice entries on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of a month (for example), but there are no entries for this user with the description on the 4th and 5th when you check on the 6th. This is an indication that we haven't received the required raw files and thus didn't have any data to process and upload into our interface.

We also recommend that you navigate to the Activity Log and download the revenue file just for today. Then open the file and check whether or not revenue data is present. If not, there's a very good chance that the day's data has not been sent for some reason.

If revenue is sent via FTP, please double-check that the files were dropped in your FTP folder. Depending on the integration (i.e. DFA), revenue can be delivered late and therefore processed late in the platform.

If The platform Says No Files/Rows Processed But You Are Sure That The Revenue Files Were Indeed Sent

Fix: That usually means the platform was unable to attribute any of the conversions in the file. Please check the following areas:

  • Conversion Types: Make sure that your conversion types are correctly defined and being added to Total Conversions.
  • URLs Tagged: Check your URLs and make sure that they are tagged correctly. Incorrectly tagged, or untagged URLs can be fixed by setting up URL Builder, turning on Auto-Correct, and re-uploading your URLs.
  • Tracking ID Setup: Review your Tracking IDs and make sure that they are defined in the Keyword IDs section of the Revenue Settings page, which can be found in Settings > Revenue > Keyword IDs.

If The platform Says 'More Than 1 Row Failed'

Fix: This usually means that the platform was unable to attribute conversions for a small number of rows in the revenue file. As a result, you may see slightly lower conversions and revenue inside the platform than expected.

  • Tracking ID Setup: Review your Tracking IDs and make sure that they are defined in the Keyword IDs section of the Revenue Settings page, which can be found in Settings > Revenue > Keyword IDs.
  • URLs Tagged: Check your Keyword and/or Creative URLs and make sure that they are tagged correctly. Incorrectly tagged, or untagged URLs can be fixed by setting up URL Builder, turning on Auto-Correct, and re-uploading your URLs. Each URL must have a Tracking ID parameter. Sometimes newly added keywords or creatives may be missing the necessary tags in the URLs.

If The platform Says 'Over 10% Of Rows In File Failed'

Fix: This usually means that the platform was unable to attribute conversions for more than 10% of the rows in the revenue file. As a result, you may see significantly lower conversions and revenue inside the platform than expected.

  • URLs Tagged: Check your URLs and make sure that they are tagged correctly. Incorrectly tagged, or untagged URLs can be fixed by setting up URL Builder, turning on Auto-Correct, and re-uploading your URLs.
  • Tracking ID Setup: Review your Tracking IDs and make sure that they are defined in the Keyword IDs section of the Revenue Settings page, which can be found in Settings > Revenue > Keyword IDs.

For more information on failed revenue rows and why revenue could go unattributed, please read our Help article.

Conversion Numbers Are Incorrect

Fix: Review your Date of Click / Date of Conversion settings, located in Settings > Revenue > Conversion Types to ensure that your settings are correctly defined.

Conversion Counts Are Too Low

Fix: Review the following:

  • Conversion Types: Make sure that your conversion types are correctly defined and being added to Total Conversions.
  • Review your One-per-Click / Many-per-Click settings, located in Settings > Revenue > Conversion Types to ensure that your settings are correctly defined.
  • Please make sure to check the Settings History for your objects if you are seeing a change in metrics. This will give a good indicator of what setting updates caused this reporting of low conversion numbers (ie. status change to Paused, in which all metrics - Impressions, Clicks, Conversions - have reduced).

Conversion Totals Don't Match

Fix: Check your Include in Total settings, located in Settings > Revenue > Conversion Types to ensure your conversion types are correctly defined and added to Total Conversions / Revenue.

My Revenue File With Older Data Wasn't Loaded Into The platform

If you are reloading revenue files via FTP that have data from more than 10 days in the past, the system may not automatically load into the platform. If your data is still missing, please file a ticket with Customer Support to manually load.

The 'Incoming Data File Transformation' File Failed

Fix: This usually means that this revenue file was sent in a format that is different than normal, and does not match with the revenue mapping designed to process this data. Please compare this failed file to a historically successful file seen in the Activity Log to view the formatting differences (i.e. the date format, the order of conversion types listed in the file, etc.).

Once you have identified the formatting error, update the revenue file to the correct format and reprocess. Depending on your integration, some revenue files require the file names and columns to be in a special format or appear in a certain order. Please double-check your integration for these specific details and reupload.

How To Verify That There Is No Duplicate Data For Yesterday

  • Download the job file and check for duplicate revenue numbers.
  • Verify the sum is equal to the number showing in the platform.

Marin Tracker

Marin Tracker Revenue Data Comes In Late

Fix: Check the time zone that your client account is configured in Settings > Clients and Users > select the client account > Edit Pencil > Time Zone). Tracker revenue data should be loaded and ready to view in the platform before 9AM of the time zone for the specific client account. If you are currently viewing this account in a different time zone than the one that the client account is configured in, this may explain why the data appears to be coming in at a later time.

If you're sure that there is no issue with your time zone, a Tracker revenue upload job may be delayed for various reasons (for example, a new release or patch deployment). If you are still missing revenue data by 9am, please raise a ticket to Support.

No Marin Tracker Data For Yesterday Or Last Few Days

Fix: Ensure that Revenue files have been uploaded from tracker by navigating to the Revenue Diagnostics page and checking to see that Tracker Revenue Upload files exist.

If no Tracker Revenue Upload files are present, the platform is not seeing conversions for this client. There could be a variety of reasons. Please verify the following:

  • Pixel Implementation: Review the Past Hour/Past 24 Hours reports on the Revenue Tracking page and verify that in Column C: Action ID 1s (represents clicks) and Action ID 2s (represents conversions) have been received. These two reports can be found in Settings > Revenue sub-tab > Revenue Tracking > [platform] Tracker: Click Go to Tracker Setup Page then ensure the checkbox for Use the platform Tracking is marked Off > reports are under the Tracking Status section.
    Note:
    1. Ensure that the landing page and conversion "thank you" page snippets are implemented correctly on the relevant pages. Templates for these can be found in the same area under the Landing Page Code and Confirmation Page Code sections. Please see the following article for more information on these snippets: How to Use the Tracker Setup Page.
    2. Also see the following article on how to do a test click and test conversion to make sure the Tracker codes are correctly implemented and are capturing data: How to do a Test Click and Conversion.
  • Tracking ID Setup: Review your Tracking IDs settings on the Revenue Diagnostics page and make sure that they are defined in the Keyword IDs section of the Revenue Settings page, which can be found in Settings > Revenue > Keyword IDs. Creative and Match Type parameters should also be set to ensure proper attributions.
  • URLs Tagged: Check your URLs and make sure that they are tagged correctly. Incorrectly tagged, or untagged URLs can be fixed by setting up URL Builder, turning on Auto-Correct, and re-uploading your URLs.
  • The Use [platform] Tracking setting is checked in Settings > Revenue > Revenue Tracking > [platform] Tracker. Ensure the checkbox is checked. Having this setting enabled is what generates the platform tracking revenue file; without it, no revenue file will be created to be loaded into your account.

If Tracker Revenue Upload files are present, the platform may not be able to attribute any of the conversions it is seeing to a keyword, creative, or group. Please check that the Tracking IDs are set properly and all your URLs are tagged correctly (ideally URL Builder is set and Auto URL Correct is turned On).

If none of the above issues apply, please file a ticket with our Customer Support team who will be happy to help.

Partially Succeeded Tracker Revenue File

This can be from unattributed revenue rows or failed no matches found.

For more information on failed revenue rows and why revenue could go unattributed, see these Help articles:

  1. A Guide to The Result Column in Revenue Files
  2. Understanding Unattributed Revenue or Conversions

Conversion Numbers Are Incorrect

When using the Marin Tracker, publisher tracking must be turned off or else discrepancies may occur. To check your settings, click on Publishers > Manage Accounts and verify that the box next to Publisher Data says 'No Revenue and Conversion Data'.

See above for additional information about incorrect conversions.

Publisher Tracking

Revenue / Conversion Data Missing For Yesterday

Fix: Verify that the Publisher account is set to receive conversions and revenue from the publisher by navigating to the Revenue Diagnostics page and checking the Publisher Tracking section. Confirm Publisher cost reports have finished downloading by reviewing the Status widget on the Dashboard. If cost reports are not complete, please wait until they finish processing.

Revenue / Conversions Are Not Downloading For Specific Publisher Accounts

Fix: Verify that the Publisher account is set to receive conversions and revenue from the publisher by navigating to the Revenue Diagnostics page. If the publisher account is not set appropriately, click on the settings link to update this.

Please contact our Customer Support team via the Contact Support button for further assistance.

Google Analytics

Revenue / Conversion Data Is 'Sampled' From Google Analytics

If your website receives a very high amount of traffic, or there are too many rows in a report, Google Analytics will sometimes return data based on 'sampled' data. This refers to using a smaller dataset which is representative of a complete dataset. When this happens, you'll see a warning status advising that a Google Analytics download job has been sampled. Check the Activity Log to identify the affected profile(s). Please refer to the content about Google Analytics Premium accounts for more info on accessing unsampled data.

You can learn more about sampled data from Google's Help article.

Revenue / Conversion Data Fails To Be Downloaded From Google Analytics

Verify that the platform has been granted access to the Google Analytics account and that the correct profile is being used. You can also click on the failed status link to see the specific details of the error.

Please contact our Support team via the Help button for further assistance.

Conversion Numbers Are Incorrect

When comparing revenue figures in the platform vs Google Analytics, you will need to perform filters within GA to ensure you are only looking at paid search data. See these articles on how to filter in GA depending on your auto-tagging settings:

  1. For Auto-tagging ON, please see this help article.
  2. For Auto-tagging OFF, please see this help article.

Written by Marketing @ Marin Software

Last published at: December 6th, 2023