In this guide
- Conversion numbers differ because of different windows, different attribution rules, lost events and duplicates.
- The fix is server-side events, shared event IDs, good matching data and your own store as the check.
- Test every change with a real order.
Conversion tracking questions repeat in every team. This page collects the most common ones with short answers, and links to the longer pages. It is a good place to send a colleague who is new to tracking.
The basics
- What is a conversion?
- An action you want, such as a purchase, a lead or a sign-up, that you report to analytics and ad platforms.
- What is a conversion action?
- A definition in an ad platform of an outcome to track, with a name, a value and a window.
- What is a key event in GA4?
- An event you mark as important to the business, which GA4 counts as a conversion.
- What is a conversion value?
- The worth you assign to a conversion, such as order value or profit.
Raw events in. Clean events out.
Open Tracked collects each event on your own domain, removes the noise and sends what is left to Meta, Google Ads, TikTok.
Why numbers differ
- Why does Meta show fewer purchases than my store?
- Events are lost in the browser, matching is incomplete and Meta credits only purchases it can link to an ad. Server-side events and better matching narrow the gap. See attribution with server-side tracking.
- Why do Google Ads and GA4 differ?
- Different attribution models, windows and counting rules. Compare them with your store, not with each other.
- Why do platform numbers add up to more than my total?
- Each platform credits the same sale. Use blended numbers from your own data.
- Why do numbers change after a few days?
- Platforms attribute late conversions back to the click date, so recent days are incomplete.
Fixing problems
- How do I stop counting orders twice?
- Use a transaction ID, share an event ID between browser and server, and fire the purchase once per order. See event deduplication.
- How do I recover events lost to blockers and Safari?
- Send events through your own subdomain and from your server, and keep cookies alive. See avoiding blocking and Safari ITP.
- How do I improve match quality?
- Send hashed e-mail and phone, IP, user agent and the click and browser cookies. See event match quality.
- How do I track leads that become customers?
- Send CRM stages back as offline conversions. See offline conversions.
3 things to remember
Scroll and the points stack up.
Conversion numbers differ because of different windows, different attribution rules, lost events and duplicates.
The fix is server-side events, shared event IDs, good matching data and your own store as the check.
Test every change with a real order.
Testing
- How do I test conversion tracking?
- Place a real or test order and check Preview, then each platform's test tool, then compare after a week. See the setup checklist.
- How do I know it is still working next month?
- A weekly routine of a test order and a comparison with store orders. See data validation techniques.
- What should I check first when numbers fall?
- Whether the tag still fires with the right values, then whether a token expired, then whether the site changed.
Consent and privacy
- Do I need consent to track conversions?
- Where the law requires it for the cookies and data involved, yes. See Consent Mode v2 and cookies and GDPR.
- Does server-side tracking avoid consent?
- No. The rules follow the purpose and the data.
- Is hashed e-mail personal data?
- Yes. Treat it as such. See GDPR and server-side tracking.
Server-side tracking
- Do I still need the pixel?
- Most advertisers keep both and share an event ID.
- How much does a server cost?
- From free for small sites to $135 a month for self-hosted instances. See how much a server GTM costs.
- Is it hard to set up?
- With a managed host and ready container files, a few hours. See the setup checklist.
Brands that grow on cleaner data
Stores and agencies use Open Tracked to see which ads earn the sale.
Frequently asked questions
Why do conversion numbers differ between tools?
Different windows, attribution rules, lost events and duplicates. Use your store as the reference.
What is the best way to improve conversion tracking?
Send server-side events with matching data and a shared event ID, and keep cookies alive.
How do I test it?
With a real order, checked in Preview and each platform's test tool.
Do I need consent?
Where the law requires it for the cookies and data involved.
Where do I start?
Purchase and lead events, deduplicated, with customer data.
Do I need spreadsheets to read my results?
No. Once tracking is live, the Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit, and you can ask Ari, the built-in AI assistant, questions about your own numbers in plain words. Ari's allowance depends on your analytics plan.
Is Open Tracked different from Open Track or Open Space Track?
No. Open Tracked is the official name of our server-side tracking platform, and the website is opentracked.io. Many people search for it as Open Track, OpenTrack or Open Space Track. All of them lead to the same product: server-side Google Tag Manager hosting, first-party analytics and a CRM pipeline.
Fix your tracking at the source
Open Tracked hosts your server-side Tag Manager, keeps first-party cookies alive and shows what each ad is really worth.
The Open Tracked team
We build Open Tracked: server-side tracking hosting, analytics and the tools around them, for stores that spend on ads. Questions about this guide, or an idea for the next one?
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