Meta Ads Attribution Settings: A Guide to Choosing the Right One For Your Account
Your attribution settings in Meta Ads Manager don’t just change what how you report – they fundamentally alter how your campaigns perform. When you adjust these settings you’re not just switching between different ways of measuring results; you’re actually changing who Meta targets, how much your ads cost, and which people you reach.
In this guide we’ll show you how to choose attribution settings that drive better actual performance, going beyond the narrow and sometimes deceptive view of your business that ads manager provides.
This conversation came from a question in the Foxwell Founders Membership - a community of 550+ ad buyers globally focused on performance marketing within Meta ads, Google Ads, email marketing, conversion rate optimization, and more. If this blog is interesting (and helpful) to you, we’d love to have you.
What Are Attribution Settings?
Attribution settings tell Meta’s algorithm which conversions to count when reporting on your campaigns. This directly shapes not only how much credit Meta takes for your results, but also how it optimizes your campaigns to find more of those people. This distinction is extremely important to understand – Attribution Settings don’t just control how Meta reports about your campaigns, but also who it optimizes for.
There are two key components to Attribution Settings: click vs view, and the time window the conversion takes place in.
Click attribution only counts conversions from people who actually clicked your ad, while view attribution counts conversion from people who saw your ad, did not click, but still converted within the set time window.
Time windows determine how long after someone interacts with your ad that Meta will still give your campaign credit for the conversion. Typically those windows are 1 or 7 days for click, and 1 day for view.
What Strategy Is Best For You?
Once you understand the different potential attribution settings, which should you choose? As with most things Meta, the answer is, it depends.
Meta defaults your settings to 7-day click and 1-day view (7/1), and this is a good place for most people to start. One of the main advantages of 7/1 is it provides Meta with the largest addressable audience to target. Generally, Meta thrives and costs are lower when targeting larger audiences. This is particularly important if your product targets a younger audience demographic, as younger people are more likely to browse but not click. 7/1 is the broadest and most flexible audience you can optimize for and where most advertisers should start.
Additionally, using view attribution can often help boost other channels such as organic search and direct traffic. Meta will show your ad to more people, and even those who do not click quite often will Google your brand and or visit directly in the near future.
So why would you use anything else?
One potential issue with View optimization is it can be questionable how many of those conversions are incremental, meaning, how many view conversions Meta is crediting itself with would have happened even if the customer never saw your ad? There is an argument that if you let it take credit for view conversions it will spend too much of your money targeting people so far down your funnel that they were on the way to purchase with or without Meta.
This is a legitimate concern and one to keep an eye out for when optimizing for 7/1. It’s important when using view attribution to regularly check what percentage of your conversions are coming via view attribution. You can do this by selecting “Compare Attribution Settings” under “Customize Columns” in Meta Ads Manager.
What if you’re seeing too many view-based conversions?
If you are seeing too many view conversions, it is probably a good idea to test click-only attribution. Then one might ask, “How many is too many?” It varies by product and demographic (again remembering that younger demographics tend to convert more off views than older ones), but generally, if you are seeing 25-30% of your conversions attributed to view it could be time to test click. If it’s over 50% it’s definitely time to test click only.
What attribution time window is best?
In terms of time windows, for view you don’t have an option, it is 1 day. For click, you have a choice of 7-day or 1-day. In keeping with the idea that bigger and broader is generally better on Meta, most people running click attribution will run it at 7 days. Not only does it give Meta a bigger audience pool to target, but most products have a conversion cycle longer than 24 hours.
However, there are times when 1 day click is advisable, such as during short term, large sales where you need fast feedback to make scaling decisions or if you are marketing products that are impulse buys with very short consideration periods.
Diagnosing Performance Issues Related To Attribution Settings
There are positives and negatives to each attribution setting. Here are some signals for each attribution setting that may indicate a change is advisable, and some KPIs to monitor if you do make those changes…
7-Day Click/1 Day View
Meta in platform numbers look great, but my real world results don’t seem to be as good as they should be if the platform numbers are correct.
Possible reason: You are getting too many non incremental conversions, the majority of which are likely view. Trying 7 day click could be helpful.
KPIs to monitor after the change: Ideally your MER should go up as you are spending your money to more efficiently reach new buyers. However, keep an eye on overall revenue, as well as revenue from organic search and direct traffic, as they may be impacted by moving away from view attribution.
7-Day Click (No View)
Overall business growth has slowed. Meta numbers may or may not look fine, but revenue and MER are down.
Possible reason: Your ads aren’t reaching enough new segments of users. Adding in view attribution would allow Meta to get your ads in front of different people. Particularly relevant if your product skews towards a younger audience.
KPIs to monitor after the change: Reported revenue from Meta will almost certainly increase, but what is important here is whether actual revenue and MER improve. Also monitor organic search traffic and direct traffic for increases.
1-Day Click (No View)
In-platform Meta numbers are poor and you find it difficult to figure out which ads are working and which are not. Overall business numbers don’t reflect how poor the Meta platform numbers look.
Possible reason: Due to a longer consideration cycle Meta isn’t reporting enough purchases nor optimizing for the right customer. Moving to 7 day click or 7/1 may help line Meta optimization and attribution better with real world store activity.
KPIs to monitor after the change: Platform ROAS should improve, and MER and revenue should benefit from Meta’s optimization being better aligned with customer behavior. Making scale/kill decisions on ads should become easier as well with more data to operate with.
Making a Final Decision on Attribution Windows
Attribution settings go a bit under the radar when people talk about Meta ads strategies and tactics, yet they have an outsize impact on who sees your ads and how much you pay to reach them. There is no one-size-fits-all strategy here, but following a few simple guidelines will give you the best chance to succeed:
Start with 7 day click/1 day view to give Meta the largest possible audience pool and keep your costs competitive
Monitor your view conversion percentage and watch for signs you are optimizing towards non incremental purchases, and move to click only attribution if so.
There can be a fine balance between allowing Meta to reach the largest possible audience at the lowest possible cost vs letting it take credit for conversions that would have happened anyway.
By choosing the right attribution setting and monitoring the signals we’ve discussed, you can give yourself and your ad account the best chance to ensure your ad spend drives genuine growth. Test, measure, adjust. Your bottom line will thank you.