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Attribution Window
Attribution window is the fixed period after an ad exposure or click during which a resulting conversion is still credited to that ad. It is set separately for click-through and view-through events, and separately per channel, since platforms apply different defaults. Any conversion happening after the window closes is not counted for that ad, even if the ad contributed to the decision.
Formula
Worked example
A campaign in Poland runs with a 7-day click-through window and a 1-day view-through window, and the platform reports 1,240 attributed conversions for the month. The buyer reruns the report with the click window extended to 30 days, and 310 additional conversions that occurred 8-30 days after the click now qualify, bringing the total to 1,550 — a 25% increase (310 / 1,240) with no change in spend or creative. The extra 310 conversions did not come from more effective advertising, they came from a wider counting rule.
How it is used
Planners set the window to match the category's typical purchase cycle, short for FMCG and impulse buys, longer for durables and B2B, and align windows across platforms before comparing conversion counts between them. Click and view windows are configured separately because most platforms default to a much shorter view-through window than click-through, and mixing the two without noting which applied to which conversion produces a misleading blended number.
The common mistake
The most common error is comparing conversion volumes across platforms or campaigns without first matching their attribution windows, since a longer window alone inflates the count with no change in actual sales.