Hi Marketer,
It’s been a minute, and I’ve got what feels like a half-decent excuse.
Over the past few weeks, I launched a scrappy little product for my neighbourhood Neighborly, to help people discover businesses around Redemption Camp, and started organising a tech summer program for kids, Tech for Tomorrow, that kicks off next week. All while juggling my MBA, work, and life in general. Somewhere in between, I face-planted into the chaos (figuratively… and almost literally).
That’s my long-winded way of saying: I’m sorry for the silence. But here’s the bright side: both projects were built to solve real problems, and they were built scrappy, fast, and with AI. And honestly, that’s what this newsletter is about: empowering marketers to ship and solve without waiting for a developer’s divine intervention.
Now to what I have for you today…
I initially planned to write about Claude, Agentic Mode in ChatGPT, and attribution all in one go. But halfway through, I realized we should pace ourselves.
So let’s focus on one part that gets overlooked way too often:
Let’s Talk Attribution Windows
Attribution is one of those topics I never get tired of. I’ve written about it before, especially around attribution vs. contribution, but today, we’re zooming in on something more specific:
📅 Attribution windows.
Wait, what’s an Attribution Window?
A quick definition (thanks, Google):
An attribution window is the amount of time between when a person interacts with your ad (clicks or views it) and when they take an action (like buying or signing up), during which that ad can get credit.
Sounds simple. But it’s a powerful lever in your performance marketing toolkit.
What Makes Up an Attribution Window?
There are two things every attribution window considers:
Click-based windows - credit if someone clicked the ad and converted within X days.
View-based windows - credit if someone saw the ad (but didn’t click) and converted within X days.
The “window” part refers to the time range (X) after that click or view:
1-day?
7 days?
28 days?
90 days?
Each gives you a different story about your campaign.
When a Short Attribution Window Works (e.g. 1-Day)
You might want this when:
Your product is impulsive, like snacks, apps, and digital accessories.
You care about immediate results.
You want to avoid over-crediting slow, unrelated purchases.
Example:
Someone sees an ad for a “Write your blog in 5 minutes” AI tool. They click, they sign up.
→ 1-day window = perfect fit.
The conversion is fast and low-friction.
But what if they don’t convert until 2 weeks later, after their friend reminds them?
Should the ad still get credit?
That’s where longer windows come in.
When a Long Attribution Window Works (e.g. 28-Day)
This is better when:
You sell high-consideration products like courses, furniture, B2B tools.
Your audience needs time to research, think, or get approvals.
You want to capture delayed conversions.
Example:
Ad for a $300/year SaaS too: “Understand your user journey with Mixpanel. Book a demo.”
User clicks, attends a demo, then buys 2 weeks later.
→ A 28-day window makes sense. The ad sparked the journey.
COMMON ATTRIBUTION WINDOWS
📍 Based on Click
1-day click - Credit only if conversion happens within 1 day of clicking the ad.
7-day click - Credit if conversion happens within 7 days of clicking.
14-day click - Used on platforms like Twitter/X.
28-day click - Older Meta default; still available on some platforms.
30-day click - Google Ads default.
90-day click - Customizable in Google Ads (rare for fast sales).
📍 Based on View (Impression)
1-day view - Credit if someone saw the ad (but didn’t click) and converted within 1 day.
7-day view - Used less commonly; Meta deprecated this.
28-day view - Occasionally available on Snap or custom setups.
📍 Hybrid Attribution Windows (common in ad platforms)
7-day click / 1-day view - Meta’s current default.
30-day click / 1-day view - Extended window for high-ticket items or long journeys.
What The Platforms Actually Use
Meta Ads
Default: 7-day click / 1-day view
Customizable: 1, 7, or 28-day click | 1-day view
Great for ecommerce, lead gen, and general balance
Google Ads
Default: 30-day click
Custom: 1 to 90 days
Works best for search-driven purchases and long decision cycles
LinkedIn Ads
Default: 7-day click
Options: 1, 7, or 30-day click | 1-day view
Ideal for B2B — long sales cycles, demos, forms
TikTok Ads
Default: 7-day click / 1-day view
Custom: 1, 7, or 28-day click
Built for fast, visual, and often impulsive purchases
Twitter/X Ads
Default: 14-day click / 1-day view
Best for top-of-funnel or reactive content
Pinterest Ads
Default: 30-day click / 1-day view
Fits long planning cycles — weddings, events, shopping inspiration
Snapchat Ads
Default: 28-day click / 1-day view
Engages fast, converts slower
Why 7-Day Attribution Is the Industry Default (Even If You Don’t Realise It)
Let’s be honest, no one’s waiting 30 days to prove an ad is working. Most marketing teams need answers this week, not next month.
Here’s why the 7-day window is the sweet spot:
✅ Fits weekly reporting cycles
Performance teams typically report weekly. A 7-day window clearly shows how this week’s ads contributed to this week’s results, and without the fuzziness of long-lag conversions from 28-day windows
✅ Balances fast and slow buyer behaviour
It’s short enough to avoid over-crediting top-of-funnel ads but still long enough to catch users who click today, think it over, and convert in a few days.
✅ Aligned with ad platform defaults
Meta, TikTok, and LinkedIn all default to or support 7-day click attribution. Even though Google Ads defaults to 30 days, many teams still slice that data into 7-day snapshots using Looker Studio, Sheets, or their internal dashboards.
✅ Matches how real people buy digital products
For most low- to mid-ticket tools, users typically convert within 1-7 days of discovery. That window gives you a signal without noise.
Think of 7-day attribution as the Goldilocks window: 1-day is too short, 30-day is too long, but 7-day is just right for balancing delayed conversions with timely performance insights.I hope this helped you make sense of attribution windows and not just as a dropdown in your ad settings, but as a real strategic lever.
Let me know if you want a follow-up deep dive on attribution models next (last click vs data-driven vs custom), or we can jump into Claude and ChatGPT agent mode. Either way, reply and let me know what you’re curious about.
Some Interesting Things to Check Out
Take control of your ad campaigns with this Ad Performance Tracker — a plug-and-play Google Sheets template for tracking, comparing, and optimizing paid performance across Meta, Google, and more.
Watch this live session on GTM Engineering to learn how to build smarter outbound workflows using Clay, AI, and fewer tools.
This Facebook & Instagram Ads course teaches profitable ad setups and includes access to an active support group of business owners like you.
Adia Sowho’s essay on growth and code is a must-read if you’ve ever felt your systems are slowing down your scale.
And that’s a wrap for this issue.
I’m always open to questions, feedback, or ideas for what you'd like to see next. Just hit reply or reach out directly: amos.feranmi@gmail.com
Made with curiosity (and a lot of caffeine),
Amos Feranmi
I enjoyed reading this, you broke attribution in the simplest way