If you run an e-commerce store and spend money on Google Ads, you have probably noticed that the revenue Google Ads claims to drive does not quite match what you see in your Shopify dashboard (or other e-commerce platform).
Google Ads Says One Thing, Your Store Says Another
Google Ads is designed to show you the best possible version of its results (like a student grading its own homework). It has every incentive to take credit for as many conversions as possible, because the better Google Ads looks, the more you spend.
So if a customer clicked a Facebook ad, opened two emails, visited your site from an Instagram story, and then clicked a Google Shopping ad before purchasing, Google Ads has no idea those other touchpoints existed. It sees one click and attributes the full conversion value to itself. The other channels that helped move that customer toward a purchase are invisible to Google's model.
Getting a Clearer, Multi-Touch View
So if Google Ads is grading its own homework, how do you get an independent assessment?
The answer is a multi-touch attribution tool like ThoughtMetric. Instead of letting each ad platform report its own numbers in isolation, multi-touch attribution tracks the entire customer journey across every channel and assigns proportional credit based on the role each touchpoint actually played.
A typical e-commerce purchase might involve a Google Shopping ad, a retargeting ad on Instagram, two emails, and a direct visit before the customer finally buys. Each of those touchpoints contributed something.
ThoughtMetric's Pixel-Based Tracking Captures the Full Journey
Rather than relying on each platform's self-reported data, the ThoughtMetric pixel installed on your store tracks every touchpoint and every conversion directly. This gives you a single source of truth that is not biased toward any one channel.
When you see the full picture, Google Ads often still plays an important role. However, it might not be the only reason a customer converted. Multi-touch attribution shows you everything you need to know about the role Google Ads plays in getting a shopper to convert.
See the real numbers.
If you want to see what Google Ads is really driving for your store, book a demo with ThoughtMetric. We will walk you through your actual channel performance so you can make scaling decisions based on real numbers, not inflated ones.
