Across 100 e-commerce brands, the average time from first touch to order was 8 days.

That means most shoppers don’t buy right away, they browse, click, leave, and come back later. But here’s where it gets interesting: Meta’s standard attribution window is 7 days (click) or 1 day (view). So if someone discovers your brand through a Meta ad and buys on day 8, that conversion won’t show up in Meta’s reporting.

When attribution ends too early, the platform under-reports performance. Your Meta campaigns may be driving more revenue than you realize, but the credit goes missing simply because the conversion happened outside Meta’s tracking window.

For high-consideration products, shoppers often take their time. They might follow your brand on social, join your email list, or return through a different channel before finally checking out. Meta’s default settings can’t always capture that full journey.

ThoughtMetric has five different lookback windows to choose from (7, 14, 30, 60, and 90 days). By connecting directly to your store, it ties conversions back to all marketing channels, not just those that fit inside a fixed 7-day window.

You can see exactly how long your typical customer journey is, which channels influence the sale, and how attribution changes when you extend or shorten your lookback period.

With ThoughtMetric, you can:
 • Understand true time to purchase for your brand
 • Compare performance across channels 

 • Make smarter budget decisions based on complete data

If your average time to order is 8 days, Meta is likely under-counting your conversions. ThoughtMetric fills in those gaps so you can see what’s really driving revenue, even beyond day 7.

Track conversions beyond Meta’s window. Book a ThoughtMetric demo.

What is the average time to order for e-commerce brands?
Based on data from 100 e-commerce brands, the average time between a shopper’s first interaction and their purchase is 8 days. This means most customers don’t buy immediately after clicking an ad, they often return later after comparing options or engaging through other channels.

What is Meta’s attribution window?
Meta’s standard attribution setting is 7-day click and 1-day view. That means Meta will only give credit to an ad if a shopper converts within 7 days of clicking or within 1 day of viewing the ad. Conversions that happen outside that timeframe aren’t tracked in Meta Ads Manager.

How does ThoughtMetric handle lookback windows?
ThoughtMetric lets you customize your lookback window to fit your customer journey, with options for 7, 14, 30, 60, or 90 days.

Can I see time-to-order data for my own brand?
Yes. ThoughtMetric automatically calculates average time to order so you can understand how long customers take to convert, how that varies by channel, and how your attribution window impacts reported results.