Conversion Window and Pipeline Frequency in Ad-based Sources

Ad-based Sources such as Apple Search Ads, Facebook Ads, Google Ads, Microsoft Ads and Twitter Ads use the concept of conversion or attribution. A conversion is the process of a user interacting with an ad and subsequent purchase or sign-up for the related product or service. When an ad-based Source links this purchase to the previous ad interaction of the user, it is called attribution. The time period between this conversion or attribution is called a conversion or attribution window. The data about these interactions is called insights.

For these Sources, Hevo refreshes the data in the Destination to capture the attribution details as per the conversion window you specify. This data is the key component that affects your Events quota consumption. The number of Events that are ingested during each data refresh and the number of refresh cycles that occur depend on the conversion window and Pipeline frequency, respectively.

In order to optimize your Events usage and the resulting costs, Hevo recommends a combination of the following methods:

1. Reduce the Pipeline Frequency

The data refresh task occurs along with every Pipeline run. Therefore, a high Pipeline frequency leads to a higher data refresh frequency and hence, higher quota consumption, while a lower Pipeline frequency leads to a lower data refresh frequency and hence, lesser quota consumption.

Example:

Let us suppose you have an ad account that receives 1K insights every day.

Conversion window = 30 days.

Scenario 1:

Pipeline frequency = 1 Hour.

Number of refresher Events ingested every one hour = 30K (1K * 30 days).

Total number of Events ingested in one day = 720K (24 * 30K).

Scenario 2:

Pipeline frequency = 12 Hours.

Number of refresher Events ingested every 12 hours = 30K (1K * 30 days).

Total number of Events ingested in one day = 60K (2 * 30K).

So, after one day:

Events ingested and loaded in Scenario 1 = 720K.

Events ingested and loaded in Scenario 2 = 60K.

Therefore, lower Pipeline frequency can help you ingest all the attribution Events with much lower quota consumption.

Read Pipeline Frequency and Events Quota Consumption to know more about the effect of Pipeline frequency on your quota consumption.

2. Keep the Conversion Window in Sync with the Source

When you set up your ad-based Source, you can specify the time window you will use to track conversions. Many ad-based Sources provide you with conversion windows to select from. Hevo recommends that you select or specify the same duration while setting up your Pipeline in Hevo.

Note: The conversion window can also be modified post-Pipeline creation for some Sources.

Specifying a lower window size than the one configured in your respective Source account can lead to loss of data, whereas a higher window size can lead to higher quota consumption.

Example:

Let us suppose while setting up your Facebook Ads account, you selected a conversion window of 28 days.

Scenario 1:

You select a conversion window of 21 days while setting up your Pipeline. This will lead to loss of data, as the refresh data will be ingested for the past 21 days instead of 28 days.

Scenario 2:

You select a conversion window of 35 days while setting up your Pipeline. This will lead to higher data ingestion, as the refresh data will be ingested for 35 days instead of 28 days.

Scenario 3:

You select the conversion window of 28 days while setting up your Pipeline. This will lead to optimal data ingestion, as the refresh data will be ingested for that specified duration as mentioned in your Source account.

Therefore, you must select the conversion window mentioned in your Source account to optimize your Events quota consumption.

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See Also

• Pipeline Frequency
• Pricing Plans
• Scheduling a Pipeline
• Types of Data Synchronization

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