Retrospective Update

This article explains how Replication handles retrospective data updates for delayed conversion tracking (attribution window) in advertising connectors.

Context

Advertising connectors (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, LinkedIn Ads, TikTok Ads, X Ads, Microsoft Ads, etc.) operate a concept called the conversion or attribution window. Attribution window is the period between the user's first contact with an advertisement and the target action, such as purchase of a product, filling out a form on the site, etc. Usually, an advertiser sets this period at the ad level.

For example, the advertiser sets the attribution window to 30 days. If a user sees the ad on May 1st and makes a purchase on May 10th, then the advertising platform attributes this purchase to the advertisement display on May 1st.

Problem

Data sources APIs do not provide any markers that indicate about the delayed conversions. If Skyvia pulls ad statistics for May 1st on May 2nd, and a conversion occurs on May 10th, a standard Incremental Replication will miss this update because it only looks for newly modified records from the current date.

Solution

To solve this problem, we added the Attribution Window parameter to the Advanced Settings of the supported advertising connectors. Users can manually specify the attribution window or use the default value. Replication uses this value to refresh data for reporting objects that support retrospective updates.

Specifics

• Retrospective update works for New Replication Runtime only. It doesn't work for obsolete integrations.

• Only Incremental Replication with the set LastSyncTime parameter supports Retrospective Update.

• Only the report objects are affected by this feature.

• A field that contains the report date must be selected for replication. Otherwise, the Retrospective Update will not work.

• Connector-specific details of the Retrospective update are available in the connectors' topics.

Connectors

Skyvia supports the Retrospective Update for the following connectors.