Conversion Window

Paid Media

Also: Attribution Window · Lookback Window

What it setsHow long after a click a sale still counts

Typical range1 to 90 days

Watch forLong windows inflate results

Pairs withAttribution model

Quick definition

A conversion window is the length of time after someone clicks or views an ad during which a sale or lead can still be credited back to that ad. Set it too short and you undercount real influence. Set it too long and you credit ads for sales they had nothing to do with.

How it varies across Australia

Default conversion windows vary widely across ad platforms and Australian advertisers rarely revisit the defaults once set. Businesses with longer sales cycles, like finance or B2B services, tend to under-report performance if they leave the default short window in place. The mismatch between sales cycle length and window length is one of the most common quiet distortions in paid media reporting.

See acquisition benchmarks across Australian industries →

What it actually means

Picture a shop with a receipt policy. If a customer walks in, browses, leaves, and comes back three weeks later to buy, does the greeter who first said hello still get commission? The conversion window is the policy that answers that question for your ads.

Every platform ships with a default. Google Ads typically defaults to 30 days for clicks and a shorter window for views. Meta Ads defaults to a 7-day click and 1-day view window unless you change it. These defaults exist because they work reasonably well for a generic advertiser, not because they suit your business specifically.

The window interacts with attribution and conversion rate in ways that are easy to miss. A longer window generally reports more conversions and a lower CPA, because it captures more of the slow-moving buyers. That doesn't mean performance improved. It means the measurement net got wider. Anyone comparing performance across campaigns, platforms or time periods needs to check the window is consistent, or the comparison is meaningless.

A conversion window is a clock someone else set for you. Most advertisers never check whether it matches their actual sales cycle.

How it shows up

It shows up in the settings panel of every ad platform, usually buried under conversion actions or attribution settings. It also shows up as a sudden jump in reported conversions with no change in spend or creative, which is often just a window change disguised as improved performance. In GA4 and CRM-linked reporting, it shows up as a mismatch between platform-reported conversions and actual closed sales, because the platform is still counting things your CRM has since disqualified.

The Australian context

Sales cycles in categories like mortgage broking, B2B software and higher-education enrolment commonly stretch past 30 days, well beyond most platform defaults. Australian advertisers in these categories who never touch the window setting are systematically undercounting real ad influence and can end up cutting channels that were actually working further up the funnel.

Where people get this wrong

Leaving the platform default without checking the actual sales cycle.A 7-day window on a product with a 45-day consideration period will miss most of the real conversions and make the channel look worse than it is.

Comparing CPA or ROAS across campaigns with different windows.A campaign on a 90-day window will always look more efficient than an identical campaign on a 7-day window. The comparison isn't measuring performance, it's measuring window length.

Widening the window to rescue a bad-looking campaign.This inflates reported results without changing anything about the campaign's actual effectiveness, and it makes future comparisons unreliable once the change is buried in the settings.

Common questions

What's a good conversion window to use?

One that matches your actual sales cycle. If most customers buy within a week of first contact, a 7-day window is fine. If your sales cycle runs 30 to 60 days, use a window that covers most of it, or you'll systematically undercount performance.

Does a longer conversion window always mean better results?

No. A longer window reports more conversions and often a lower CPA, but that reflects a wider measurement net rather than genuine improvement. Always check the window length before comparing performance across campaigns or time periods.

Are click windows and view windows the same thing?

No. A click window credits conversions after someone clicked an ad. A view window credits conversions after someone simply saw an ad without clicking. View windows are usually shorter and more contested, since seeing an ad is a weaker signal of influence than clicking it.

How does the conversion window relate to attribution?

The window sets the time boundary for what counts. Attribution then decides how credit is split among the touchpoints inside that boundary. You need both settings aligned, since a well-chosen attribution model on top of a mismatched window still produces distorted numbers.

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About New Rebellion

New Rebellion is a marketing intelligence consultancy. We build tools, score Australian businesses on how their marketing actually performs, and publish Debrief every day. This dictionary is part of how we work in the open.

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