MetaLocator tracks confirmed conversions via affiliate programs and manual back-fills. The timeline of when a given purchase will appear in the Analytics Dashboard can vary by retailer and affiliate program. This article discusses the factors that influence the reporting timeline of confirmed conversions.
Timeline elements:
Transaction time - The date and time that a visitor purchased a product from a 3rd party retailer
Reporting time - The date and time that the 3rd party retailer reported that transaction to the affiliate network.
Import time - The date and time that MetaLocator obtained the transaction record from the affiliate network.
Display on Analytics Dashboard - The date and time that transactions appear in the MetaLocator Analytics platform and are available in the Analytics API.
The length of time between the transaction time and reporting time is commonly between 12 and 36 hours. These timelines vary by retailer and affiliate network.
MetaLocator imports data from Affiliate networks every 24 hours in the very late evening/early morning hours (MT timezone).
MetaLocator then triggers the analytics computation process which surfaces the conversions in the analytics dashboard. This allows conversions to appear immediately after the conversions are imported into the analytics system.
Generally speaking, confirmed conversions should appear within 72 hours of the actual purchase. Delays primarily occur between the transaction time and reporting time and depend on processes within the 3rd party retailer.