Reason #1 – You’ve just started using ClickMagick
If you’ve just recently started using ClickMagick, your stats will not match the other marketing apps you’re already using due to all the prospects in your funnel before you started to use ClickMagick.
Learn more
For example, imagine that someone clicks your Facebook Ad on Monday and enters your funnel, you start using ClickMagick on Tuesday, and then that prospect purchases on Wednesday …
That sale will probably show up in your ad account and other marketing apps you’re already using – but it won’t be tracked in ClickMagick because the ad click happened before you started using ClickMagick.
You’ll start to see actionable stats within just a few days, but depending on the length of your sales cycle, it could be weeks or even months before most or all of your conversions are tracked in ClickMagick.
Reason #2 – There’s a problem with your Tracking Code
Your ClickMagick Tracking Code needs to be “installed” correctly to get accurate stats, so if things are “missing” in ClickMagick, you’ll want to start here.
Learn more
For example, maybe you’re doing a split test and forgot to add the ClickMagick Tracking Code to all of the test variations, which would cause the traffic going to those variations to not be tracked.
Or maybe your page builder isn’t outputting your Tracking Code correctly – which causes people using certain browsers to not be tracked correctly.
(Some page builders do some VERY weird and technically incorrect things – which is why we have many specific how-to articles for adding your Tracking Code using specific page builders.)
Reason #3 – GDPR Privacy/Cookie Banners & Apps
If you have any type of privacy/cookie banner on your website that asks visitors to consent to accepting cookies and data collection, in most cases they can’t be tracked if they decline.
Learn more
If you are subject to GDPR or other privacy related regulations, and your intent is to be compliant with them, you may have needed to install a privacy/cookie banner or app on your site or store.
This gives the visitor the ability to accept or decline the use of cookies and data collection for analytics purposes.
If the visitor declines then unfortunately they can’t be tracked properly by any tracking system, as giving them that choice is the purpose of the regulations that you’ve chosen to abide by.
So unfortunately, if you utilize such a privacy/cookie banner or app on your site or store, you should expect that some percentage of your visitors’ activity and sales just can’t be tracked.
The good news is that this is not really a problem from an analytics standpoint because you’ll still receive the same actionable insights, and your key metrics – like your conversion rates, average lifetime value, etc. – are not affected in any statistically significant way if a relatively small percentage of visitors choose not to be tracked.
Reason #4 – You have non-dedicated “thank you” pages
The ideal “thank you” page is a dedicated page or screen that visitors or buyers see just once after a conversion occurs e.g. an opt-in or sale. This is best because it ensures you won’t ever have to worry about duplicate conversions.
On the other hand, if you’re adding conversion tracking code to pages that visitors can easily reach in multiple ways, over and over again, you may need to make a small tweak to your ClickMagick setup.
Reason #5 – Ad networks and other apps do not provide accurate stats
You absolutely cannot rely on the stats provided by ad platforms or other marketing apps you use.
Ad network tracking is crippled by short attribution windows, “greedy attribution,” estimated and delayed data, and iOS “do not track” and other privacy-related issues.
Learn more
Please see the article below if you would like to learn more:
Why can’t I rely on the stats in my ad network account?
When it comes to the other marketing apps you use …
Many of these apps are very good at what they do, but tracking is an afterthought for them. Their “tracking” isn’t even in the same universe as ClickMagick.
For example, if someone opts-in to your list five times using five different email addresses, your autoresponder will show five new users on your list. But this is not what you want from an analytics standpoint.
The bottom line is when it comes to accurate and actionable stats that’ll help you grow your business …
The numbers you see in ClickMagick are infinitely more useful than what you’ll see in the other apps you use.
Reason #6 – Different time periods, often due to time zone differences
To accurately compare two different sets of stats, you first have to make sure that you’re looking at the same time period on both sides. Comparing apples to apples, as they say.
Learn more
To help with this, ClickMagick allows you to display your stats in any time zone you want via the Time Zone setting in your
Account Settings.
You can also specify a custom time zone for each Project in Campaigns, overriding the default time zone in your account settings.
Reason #7 – Differences in counting “unique” clicks
The biggest issue here is that most traffic sources don’t publicly share how they determine a unique click, so it’s unlikely that the number of unique clicks shown in ClickMagick will exactly match your traffic source.
The big ad networks – like Google, Facebook, Microsoft Ads and TikTok – all use black box algorithms and don’t tell anyone how they count clicks. But what is obvious is that they will often charge you for multiple “unique” clicks from the same person in a short period of time, even within a matter of hours.
Ad networks are also known to adjust the number of clicks they say you’ve received after the fact, based on post-click analysis and other factors, so their numbers can change depending on when you look at it.
Learn more
When counting clicks, many traffic sources and other “dumb” apps show a raw click count. If the same person clicks on a specific link three times in a short period of time, they will show three clicks.
On the other hand, ClickMagick “remembers” your visitors. So unless you change your default settings, if the same person clicks a specific link three times on the same day, we’ll show three total clicks but just one unique visitor.
To generate statistically significant stats you can use to grow your business, this is exactly what you want. If we used raw click counts when calculating important stats like conversion rates, they would all be inaccurate.
Some clicks are also untrackable. For example, if the requesting client doesn’t execute javascript or accept cookies. In a case like this, other “dumb” apps will count it as a standard click, but ClickMagick won’t – because if the user isn’t trackable, we don’t want to pollute your primary stats with untrackable clicks.
The important thing to keep in mind is that you should focus on things that can be tracked and optimized and only pay attention to statistically valid stats.
You shouldn’t think of ClickMagick as a raw “click tracker.” You can always view your “non-standard” clicks in ClickMagick – things like untrackable clicks and “bot” clicks – but these are separated from your main stats.
Our primary goal is to show you the most statistically valid and actionable stats possible regarding important things like your conversion rates, ROI and LTV.
This is super important, so if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Reason #8 – You have “leaks” in your tracking or untracked organic traffic
By default, Campaigns will only track visitors who arrive at your site via a proper UTM-powered link, which includes valid
utm_source,
utm_medium and
utm_campaign values at a minimum.
If you also want to track organic traffic, you need to purposely enable that in your Campaigns click tracking code.
Learn more
You could be getting traffic from ads or other sources you’re not properly tracking with ClickMagick, and while you may see events like opt-ins in your autoresponder, for example, they won’t be tracked by ClickMagick.
Oftentimes it’s just a case of setting up some new ads and forgetting to include proper UTM parameters for tracking.
Many people use ClickMagick only to track and optimize their paid ads – if you also want to track organic traffic and the resulting conversions in ClickMagick, you’ll want to make sure to enable organic tracking as well.
Reason #9 – You’re receiving fraudulent or “fake” clicks
This is less likely with the major ad platforms, but there’s quite a bit of fraudulent traffic being bought and sold on some of the smaller ad networks, some of the CPV/PPV ad networks, and most certainly when it comes to “solo ads.”
These fake clicks are normally counted as real clicks by “dumb” platforms that can’t tell the difference, but ClickMagick separates these from your primary stats to preserve their accuracy.
Learn more
If you’re paying for traffic, other people are making money selling it to you. Unfortunately, the lure of easy money leads to some publishers and traffic providers generating and selling fake “clicks” on smaller ad platforms without the resources to combat it or when selling traffic directly to the buyer, as in the case with solo ads.
One example that can cause serious stats discrepancies between solo ad buyers and sellers is when sellers generate additional worthless clicks to make more money.
Usually, an unscrupulous traffic seller will set up a page with multiple hidden “iframes” that all point to the same rotator. Then when an end-user lands on the page, multiple “clicks” will be generated at the same time.
The end-user never actually sees any of the webpages, yet their web browser still generates clicks to each URL – and these clicks can’t always be tracked properly.
Fraudsters are often quite sophisticated, and there’s often nothing you or we can do about it, and fraudulent traffic will lead to stats discrepancies.
Reason #10 – Bots “clicking” your ads and links
The main issue is that many bots do not follow redirects, so a bot may “click” on your ad or other promotional links but not follow the redirect to your landing page the way a normal browser would, so you never see the click.
Learn more
A “bot” (short for “robot”) is software that is programmed to do specific tasks. To learn more, please see:
What are “bots” and why should I care?
And while you’d expect ad networks like Google and Facebook to have highly advanced systems to protect you from this sort of thing, the truth is that their automated systems do not prevent or catch all the bots “clicking” on your ads. You’re paying for some percentage of bot clicks.
Lucky for you, ClickMagick has world-class bot detection systems – perfected over the past eight years and billions of clicks processed – that identify and “flag” many of these bots that slip through the cracks at the ad network level.
You can always view your “non-standard” clicks in ClickMagick – things like untrackable clicks and “bot” clicks – but by default, these are separated from your real clicks ...
Because this is the only way to ensure that all of your other important stats – like your conversion rates – are as accurate as possible.
You can learn a bit more here:
How does Campaigns help combat bots and click fraud?
Reason #11 – Prospects and customers repeatedly clicking on your paid ads
Rather than use bookmarks, many Internet users simply Google your product or brand name and click whatever shows up at the top when they want to get back to your site.
Usually, this will be your paid ad, and when they click it repeatedly over time, your ad network counts these as unique clicks and charge you over and over and over again.
Learn more
Imagine the following scenario ...
A user clicks one of your Google ads and ultimately purchases your product.
They forgot to bookmark your site, so a week later they type the name of your site or product into Google and click the first listing right at the top — which unfortunately happens to be your paid ad.
They are just trying to get back to your site, but Google just counted and charged you for another “unique” click, whereas ClickMagick may not count this as another unique click depending on your settings.
If you’re not already aware of this problem, you may be shocked to learn that instead of bookmarking their favorite sites, many users actually just use Google search to find sites they want to go back to, and if your paid ad is listed right at the top, you get charged over and over again each time they click on it.
If you take the time and have the ability to look into this, you’ll probably discover that you have many users who do this multiple times per week, and they’re inflating your ad costs by a noticeable amount.
Fortunately, we’ve created a one-of-a-kind solution for this that allows you to block these people from repeatedly clicking your ads, allowing you to prevent a LOT of wasted ad spend. You can learn how in this article:
How can I prevent wasted ad spend when using Campaigns?
Here’s what to do if you still can’t figure it out ...
First, know that “discrepancies” are expected for many of the reasons discussed above.
And remember – you shouldn’t think of ClickMagick as a raw “click tracker.” ClickMagick aims to provide you with statistically significant and actionable stats that will help you optimize your marketing …
… and it doesn’t matter if Facebook reports 1,002 raw ad clicks and ClickMagick reports 982 unique visitors.
When it comes to optimizing your marketing, the numbers that ClickMagick provides will always be “correct” and infinitely more useful than those you see on other platforms.
With that being said, if you have a large discrepancy that you can’t figure out or you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out any time, and we’ll be happy to help!
Reason #1 – You’ve just started using ClickMagick
If you’ve just recently started using ClickMagick, your stats will not match the other marketing apps you’re already using due to all the prospects in your funnel before you started to use ClickMagick.
Learn more
For example, imagine that someone clicks your Facebook Ad on Monday and enters your funnel, you start using ClickMagick on Tuesday, and then that prospect purchases on Wednesday …
That sale will probably show up in your ad account and other marketing apps you’re already using – but it won’t be tracked in ClickMagick because the ad click happened before you started using ClickMagick.
You’ll start to see actionable stats within just a few days, but depending on the length of your sales cycle, it could be weeks or even months before most or all of your conversions are tracked in ClickMagick.
Reason #2 – There’s a problem with your Tracking Code
Your ClickMagick Tracking Code needs to be “installed” correctly to get accurate stats, so if things are “missing” in ClickMagick, you’ll want to start here.
Learn more
For example, maybe you’re doing a split test and forgot to add the ClickMagick Tracking Code to all of the test variations, which would cause the traffic going to those variations to not be tracked.
Or maybe your page builder isn’t outputting your Tracking Code correctly – which causes people using certain browsers to not be tracked correctly.
(Some page builders do some VERY weird and technically incorrect things – which is why we have many specific how-to articles for adding your Tracking Code using specific page builders.)
Reason #3 – GDPR Privacy/Cookie Banners & Apps
If you have any type of privacy/cookie banner on your website that asks visitors to consent to accepting cookies and data collection, in most cases they can’t be tracked if they decline.
Learn more
If you are subject to GDPR or other privacy related regulations, and your intent is to be compliant with them, you may have needed to install a privacy/cookie banner or app on your site or store.
This gives the visitor the ability to accept or decline the use of cookies and data collection for analytics purposes.
If the visitor declines then unfortunately they can’t be tracked properly by any tracking system, as giving them that choice is the purpose of the regulations that you’ve chosen to abide by.
So unfortunately, if you utilize such a privacy/cookie banner or app on your site or store, you should expect that some percentage of your visitors’ activity and sales just can’t be tracked.
The good news is that this is not really a problem from an analytics standpoint because you’ll still receive the same actionable insights, and your key metrics – like your conversion rates, average lifetime value, etc. – are not affected in any statistically significant way if a relatively small percentage of visitors choose not to be tracked.
Reason #4 – Ad networks and other apps do not provide accurate stats
You absolutely cannot rely on the stats provided by ad platforms or other marketing apps you use.
Ad network tracking is crippled by short attribution windows, “greedy attribution,” estimated and delayed data, and iOS “do not track” and other privacy-related issues.
Learn more
Please see the article below if you would like to learn more:
Why can’t I rely on the stats in my ad network account?
When it comes to the other marketing apps you use …
Many of these apps are very good at what they do, but tracking is an afterthought for them. Their “tracking” isn’t even in the same universe as ClickMagick.
For example, if someone opts-in to your list five times using five different email addresses, your autoresponder will show five new users on your list. But this is not what you want from an analytics standpoint.
The bottom line is when it comes to accurate and actionable stats that’ll help you grow your business …
The numbers you see in ClickMagick are infinitely more useful than what you’ll see in the other apps you use.
Reason #5 – Different time periods, often due to time zone differences
To accurately compare two different sets of stats, you first have to make sure that you’re looking at the same time period on both sides. Comparing apples to apples, as they say.
Learn more
To help with this, ClickMagick allows you to display your stats in any time zone you want via the Time Zone setting in your
Account Settings.
You can also specify a custom time zone for each Project in Campaigns, overriding the default time zone in your account settings.
Reason #6 – You have “leaks” in your tracking or other untracked traffic
Campaigns can only track visitors who arrive at your site via a proper UTM-powered link, which includes valid
utm_source,
utm_medium and
utm_campaign values.
Anything else will be tagged as “organic” and not tracked the same as your paid ads.
Learn more
You could be getting traffic from ads or other sources you’re not properly tracking with ClickMagick, and while you may see events like opt-ins in your autoresponder, for example, they won’t be tracked by ClickMagick.
Many times it’s just a case where you’ve set up some new ads and forgot to include UTMs for tracking ...
You should expect to see some of this when you’re new to ClickMagick, but over time as you begin to track ALL of your paid ads and online promotions with ClickMagick, this shouldn’t be much of an issue unless you get a lot of organic traffic as compared to paid traffic and other sources that you’re tracking.
Reason #7 – Differences in counting “unique” clicks
The biggest issue here is that most traffic sources don’t publicly share how they determine a “unique” click, so it’s unlikely that the number of unique clicks shown in ClickMagick will exactly match your traffic source.
Learn more
When counting clicks, many traffic sources and other “dumb” apps show a raw click count. If the same person clicks on your link three times, they will show three clicks.
On the other hand, ClickMagick “remembers” your visitors. So unless you change your default settings, if the same person clicks a specific Tracking Link three times, it will only register one unique visitor.
To generate statistically significant stats you can use to grow your business, this is exactly what you want. If we used raw click counts when calculating your important stats like conversion rates, average order value, etc., they would all be inaccurate.
Some clicks are also untrackable. For example, if the requesting client doesn’t execute javascript or accept cookies. In a case like this, other “dumb” apps will count it as a standard click, but ClickMagick won’t – because if the user isn’t trackable, we don’t want to pollute your primary stats with untrackable clicks.
The important thing to keep in mind is that you should focus on things that can be tracked and optimized and only pay attention to statistically valid stats.
You shouldn’t think of ClickMagick as a raw “click tracker.” You can always view your “non-standard” clicks in ClickMagick – things like untrackable clicks and “bot” clicks – but these are separated from your main stats.
Our primary goal is to show you the most statistically valid and actionable stats possible regarding important things like your conversion rates, ROI and LTV.
This is super important, so if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Reason #8 – You’re receiving fraudulent or “fake” clicks
This is less likely with the major ad platforms, but there’s quite a bit of fraudulent traffic being bought and sold on some of the smaller ad networks, some of the CPV/PPV ad networks, and most certainly when it comes to “solo ads.”
These fake clicks are normally counted as real clicks by “dumb” platforms that can’t tell the difference, but ClickMagick separates these from your primary stats to preserve their accuracy.
Learn more
If you’re paying for traffic, other people are making money selling it to you. Unfortunately, the lure of easy money leads to some publishers and traffic providers generating and selling fake “clicks” on smaller ad platforms without the resources to combat it or when selling traffic directly to the buyer, as in the case with solo ads.
One example that can cause serious stats discrepancies between solo ad buyers and sellers is when sellers generate additional worthless clicks to make more money.
Usually, an unscrupulous traffic seller will set up a page with multiple hidden "iframes" that all point to the same rotator. Then when an end-user lands on the page, multiple "clicks" will be generated at the same time.
The end-user never actually sees any of the webpages, yet their web browser still generates clicks to each URL – and these clicks can’t always be tracked properly.
Fraudsters are often quite sophisticated, and there’s often nothing you or we can do about it, and fraudulent traffic will lead to stats discrepancies.
Reason #9 – Bots “clicking” your ads and links
The main issue is that many bots do not follow redirects, so a bot may “click” on a Tracking Link or Rotator but not follow the redirect to the actual landing page as a normal browser would.
Learn more
A “bot” (short for “robot”) is a software application that is programmed to do certain tasks. To learn more, please see:
What are “bots” and why should I care?
This can be a huge problem and cause all sorts of discrepancies between different tracking systems – and even between two ClickMagick users – with certain types of traffic, especially “solo ad” clicks.
With “solo ads,” generally, a bot will hit the Tracking Link of the sender, but then it doesn’t follow the redirect to the buyer’s Tracking Link, and the buyer never gets the click.
This causes the bot to click to be recorded in the seller’s stats, but it doesn't show up in the buyer’s stats – which leaves both sides scratching their heads and blaming the other.
Reason #10 – Flagged clicks are not included in your ClickMagick click counts
By default, ClickMagick detects and separates clicks from bots, search engine spiders, anti-virus programs, ad networks, and other automated processes that send clicks to your links but aren't real clicks from real users.
Learn more
To keep your conversion rates and other stats as accurate as possible, these automated “clicks” are not added to your TC (Total Clicks), and UC (Unique Clicks) counts if you have flagging turned on.
Instead, these clicks are added to the FC (Flagged Clicks) column of the Tracking Link or Rotator, and you can always view these by clicking on the number in the FC column.
Because flagged clicks are not added to the UC column, this means that the UC column does NOT show the raw total number of clicks the Tracking Link or rotator received – it shows the total number of real, unique human clicks received while the FC column shows the number of "flagged" – and often fake – clicks received.
So, if you’re receiving clicks and the number of clicks your traffic source says they sent you doesn’t match the number in your UC column, it’s likely that some of their clicks were detected as automated clicks, separated from your primary stats, and added to your FC column instead.
If you’re sending clicks, remember that not only are you sending the clicks totaled in the UC column, but you are also sending the clicks in the FC column.
Unfortunately, many other tracking systems don’t do a great job of detecting automated clicks and count them as actual clicks, which can lead to some serious discrepancies.
This also leads to the next reason …
Reason #11 – Different click filtering or blocking settings
Tracking Links and Rotators allow you to Flag or Block bots and other automated clicks, and this can be a big cause of discrepancies between two ClickMagick users if these settings are different.
Learn more
For example, imagine that you’re sending traffic to someone and on their end, they’re flagging “Abusers” in their Advanced Settings, but you're not.
When an “Abuser” click hits your account, it’ll be treated normally and included in your unique click count. But on their end, the click will be detected as an “Abuser” and added to their FC count instead.
This will cause a "discrepancy" between the number of unique clicks sent and received.
To track down discrepancies between two ClickMagick users, you need to know both the flag and block settings for both users. If you're a solo ad seller, ask your buyer for the Public Stats page of their tracking link. This page will show you all their flagged and blocked clicks so you can see exactly what’s happening.
Of course, other tracking systems offer varying types of click filtering and blocking as well, which will almost always cause some type of “discrepancy” due to the different methods used.
Reason #12 – Clicks from “bulk traffic” sites blocked by ClickMagick
ClickMagick Tracking Links and Rotators automatically block clicks from many “bulk traffic” sites, so if this type of traffic is sent to a ClickMagick Tracking Link or Rotator, it will not be processed and a "discrepancy" could arise.
Learn more
For a complete list of bulk traffic sites we currently don’t process traffic from and why, please see this article:
What traffic CAN’T I track with ClickMagick?
Unfortunately, many shady traffic sources will often mix in this type of “bulk traffic” with their other legitimate traffic to reduce their costs, which is another thing leading to stats discrepancies.
Reason #13 – Someone has reset a Tracking Link or Rotator
When people reset Tracking Links and Rotators – which is generally not recommended – you can run into all sorts of problems and discrepancies regarding unique vs. non-unique clicks.
Remember …
Learn more
Just because one tracking link or system considers a click unique doesn’t mean it will always be unique on the other end, as that user could have already visited the other link.
This is a big problem in the “solo ad” world because many people pass around a lot of the same clicks from the same users.
If you’re involved in this, you should expect this type of discrepancy unless you ensure that you only send traffic to brand-new tracking links that have never received traffic before.
Here is an example:
Say you buy a lot of “solo ads” and sometimes buy clicks from the same vendor repeatedly.
Imagine a vendor sends you 500 clicks, then you reset the link stats so you can track the next buy separately, and then they send you another 500 clicks ...
What’s going to happen is that you will get some repeat clicks from the first batch of 500, and the system will recognize these as repeat clicks.
If there are 20 repeat clicks, the seller will claim they sent you 500 additional clicks, but ClickMagick will report only 480 new and unique clicks.
This “discrepancy” can lead to a lot of confusion ...
... and since the original batch of clicks is deleted when you reset the link, you won’t be able to easily see which users/IPs are repeated clicks or have a way to quickly prove to the seller that you received 20 repeat clicks.
Here’s what to do if you still can’t figure it out ...
First, know that minor discrepancies are expected for many of the reasons discussed above.
And remember – you shouldn’t think of ClickMagick as a raw “click tracker.” ClickMagick aims to provide you with statistically significant and actionable stats that will help you optimize your marketing …
… and it doesn’t matter if another app reports 1,002 raw clicks and ClickMagick reports 982 unique visitors.
When it comes to optimizing your marketing, the numbers that ClickMagick provides will always be “correct” and infinitely more useful than the numbers you see on other platforms.
With that being said, if you have a large discrepancy that you can’t figure out, we’re happy to take a look and see if we spot anything you may have missed. But please understand the following when you do …
1. For us to help, we need you to detail everything you’ve already looked at and considered and what you’ve done to figure things out on your own. Without that info, we wouldn’t even know where to start.
2. We don’t have the resources to spend hours and hours figuring out any one user’s stats discrepancy, nor do we guarantee that we’ll always be able to figure out the issue – because sometimes it’s just impossible, for example, if someone is using sophisticated methods to generate fake clicks to your site.
3. We can’t help you with “solo ads” stats discrepancies. To learn more about that, please see this article:
Can you figure out my “solo ad” discrepancies?
