Why a lead has no attribution—and what to check
Trace missing credit through the outcome, person, website touchpoint, attribution window and campaign metadata.
Start with the three different problems
| State | What it means | Where to look |
|---|---|---|
| Not observed | The expected visit or outcome never arrived in Sissel | Installation, consent, connector sync or stage mapping |
| Not linked | The visit and outcome may both exist but no dependable identity connects them | Tracking token, email, phone or external-ID evidence |
| Not credited | The linked journey exists but no touchpoint is eligible under the model and window | Direct traffic, lookback and source-bearing touchpoints |
Do not start by assigning a campaign manually. First establish which of these states you have. A CRM contact proves that a person exists in the customer system; it does not prove which website, visitor or campaign produced that person.
The troubleshooting sequence
- 1Does the outcome exist?
Search for the exact source record and time. If it is absent, check the connector, API or Zapier run and the CRM stage mapping.
- 2Is a person attached?
If the outcome has no linked person, inspect the supplied token, external ID, email or phone and any identity conflict.
- 3Does that person have a linked visitor?
A person can be known to the CRM without any active evidence connecting them to a website visitor.
- 4Does the visitor have touchpoints?
Confirm the SDK was installed, collection was allowed and the expected landing visit was accepted.
- 5Is there a source-bearing touchpoint?
A direct visit alone contains no campaign source. Check final URLs, UTMs and supported click identifiers.
- 6Is the touchpoint inside the lookback?
An older visit remains part of history but may be ineligible for the selected outcome and window.
- 7Is campaign metadata available?
A credited source can still lack friendly campaign or ad names if the account is disconnected or IDs were never observed.
What common gap reasons mean
- No linked person
The outcome or visitor could not be connected to a known person with the available identity evidence.
- Person matched; no linked touchpoint
The person is known, but there is no eligible visitor journey attached to that person.
- Direct visit only
Touchpoints exist inside the window, but none carries a non-direct marketing source.
- Outside lookback
Earlier touchpoints exist, but all are older than the configured window for this outcome.
- Consent denied or never granted
The expected browser evidence was not collected because the required permission was unavailable.
- Missing click parameters
The visit arrived without the campaign or click identifiers expected from the ad link.
- Stage not mapped
The CRM change happened, but no configured outcome meaning corresponds to that source state.
- Ad metadata missing
A source or external ID may be present while the connected account cannot supply the campaign hierarchy or name.
Run one controlled test path
- 1Use a tagged test URL
Open a production landing page with known campaign parameters after granting the expected consent.
- 2Confirm collection immediately
Verify the visit, source, landing page and consent state before submitting a form.
- 3Submit through the real form
Avoid manually creating the CRM record, because that can bypass the identity bridge you are testing.
- 4Trigger the mapped outcome
Move the same person through the exact qualification or sale condition.
- 5Inspect the chronological journey
Find the first missing stage and fix that stage rather than changing the attribution result.
When the honest answer is “no evidence”
Some leads come from referrals, offline conversations, manually created CRM records, unconsented visits or old journeys whose campaign details no longer exist. If there is no visitor, touchpoint or explicit campaign identifier, there is no reliable campaign attribution to recover.
Attribution and delivery fail separately
A lead can be correctly attributed and still not be sent to Meta or Google. Delivery can remain off, lack consent or identifiers, exceed a platform age limit, or be rejected by the provider. Use the Deliveries view for those failures. Changing attribution will not repair a destination route.