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Author: Gabriele

  • Understanding Sales Attribution

    This guide explains how sales attribution works in Sender, how revenue is credited to your campaigns and automations, and how you can interpret your performance data.

    Where to Find This Feature

    In the Sender dashboard, attributed revenue and order data appear automatically in your campaign and automation reports under Ecommerce reports. There is no setup required; once your store is connected, attribution begins working out of the box.

    How Sales Attribution Works

    Sales attribution credits a sale to the marketing message that influenced your customer to make a purchase. When a contact engages with an email or SMS (by opening or clicking it) and then places an order within a defined timeframe, the sale is attributed to that message.

    This gives you a clear picture of which campaigns and automations are actually driving revenue, rather than guessing based on opens and clicks alone.

    Attribution Touch Points

    A sale is only attributed if the contact actively engages with the message. Simply receiving a message does not qualify for attribution.

    For email, attribution is triggered by:

    • An open
    • A click

    For SMS, attribution is triggered by:

    • A delivery (limited window — see below)
    • A click

    Default Attribution Windows

    The attribution window is the timeframe during which a customer must place an order after engaging with a message for the sale to be credited. Sender applies different default windows depending on the channel and the type of engagement:

    Engagement Type Default Window
    Email click 5 days
    Email open 5 days
    SMS click 5 days
    SMS delivery 12 hours

    Example:

    • A customer clicks an email on Monday morning
    • They place an order on Thursday evening
    • The sale is attributed to that email because the order falls within the 5-day window

    If the same customer placed the order the following Tuesday — outside the 5-day window — the sale would not be attributed.

    Last-Touch Attribution

    When a customer engages with multiple messages before placing an order, the sale is attributed to the most recent message they engaged with, as long as it falls within its attribution window.

    Example:

    • A customer clicks an email on Monday
    • The same customer clicks an SMS on Wednesday
    • They place an order on Thursday

    The sale is attributed to the SMS, because it was the most recent touchpoint within its window. This approach helps you identify which messages actually close the sale, so you can focus on high-conversion channels.

    Multiple Orders Within the Same Window

    If a customer places several orders after engaging with a single message, every order that falls within the attribution window is credited to that message.

    Example:

    • A customer clicks an email on Monday
    • They place one order on Tuesday and another on Thursday
    • Both orders are attributed to that email

    Refunds and Cancellations

    Attributed sales reflect orders at the time of purchase. If an order is later refunded or canceled, the original attribution remains in your reports. This keeps historical metrics consistent across time and avoids retroactively changing previously published numbers.

    What Happens Next

    Once your store is connected and you start sending campaigns, attributed sales data begins appearing automatically in your reports.

    Common Issues

    Sales not appearing in reports → Confirm your store is connected to Sender under Account Settings → Connected stores, and verify that the customer who placed the order exists as a contact in your subscriber list. Sales can only be attributed to contacts known to your Sender account.

    Order placed but not attributed → Check whether the contact actually opened or clicked the message before placing the order. Receiving a message alone does not trigger attribution. Also, confirm the order was placed within the relevant attribution window (5 days for most engagement types, 12 hours for SMS delivery).

    Revenue numbers differ from your store platform → Sender uses engagement-based attribution with defined windows, while your store platform may attribute sales differently (for example, by direct referral, last-click, or UTM tag). Differences between the two systems are expected and both can be accurate — they simply measure different things.

    Discount code used but no attribution recorded → If a customer used a code from an email without opening or clicking the email beforehand, no attribution is recorded. The customer may have received the code from another source, forwarded the email, or had the tracking pixel blocked by their email client (e.g., Apple Mail Privacy Protection without a click).

    FAQs

    What’s the difference between sales attribution and direct revenue tracking? Sales attribution credits a sale to the message a customer engaged with before purchasing, even if the purchase happened in a separate browser session or from a different device. Direct revenue tracking typically only counts purchases made by clicking a link in the email itself. Attribution gives you a fuller picture of your marketing impact.

    Do opens from Apple Mail Privacy Protection count for attribution? Yes. Apple Mail Privacy Protection automatically pre-loads emails, which Sender records as an open. These opens count toward attribution, so if a contact using Apple Mail later places an order within the attribution window, the sale will be credited. To focus on stronger engagement signals, prioritize clicks over opens when analyzing campaign performance.

    Are refunds and cancellations included in attributed sales? Yes. Attributed sales are based on placed orders at the time of purchase. If an order is later refunded or canceled, the original attribution is preserved in your reports to maintain consistent metrics across time.

    What happens if a customer engages with both an email and an SMS before purchasing? The sale is attributed to the most recent message the customer engaged with (last-touch attribution), as long as it falls within that message’s attribution window.

    Why is a sale attributed to a contact who didn’t place the order? This can happen when one contact engages with the message (for example, a spouse or family member who shares an account), but a different contact completes the order using the same cart or discount code. Sender attributes the sale to the contact who actually engaged with the message, since their engagement is what influenced the purchase.

    Can I change the default attribution windows? The current defaults are 5 days for email clicks, email opens, and SMS clicks, and 12 hours for SMS deliveries.

    If you got stuck on a specific task or can’t find a way to execute a particular job, contact our support team via LiveChat or [email protected] — we’re here to help 24/7.

  • Custom events

    Custom Events let you track any specific action a subscriber takes on your site or in your app — and instantly use it as a trigger for automated workflows. Whether someone visits a pricing page, completes an onboarding step, or performs any other action you care about, Custom Events capture it and make it actionable.

    What are Custom Events?


    A Custom Event is a tracked subscriber action that Sender records in real time. Once an event is captured, it:

    • Appears in the subscriber’s activity log
    • Shows up in a dedicated event dashboard with charts and an activity feed
    • Becomes available as a trigger in Automations

    Think of each Custom Event as a container — you define what it represents, and every time that action happens, Sender logs it and can kick off a workflow automatically.

    Two ways Custom Events work

    1. E-commerce stores (no developer needed)

    If your store is connected to Sender via one of our native integrations (WooCommerce, Shopify, etc.), common e-commerce events are synced automatically. You’ll find pre-defined events ready to use — no setup required on your end.

    Examples of auto-synced events:

    • Product viewed
    • Cart abandoned
    • Order placed
    • Checkout started

    2. Fully custom events (developer required)

    If you want to track an action that isn’t covered by a standard integration — like a specific in-app behavior, a custom funnel step, or a non-standard purchase flow — you can create your own event.

    Here’s how it works:

    1. You create an “empty” event container in Sender (just a name and description)
    2. Your developer connects it via the Sender API
    3. Every time that action occurs, it fires into Sender and gets logged

    This gives you full flexibility to track virtually any behavior, no matter how specific.

    Creating a Custom Event

    1. Go to Custom events in the left-hand sidebar
    2. Click New custom event (top right)
    3. Enter an Event name — use something clear and consistent, like checkout_started or plan_upgraded
    4. Add a Description to explain what this event tracks
    5. Click Create

    Your new event will appear in the Custom Events list immediately. From there, share the event name with your developer so they can connect it via API.

    Note: Event names are used in API calls, so keep them lowercase, without spaces, and descriptive. Once set, the name can’t be changed.

    Viewing event activity

    Each Custom Event has its own mini-dashboard. Click View next to any event to open it.

    You’ll find three tabs:

    • Chart — See event volume over time (hourly, daily, weekly, or monthly). Useful for spotting trends or confirming your integration is working correctly.
    • Activity feed — A real-time log of every time the event was triggered, including the subscriber profile and timestamp.
    • Best people — See which subscribers are triggering this event most frequently.

    Event activity also shows up directly on each Subscriber’s profile under Subscriber activity, along with any event payload data (such as the URL, campaign ID, or other parameters passed with the event).

    Using Custom Events in Automations

    Once a Custom Event is set up and receiving data, you can use it as a starting trigger in any automation workflow.

    1. Open Automations and create a new workflow (or edit an existing one)
    2. Set the starting trigger to Custom Event
    3. Select the specific event you want to use
    4. Optionally, add conditions based on the event’s payload parameters — for example, only trigger the automation if url contains /checkout or campaign_type equals a specific value
    5. Build out the rest of your workflow as usual

    This makes it possible to build very precise automations — for example, sending a follow-up email only to subscribers who visited the pricing page more than twice, or who triggered a specific in-app action.

    Event payload data

    When your developer sends a Custom Event via the API, they can include additional parameters (payload data) alongside it. This might look like:

    
{
  "campaign_id": 0,
  "campaign_type": "email",
  "url": "https://yoursite.com/checkout/"
  "site_id": 1
}

    These parameters are stored with each event occurrence and are visible in the subscriber’s activity log. They can also be used as conditions in your automation trigger to make workflows more targeted.

    Frequently asked questions

    Do I need a developer to use Custom Events? Not always. If your store is connected via a native integration, standard e-commerce events sync automatically. You only need a developer if you want to track non-standard, fully custom actions via the API.

    Can I use Custom Events in segments? Yes. Once events are flowing in, you can build segments based on subscribers who have (or haven’t) triggered specific events — making it easy to target audiences based on real behavior.

    Where can I find the API documentation? Head to Account settings → API access tokens to get your API credentials. Full API documentation is available at api.sender.net.

    Is there a limit to how many Custom Events I can create? The number of Custom Events available is currently unlimited.

    If you got stuck on a specific task or can’t find a way to execute a particular job, contact our support team via LiveChat or [email protected] – we’re here to help 24/7.