Once Custom Attribution is available on your account, you can build Meta campaigns that optimize against your Triple Whale attribution data instead of Meta's in-platform attribution. This guide covers the campaign and ad set settings a campaign needs in order to be eligible.
If you would rather prove the impact before switching budget over, run a two-week A/B test first — Run an A/B test against BAU.
Before you begin
Attribution Passback is set up and enabled — Set up Meta Custom Attribution.
Meta has received roughly two weeks of high-quality signal and your connection quality shows High.
You are running Sales objective campaigns that optimize for Purchase.
Custom Attribution reads best on accounts running at least 150 Meta-attributed conversions per day. Below that the signal is thin and differences are hard to read.
Campaign-level settings
Setting | Value |
Campaign objective | Sales |
Budget strategy | Campaign budget — ad set budget is not an eligible configuration |
Bid strategy | Highest volume or Highest value |
Ad set conversion settings
Configure these on the ad set. Most brands are website-only — start there. The three conversion locations do not share settings, so use the table that matches yours rather than adapting another
Website
Setting | Value |
Conversion location | Website |
Performance goal | Maximize number of conversions or Maximize value of conversions |
Dataset | An eligible dataset — look for the green Custom attribution label |
Conversion event | Purchase — currently the only supported event |
Attribution model | Custom |
Custom attribution source | Auto-populates when you use Web only |
Website Conversion Settings
Select Website conversion location
Select either Maximize number of conversions or Maximize value of conversions as a performance goal
Select an eligible dataset with the green Custom attribution label
Select the Purchase conversion event
Currently, this is the only event supported
Select Custom attribution as your Attribution model
Select a Custom attribution source
Website and App Conversion Settings
Setting | Value |
Conversion location | Website and app |
Performance goal | Maximize number of conversions or Maximize value of conversions |
Conversion event | Purchase |
Attribution model | Custom |
Custom attribution source | Select a source for each dataset if your Web and App datasets differ |
Select Website and app conversion location
Select either Maximize number of conversions or
Maximize value of conversions as a performance goal
Select a Conversion event
Select Custom attribution as your Attribution model
Select a Custom attribution source
Note: If your Web and App datasets are different, select both custom attribution sources
Website Conversion Settings
Select Website conversion location
Select either Maximize number of conversions or Maximize value of conversions as a performance goal
Select an eligible dataset with the green Custom attribution label
Select the Purchase conversion event
Currently, this is the only event supported
Select Custom attribution as your Attribution model
Select a Custom attribution source
App Conversion card settings
Setting | Value |
Conversion location | App |
Performance goal | Maximize number of app events |
App store and app | Select your mobile app store, then your app |
App event | Purchase |
Attribution model | Custom |
Custom attribution source | Select a custom attribution source |
Select App conversion location
Select Maximize number of app events as a performance goal
Select a Mobile app store
Select an App
Select the Purchase app event
Currently, this is the only event supported
Select Custom attribution as your Attribution model
Select a Custom attribution source
Confirm it is working
Custom Attribution campaigns are tagged with a Custom label in Ads Manager, under the attribution setting. Rather than showing Meta's default attributed conversions, the Results column reflects your externally attributed Triple Whale data.
What to expect
Custom Attribution campaigns behave differently from standard campaigns in Ads Manager, and the differences look like problems if you are not expecting them.
Ads Manager KPIs may read lower. Custom Attribution reflects cross-publisher attribution, while Meta's standard reporting is single-source. A lower in-platform ROAS is a methodology difference, not underperformance.
CPMs may rise. Meta is bidding into the audiences your attribution says actually convert. Higher cost per thousand impressions against better-qualified inventory is the mechanism working, not wasted spend.
Reported numbers lag. There are processing delays between Meta receiving your attributed data and it appearing in reporting.
Judge performance in Triple Whale
Because the two systems attribute differently and on different timelines, compare Custom Attribution campaigns against your other campaigns in Triple Whale, on a single attribution basis. That is the only clean read.
FAQ
Which conversion events are supported?
Purchase only, on both web and app. Other conversion events cannot use Custom Attribution yet.
Do I have to use Custom Attribution on every campaign?
No. It is set per ad set, so you choose which campaigns use it and which stay on Meta's standard attribution.
How much of my budget should use Custom Attribution?
Once you are confident in the results, allocate at least 20% of your Meta budget to Custom Attribution campaigns, or run a 50/50 account-level split. Below that, the signal is too thin for the difference to show.
My campaign is not eligible — what is missing?
Work back through the criteria above. The three most common causes are a budget set at ad set level rather than campaign level, a dataset without the green Custom attribution label, and a connection quality that has not yet reached High.