Campaigns don’t always perform the way we expect or hope. When there are no views, no conversions, too few conversions, or even too many, the key is to diagnose methodically. This guide walks through what to do for each scenario.
Each section is self-contained so you can jump straight to the issue you’re facing.
Scenario 1: No Views or No Conversions
When nothing is coming through (no views, no conversions, or both) the priority is to confirm that attribution is set up. In most cases, the issue stems from configuration, event ingestion, or unusable IP data.
1. Check Attribution Setup
Attribution requires residential IPs from listeners and residential IPs from the advertiser’s website. If either side sends mostly noisy IPs, attribution becomes unlikely.
Verify Tag Setup. Confirm the brand is sending data to Podscribe correctly. Ensure the events you want to track are coming into the Tag Setup tab in the right quantities, with the right data. Go through the full QA guide with the advertiser.
Watch for the DCH Red Flag:
If advertiser IPs are mostly noisy IPs, attribution becomes unlikely. Ask developers to send full, untruncated residential IPs.
2. Check Publisher Data
Noisy IPs from listeners also make attribution much less likely.
How to check:
Look for the Low % Usable IPs flag in the By Campaign tab.
In Overview → IP Type, ISP = residential; others = noisy.
3. Confirm Geo Delivery
Ensure impressions are served to countries relevant to the advertiser’s business.
A campaign that delivers all its impressions to the US when the website is only accessible from Australia will not have conversions.
4. Loosen Attribution Settings
Try to surface at least one conversion to check if there’s an issue with attribution.
- Set a 60‑day window
- Include prior customers and visitors
- Remove URL filters
If nothing appears after doing all four, let adops@podscribe.com know that you’ve done so and still don’t see anything.
5. Compare Against Benchmarks
Industries vary dramatically in expected performance. Use Podscribe’s Benchmark Report to calculate expected purchases based on the industry-specific purchase rate and your campaign’s impressions.
6. Conclusion
If all checks are clean and no conversions still appear, the campaign likely produced no measurable impact.
Scenario 2: Views but No Conversions
If views are appearing but conversions are not, the question becomes whether this is expected or is an opportunity to pivot.
1. Check Tag Setup for integration issues.
Just like above, check if the conversion event is being sent to Podscribe correctly. Confirm the brand is sending conversion data to Podscribe correctly. Ensure the events you want to track are coming into the Tag Setup tab in the right quantities, with the right data. Go through the full QA guide with the advertiser.
Watch for the DCH Red Flag:
If advertiser IPs are mostly noisy, attribution becomes less likely. Ask developers to send residential IPs.
Attribution requires residential IPs from listeners and residential IPs from the advertiser’s website. If either side sends mostly noisy IPs, attribution becomes unlikely.
2. Check Publisher Data
Noisy IPs from listeners also make attribution much less likely.
How to check:
Look for the Low % Usable IPs flag in the By Campaign tab.
In Overview → IP Type, ISP = residential; others = noisy.
3. Compare to Benchmarks
Conversion rates differ widely by industry.
4. Look for Variability in Breakouts.
Check performance across shows, genres, geo, creatives, and devices. The ones with the biggest spread in performance are those that you can act on in the next step.
Example:
If the campaign’s average visitor rate is 0.01% but some shows hit 0.09%, invest more in those shows.
5. Pivot Strategy
Double down on high performers; exclude or anti-target low performers.
6. Use the Planner Tool
Shows with high brand affinity or high historical volume are strong candidates for expansion.
Conclusion:
With views but no conversions, optimization rather than debugging is the next step.
Scenario 3: Too Few Conversions
Here, conversions exist but are below expectations.
1. Confirm All Purchase Events are Flowing In
Just like above, ensure tagging has been set up correctly.
2. Remove filters.
Raise the conversion window, remove url filters.
3. Compare Against Benchmarks
Check whether performance aligns with industry norms.
4. Identify High-Performers and Target Accordingly
Use breakouts to find strong segments and to expand into promising inventory using data-backed insights.
5. Use Planner for Additional Opportunities
Find shows that are promising with many existing customers.
Conclusion
Underperformance often means volume should be concentrated into higher-quality segments.
Scenario 4: Too Many Conversions
If conversions seem inflated, attribution settings or modeling may need to be made more conservative.
1. Tighten Attribution Settings
- Exclude prior customers and visitors
- Exclude landing/referrer URLs
- Shorten conversion window (shorter for low‑ticket items; longer for high‑ticket)
Use the lag report to understand typical delay. More expensive products will need a bigger attribution window.
2. Adjust Modeling (Video + Noisy IP)
Video modeling:
- Consider lowering the YouTube coefficient (e.g., 1 → 0.7)
- Or turn off video modeling when video impressions far outweigh podcast impressions
Noisy IP modeling should remain on.
3. Consider Incrementality.
Useful only for very large brands. Results can be noisy at small scales.
Conclusion
Tightening attribution and adjusting modeling helps ensure conversions attributed are truly podcast‑driven.
Checklist
No Conversions:
- Check tags, IPs, geo
- Loosen settings
- Review benchmarks
- Escalate if needed
Views but No Conversions:
- Check benchmarks
- Look for variability
- Pivot strategy
- Use Planner
Too Few Conversions:
- Confirm events
- Benchmark expectations
- Expand top performers
Too Many Conversions:
- Tighten settings
- Adjust modeling
- Use incrementality selectively
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