Reports

How to tell which ad made the sale on WhatsApp

Updated September 28, 2026

Step by step

1. Connect the ad account

   In Settings › Integrations, create the Meta connection with the Ads source function and check the ad accounts. Spend and campaign structure start coming in on their own.

2. Make sure conversations have a source

   Click-to-WhatsApp ads already carry the ad in the first message. For ads that send people to a website or landing page, use the tracked link or the site tag with the suggested URL parameters.

3. Record sales with an amount

   In the lead panel, under Sales, click Record sale and enter the amount. Without a recorded sale there’s no revenue to compare with spend.

4. Open Analytics › Campaigns

   Pick the period, expand the tree down to the ad and look at the leads, revenue and ROAS columns. Click the number of leads to see who they are.

The three pieces that need to be connected

To answer “which ad made the sale,” TraceClose brings together three pieces of information that usually live in different places:

1. The conversation source. In click-to-WhatsApp ads, the ad ID arrives with the first message (method Ad click); the campaign and ad set are derived from the synced Meta structure. Outside those ads, the tracked link adds a code to the message that ties the conversation to the click (method Tracked link) and, with utm_content={{ad.id}} in the URL, to the ad.
2. The recorded sale. The salesperson records the sale with an amount on the lead. See how to record a sale.
3. The spend. With the ad account connected, spend, impressions and clicks come in every 30 minutes, by day and by ad.

Where to see it

In Analytics › Campaigns, the table opens as a tree: Account → Campaign → Ad set → Ad. Each row shows the columns you choose: spend, clicks, conversations started, leads, CPL, meetings, wins, revenue, ROAS and more. Click the number of Leads or Paid leads to open the list of people in that row, with their entry date, salesperson and the Open conversation button. At the ad level you also see the creative thumbnail.

Day to day, salespeople see the same information in the inbox: each conversation shows “Source: …” with the ad name, or “Organic · no ad.” In the lead panel, the full trail appears as Campaign → Ad set → Ad.

Example (sample data)

Example Co. runs two click-to-WhatsApp campaigns in September. On the Campaigns screen, with the Cohort reading and the “30 days” period:

The carousel brings in more leads at a lower cost per lead, but the video is what sells. Without linking the sale to the ad, the obvious move would be to scale the carousel.

Leads that don’t come from ads

• People who message you directly, through a referral or from your profile come in as Organic. These leads count in the Overview, but they don’t show up in the rows of the Campaigns screen, which only shows leads and sales from Paid traffic.
• A paid traffic lead whose ad hasn’t been synced yet shows up in a separate row, Unsynced ads. It usually goes away after the next sync.
• A sale inherits the lead’s current source. If the lead’s source changes, the sale follows it.

Didn’t work? See…

• Conversations coming in without a source: why the conversation doesn’t show the ad.
• Spend is zero or missing: ad spend isn’t showing.
• Ad account with a time zone or currency warning: account excluded from totals.
• Revenue is zero: check that the sales were recorded with an amount and weren’t canceled.

Frequently asked questions