Match Rate
Match Rate (the matching percentage) is a key quality indicator for attribution. It shows what share of CRM rows were successfully matched with ad data.
Formula
Match Rate = (Matched Deals / Total CRM Deals) × 100%Where:
- Matched Deals — the number of CRM rows for which a match was found
- Total CRM Deals — the total number of CRM rows in the report
Interpreting values
| Match Rate | Rating | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 70-100% | Excellent | Attribution is accurate, the metrics can be trusted |
| 40-70% | Acceptable | Most deals are accounted for, but there's room for improvement |
| 20-40% | Low | A significant share of deals is unaccounted for, metrics may be distorted |
| 0-20% | Critical | Attribution is essentially not working, diagnostics are required |
Realistic target values
Typical Match Rate values for different scenarios:
- E-commerce with perfect UTM tagging: 80-95%
- B2B with good UTM tagging: 50-80%
- Business with partial UTM tagging: 30-50%
- Business with phone leads (calls): 10-30% (UTM tags aren't passed on a call)
A 100% Match Rate is practically unattainable, because there are always deals that don't come from ads (direct visits, referrals, organic search).
What affects Match Rate
Increases Match Rate
- Complete UTM tagging on all ads
- Correct UTM propagation into the CRM
- A large date window
- Loose match mode
- Source constant inference
Decreases Match Rate
- Missing UTM tags on some ads
- UTM tags lost when passed to the website or CRM
- A small date window
- Strict match mode
- Different traffic sources (not just ads)
How to use Match Rate
To assess data quality
A low Match Rate indicates problems with UTM tagging or data transfer.
To compare channels
Compare the Match Rate across different ad channels. A channel with an unusually low Match Rate likely has UTM problems.
For monitoring
Track Match Rate over time. A drop may indicate a broken UTM transfer.