Both numbers are right. They are counting different things
The platform counts what it influenced. Your CRM counts what closed. Treating the gap as an error sends teams looking for a bug that does not exist.
Because they answer different questions and use different windows. The platform reports conversions it can attribute within its own lookback, including view-through; the CRM reports what a salesperson marked closed, on the date it closed. Neither is wrong and they will never match.
Three reasons the gap exists
The window. A platform credits a conversion to the day of the click; your CRM records it on the day of the sale, which for a considered purchase can be two months later.
The model. Platforms count view-through and assisted conversions by default. Most CRMs record a single source, usually the last one, and usually whatever a form field captured.
The identity. A person researches on a phone and buys on a laptop. The platform often joins those; the CRM almost never does.
What to do instead of reconciling
Pick one of them as the number the business is run on, and use the other for what it is good at. The CRM is the source of truth for money. The platform is the source of truth for which creative and which audience to spend more on.
Then send the CRM's outcome back to the platform, so the optimisation is at least aimed at the right event even though the totals will still differ.
The number worth arguing about
Neither total. What matters is the direction over a period long enough to be real, read from the CRM, against spend read from the platform. Anybody demanding the two dashboards agree is asking for a report that cannot exist.
What to take from this
- 01Different windows, different models, different identity resolution
- 02The CRM is truth for money; the platform is truth for allocation
- 03Send outcomes back so optimisation aims at the right event
- 04A report where both agree would be a report that lies
Ask the question directly
- How big a gap is normal?
- For considered B2B purchases, the platform reporting substantially more than the CRM is ordinary. What matters is that the ratio is stable; a ratio that moves suddenly is worth investigating.
- Does server side tracking fix it?
- It improves identity resolution and closes part of the gap. It does not change the window or the attribution model, so a gap will remain.
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