Meet the Client
A modern facial & wellness bar redefining skincare
Based in the U.S., the client offers high-tech facials, skin treatments, and holistic wellness services in a serene, spa-like environment. Their approach blends innovation with simplicity — making expert skincare accessible, results-driven, and delightfully relaxing.
When bookings and revenue were consistently flowing, the last thing the business expected was that their analytics were completely in the dark.
The Problem
Attribution went dark after a platform update
After an update to the brand’s third-party booking platform, something strange started happening. Bookings kept coming in and revenue was flowing — but no one could tell which domain or campaign was responsible. GA4 started showing far fewer purchases than actual sales.
Why? The referrer data — the trail that tells you where a user came from — vanished entirely.
GA4 showed far fewer purchases than actual bookings taking place
No visibility into which domain or campaign was driving conversions
Source/medium attribution broken — all traffic appeared as “Direct”
ROAS tracking collapsed — marketing spend became impossible to justify
Root Cause
A hidden browser setting was stripping referrer data
After investigation, we found the culprit: the booking platform was using a no-referrer policy during cross-domain redirects. This meant that when users moved from the main site to the booking engine, their source, medium, campaign, and even domain info were stripped away entirely.
| Problem | Real-World Impact |
|---|---|
| Referrer data lost | No visibility into campaign performance |
| Source/medium attribution broken | GA4 reports showed traffic as “Direct” |
| Ad platform learning disrupted | Conversion paths couldn’t be optimised |
| ROAS tracking collapsed | Marketing spend became harder to justify |
Our Fix
Diagnosing + rebuilding attribution from the ground up
We followed a structured three-step approach to identify the root cause and build a robust tracking solution that would stand up long-term.
1
Uncover the No-Referrer Policy
We used browser debugging tools to detect that the booking site’s security settings were wiping the referrer headers on every cross-domain redirect — invisible to the naked eye, but breaking attribution at the source.
2
Developer Collaboration
We worked directly with the client’s developer to adjust the referrer policy to strict-origin-when-cross-origin. This restored partial referral visibility without compromising site security.
3
Enhanced Tracking Layer
We built custom logic in GTM to route events to the correct GA4 & Ads accounts, added booking revenue tracking using a custom data layer, and implemented Enhanced Conversions by capturing user inputs on the main site.
Results That Matter
What changed after the fix
Once the tracking layer was rebuilt, the numbers told a completely different story. Purchase revenue and total bookings now appear accurately in GA4, fully aligned with actual sales data.
Attribution Restored
100%
Works correctly across all domains
Campaign & Revenue Visibility
Campaign and revenue performance clearly visible in GA4 and Google Ads
Booking Revenue Tracking
Booking revenue now tracked with service-level insights
Enhanced Conversions
Active
Improving ad targeting & match rate
Screenshot 01 — After Fix
Purchase revenue and total bookings now appear accurately in GA4, fully aligned with actual sales data
Before
GA4 showed far fewer purchases than actual sales. Attribution was broken — purchases showed 42 events with $6,212 total revenue. Domain was “not set”, meaning the source of every booking was invisible.
After
Total purchases are now recorded accurately in GA4, along with the domain that drove each booking. 492 events tracked across 222 users — with full domain-level visibility and $33,337 in attributed revenue.
What started as a silent tracking failure turned into a powerful transformation. From invisible referrers and broken booking paths to clear conversions and confident reporting — we transformed a fragmented tracking mess into a reliable, scalable system. Now, every click, call, and conversion tells a story the business can trust and grow with.
— DwiSol Digital, Post-Implementation Summary
Want clean data? We’ve got the tools.
DwiSol specializes in data-driven analytics and custom tracking infrastructure. Let’s fix your attribution and connect your ad spend to real outcomes.