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Our legacy Clicks + Views Enhanced model has been renamed to Clicks + Deterministic Views.

Clicks + Deterministic Views (CDV) is in Beta.

This documentation may be incomplete or contain out-of-date information. CDV is not available to all Northbeam users at this time.

Direct questions or comments to our Support ticket.

What is Clicks + Deterministic Views?

Watch this video for the full tour and explanation!

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Northbeam’s CDV model is a transformative shift in attribution, designed to provide brands with fully factual, deterministic data while remaining conservative in its revenue attribution.

Despite the low CPMs of impression-based ad platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, or Applovin, brands often struggle with a fundamental question:

"We believe these ads are working, but how can we measure the impact of them?"

The skepticism stemmed from a reliance on traditional click-based attribution, which undervalues view-heavy contributions. This lack of visibility led advertisers to pull back spend or prioritize channels with clearer, albeit incomplete, attribution models.

The solution: Clicks + Deterministic Views

Clicks + Deterministic Views (CDV) is a new, advanced multi-touch attribution (MTA) model that expands on Northbeam’s Clicks-Only model by incorporating proprietary in-app engagement events (e.g. impressions) from participating ad platforms. These third-party events are validated by Northbeam’s first-party pixel data, offering a more complete and accurate view of marketing performance.

Clicks + Deterministic Views is available as an attribution model throughout Northbeam.

How does Clicks + Deterministic Views work?

Thanks to Northbeam's direct integration with each ad platform included in this model, Northbeam can do true in-app "impression matching". This means that conversions can be matched with impressions that helped generate that conversions. Jump to the "How CDV Attributes Credit" section to see the logic.

Why is Clicks + Deterministic Views useful?

In the modern marketing environment, many ad platforms have idiosyncrasies in user behavior that result in engagement metrics being more impactful on conversion than most conversion-tracking software can measure. For example, on platforms like Snapchat and TikTok, impressions are extremely important.

Users are less likely to click off of those platforms to make a conversion, but research from Snap and TikTok both prove that users have high brand recall off ads they've seen on those respective platforms. However, rather than leaving the app instantly to make a purchase, the users are making purchases later - leaving conversions that are unattributed to ads without our CDV model.

Clicks + Deterministic Views helps you track the real value of your ads on more impression-focused platforms. This helps you better understand the impact of your top-of-funnel awareness and helps you break out of the last-click ad fallacy.

How does Clicks + Deterministic Views attribute credit?

Clicks + Deterministic Views allows views of your ads to get credit for your conversions when there are no measured clicks in a customer's journey.

Some examples:

Example 1: ❌ NOT a viewthrough conversion.

A user:

1. Sees a TikTok ad for Narwhal’s Naturals, but does not click.
2. Visits Narwhal’s Naturals after clicking on an organic search result.
3. Visits Narwhal’s Naturals after clicking on a Meta ad.
4. Makes a purchase.

In this case, this user record is NOT view-through eligible because they clicked on a Meta Ad, which is not classified as a bottom-of-funnel channel.

Example 2: ❌ NOT a viewthrough conversion.

A user:

1. Sees a TikTok ad for Narwhal’s Naturals, but does not click.
2. Visits Narwhal’s Naturals after clicking on an organic search result
3. Makes a purchase on TikTok Shops.

In this case, this user is NOT view-through eligible, because there is a synthetic touchpoint representing the TikTok Shop association, and those touchpoints are not considered bottom-of-funnel.

Example 3: ✅ Considered a viewthrough conversion.

A user:

1. Sees a TikTok ad for Narwhal’s Naturals, but does not click.
2. Visits Narwhal’s Naturals after clicking on an organic search result.
3. Makes a purchase during the visit.

In this case, the user is view-through eligible, because their only touchpoints are bottom-of-funnel channels.

Understanding the impact of Clicks + Deterministic Views

CDV is additive. It will not override click credit that an ad platform already earned through Clicks-Only. It will only assign credit to orders that were previously considered “free”.

CDV is deterministic the same way that Clicks-Only is deterministic. It is a model based on events that we, or the ad platform KNOWS have happened.

CDV is better over longer attribution windows. Clicks Only is already very good at representing performance marketing when there is very little lag time between a user seeing an ad, generating a click-though, and purchasing on a website where the Northbeam pixel exists.

Top of funnel channels will see the largest lift from CDV models. If you have channels that do a lot of demand generation or have low click-through rates, you will see the highest impact from this model there.

Enabling Clicks + Deterministic Views in your account

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As of April 2025:

To activate CDV, you must activate the connection both in Northbeam and by speaking to our team directly. Please submit a Support ticket here requesting Clicks + Deterministic Views access.

1. In the Northbeam dashboard, go to Settings in the bottom right hand corner. Under Account Settings, navigate to Model settings.
2. Make sure the Clicks + Deterministic Views model is available, and select the platforms you desire to measure with Clicks + Deterministic Views.
3. Decide which platforms you want to enable. Right now only TikTok and Applovin are functional, although our full list of future partners may be visible.
4. As of April 2025, only one platform can be measured using Clicks + Deterministic Views at a time. (We're working on having more, stay tuned.) Select the Primary Attribution Platform you wish to look at right now.
5. Wait 24-48 hours until we have processed your data. It could be shorter, so stay tuned to your dashboard.

FAQs

Why does Clicks + Deterministic Views data not match up to my Clicks + Modeled Views data?

• These two are not meant to be compared. They are calculated radically different from each other. CDV is best compared to the Clicks-Only model.

Why are certain ad channels not getting CDV credit for conversions?

• Clicks + Deterministic Views is deterministic, so if an ad platform is not participating in the program they will not receive any additional view credit.

Why can't I see in-app views on the order details page?

• This level of tracking is not permitted under privacy law.

Why can't I see CDV for more than one platform?

• At this time, CDV only supports one platform at a time. Split views will ship later in 2025 and be available for Northbeam users.

Does CDV work on backdated data?

• Yes, you will be able to see views for at least the last 30 days.

Can I compare TikTok CDV performance to other channels on Clicks + Modeled Views or Clicks-Only?

• No, you shouldn't do that - they are wildly different ways of measuring performance. Each attribution model has it's time and place. Comparing models against each other is like comparing apples and oranges.

Please reach out to your Media Strategist, Customer Success Manager, or contact Support if you have any questions.