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Your conversion tracking might be broken (here's how to check)
Jeff Sauer
December 18, 2025
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This capitalization mistake is costing you conversions
Your browser says the conversion fired.
Your pixel helper shows green checkmarks.
But your ad platform? Cricket sounds.
Here's what's probably happening: You're accidentally customizing events in ways that platforms don't recognize. And it's killing your conversions.
The Silent Killer
I've seen this pattern repeatedly with MeasureU members. Someone sets up tracking for Google Ads, then sets it up for Meta, then realizes one platform isn't seeing their signals. The data looks like it's flowing, but the algorithms are starving.
The culprit? Usually something absurdly simple.
Like capitalization.
GA4 wants "purchase" (lowercase).
Meta wants "Purchase" (capital P).
TikTok wants "PURCHASE" (all caps).
Send the wrong wording to the wrong platform, and congratulations - you just created a custom event that means absolutely nothing to the algorithm.
Your ads aren't optimizing. Your ROAS tanks. And you're left wondering what happened.
The Three Types of Events
Every platform recognizes three categories:
Automatically collected events - These fire without you doing anything (like pageviews)
Recommended events - Platform-specific events they want you to use (like "purchase," "add_to_cart")
Custom events - Anything outside those two categories
The problem happens when you think you're using a recommended event, but you've customized it just enough that the platform doesn't recognize it.
Maybe you used "transaction_complete" (the old Universal Analytics term) instead of "purchase" in GA4.
Maybe you used "add_to_cart" (TikTok format) when Meta wanted "AddToCart" (no spaces, capital A, capital T, capital C).
The platforms won't necessarily throw an error. They'll just... ignore it.
Why GA4 Is Particularly Brutal
GA4 is extremely picky about event formatting. If your "purchase" event doesn't include the exact parameters it expects - in the exact format (string vs. number) - it won't recognize it as an e-commerce event.
It'll show up in your reports as a custom event. But it won't populate your e-commerce data. Which means Google Ads won't see it. Which means your Smart Bidding strategies are optimizing toward... nothing.
And here's the kicker: Most pixel helpers won't flag this for you. They'll show the event being fired. Green checkmark. Everything looks fine.
You won't discover the problem until days later when you notice your e-commerce reports are empty.
The Quick Fix
Because this was becoming such a common issue in our community, we asked our members what would actually be useful.
The response was overwhelming.
So we built a comparison tool that shows you exactly how each platform wants each event formatted - side by side.
GA4 vs. Meta vs. TikTok vs. Pinterest vs. Snapchat.
One document. All the standard events. No more guessing.
It's the ugly version right now (we're gathering feedback before sending it to our design team), but it's fully functional and free for MeasureU members.
You can find it in the MeasureU community - just search for the post or check the comments below this newsletter for the direct link.
Bottom Line
Clean data starts with proper labeling.
Proper labeling means using the exact event names and parameters each platform expects.
One tiny customization - even just a capitalization difference - can break your entire conversion tracking.
Check your events. Match the documentation exactly. Use the comparison tool if it helps.
Your ad algorithms will thank you.
To Your Measured Success!
--Jeff Sauer
Co-Founder of MeasureU