Anyone figured out a proven way to track matchmaking ads

I’ve been messing around with matchmaking ads for a while, and one thing that always confused me was the whole conversion tracking setup. Every time I thought I had it right, I’d check the numbers and wonder if half the data was missing. It’s strange how something that sounds straightforward turns into a little puzzle once you’re actually running campaigns.Back when I started, I assumed most platforms would track everything automatically. I figured I’d turn on a switch, let the ads run, and watch the conversions show up. It didn’t work that way. I’d get clicks, signups, and leads, but the numbers never lined up with my backend stats. I remember thinking maybe this was just normal for dating traffic because people bounce around, compare options, or come back later. But after a while, I realized the bigger issue was the setup itself.The first pain point for me was figuring out which actions mattered. With matchmaking ads, people don’t always convert in one straight path. Some browse profiles, bookmark, sign up, leave, come back, then finally subscribe or match with someone. I kept asking myself what counted as a “conversion.” Was it a signup? A message? A full profile? A subscription? Different platforms gave different definitions, which didn’t make things easier.At some point, I started experimenting with smaller changes just to see what would fix the gaps. I tried basic tracking scripts, tag managers, and even manual setups. A few of them worked okay, but not consistently. One time my tracking fired twice on the same user, and I thought I suddenly got a bunch of conversions overnight. Turned out it was the same session being counted multiple times. That was frustrating.What helped was stepping back and simplifying the whole thing. I realized I was overcomplicating it with too many tools at once. I picked one tracking setup and stuck with it for a couple of weeks just so I could see clean patterns. I also paid more attention to where the tracking fired. For matchmaking funnels, the most reliable spot isn’t always the final thank you page. Sometimes you get better accuracy by tracking the registration step before the deeper funnel begins.Another thing I learned is that you can’t always rely on first-click or last-click attribution. People in dating funnels jump around a lot, and sometimes the ad that actually drove the interest isn’t the one that gets credit. I started labeling traffic sources more carefully and making sure my UTMs were not a mess. That alone made the numbers feel less chaotic.I found a writeup that explained the setup in a way that finally clicked for me. It wasn’t super technical, but it broke down the steps in a way I could relate to. Here’s the link in case it helps someone else who’s stuck trying to  Track Conversions in Matchmaking Ad Campaigns .
One insight that really stuck with me was the idea of testing the funnel yourself like a regular user. I’d heard people mention it before, but I never bothered. When I finally did, I noticed a delay between the registration screen and the confirmation redirect. My tracking fired before the page fully loaded, which explained why a chunk of conversions never registered. Once I moved the tracking trigger a little deeper in the process, the numbers quickly matched up with my backend.I also ran into the issue of cross-device traffic. This happens a lot in dating campaigns. Someone taps an ad on their phone but signs up later on a laptop. If your setup isn’t flexible, it’s easy to lose those conversions. I didn’t fully solve this part, but tagging campaigns more clearly made it easier to see patterns even if I couldn’t track every step perfectly.After a few months of trial and error, I wouldn’t say I cracked the perfect system, but I did get to a point where the numbers made sense. The main things that helped were simplifying my tools, testing the funnel like a real user, watching where the tracking actually fires, and cleaning up the UTMs. None of these were big hacks. They were just small tweaks that made everything more predictable.If you’re going through the same headache with matchmaking ads, my only real suggestion is to focus on the basics before thinking about advanced stuff. Once the foundation is clean, everything else gets easier to read. It’s not the most exciting process, but it definitely saves you from guessing where your conversions went.