Once you've installed Converly and built your first flow, the last thing to do is test it. A test is simply you filling in a form on your own website, the same way a real lead would, and then checking the conversion arrived where it should.
It only takes a few minutes, and it means you know your conversions are reaching your ad platforms before you start spending money on ads that rely on them.
To test it, follow the instructions below:
Step 1: Submit a test conversion
The first step is to submit a test, exactly like a real visitor would.
Open a new incognito window (or private window) and go to the page on your website that has your form on it. Using an incognito window means you arrive as a brand new visitor, with no cookies left over from earlier visits.
Fill in the form with an email address you'll recognise, so it's easy to spot later (something like yourname+test@yourcompany.com works well). Then submit it, and wait until you see your thank you message or thank you page before closing the window.
There are a few things worth knowing before you submit, because they catch a lot of people out:
- Use your real website address. Converly only accepts conversions from the website address in your Converly settings (and any subdomain of it). So a test on a preview or staging address, like yoursite.webflow.io or a Wix preview link, won't be recorded.
- Accept marketing cookies. If your site shows a cookie banner and you've set it up to hold Converly back, you need to accept marketing cookies, otherwise Converly won't run for you (which is exactly what it should do).
- Don't test in Brave, or with a privacy extension switched on. Some browsers and extensions send a "do not track me" signal called Global Privacy Control, and Converly honours it by switching itself off completely. Chrome, Safari and Edge in an incognito window are all fine.
- Wait for the thank you message. Converly only counts a form once your website confirms it was sent successfully. If you close the page the instant you click submit, it may not get that far.
Step 2: Check it arrived in Converly
The next step is to check Converly received your test. In Converly, click Activity in the left sidebar. Your test should be at the top of the list within a few seconds.
Each conversion has a status, which tells you how it went across all the destinations in your flow:
- All delivered. Converly sent it to every destination in your flow and they all accepted it. This is what you're hoping to see.
- Partial. Everything Converly sends from its own servers got through, but one of the conversions sent through the visitor's browser didn't fire. This usually means that platform's own tag isn't on your website.
- Failed. One of your destinations rejected the conversion. Click on it to see which one, and what it said.
- Recorded. Converly captured the conversion, but there was nothing for it to send from its servers (usually because the flow only sends through the browser).
To see more detail, simply click on your test conversion. You'll see a card for each destination, and clicking a card shows exactly what Converly sent to that platform and what the platform said back. You can read more about the Activity page here.
If your test is showing as All delivered, congratulations, Converly is working!
Step 3: Check it in your ad platforms and analytics tools
This step is optional, but it's nice to see your test arrive at the other end too.
The only slight oddity is that ad platforms don't all show you conversions the same way, and some take hours to show anything at all. So if Converly says All delivered but you can't see it in the platform yet, don't panic. Converly's Activity page is the best proof that your conversion was sent and accepted.
Here's where to look in each one:
Google Ads
The short answer is you usually won't see a test conversion in Google Ads at all, and that's completely normal.
Google Ads only shows conversions it can link back to a click on one of your ads. Your test visit didn't come from an ad, so even though Google accepts it, it has nothing to credit it to. Google says this itself in its own help docs, noting that a test done without clicking an ad may not show up in Google Ads.
On top of that, Google takes time. Uploaded conversions usually take a few hours to appear, and sometimes up to a day or more.
So for Google Ads, Converly's Activity page is your proof. If the Google Ads card on your test says Delivered, Google received it and accepted it. Once real visitors start clicking your ads and filling in your forms, you'll see those conversions show up in your Google Ads reports over the following day or so.
If real conversions still aren't showing after a few days, you can read more about why a conversion isn't showing in Google Ads here.
Meta (Facebook and Instagram)
Meta shows every conversion it receives, whether it came from an ad or not, so you can see your test there.
In Meta's Events Manager, click Data sources, choose your pixel (Meta sometimes calls it a dataset), and open the Overview tab. Your test should appear in the list of events within about 20 minutes. The Connection method shows whether each event arrived from the browser, from Converly's servers, or both.
If you want to see it arrive in real time instead, use the Send test event option described further down this page. It sends a test straight to Meta's Test Events tab, where it shows up within about 30 seconds.
Google Analytics
Google Analytics shows your test almost straight away.
In Google Analytics, click Reports, then Realtime. This shows everything that's happened on your website in the last 30 minutes, and your test conversion should appear in the event list (under the event name you chose in Converly) within a few minutes.
The only slight oddity is the rest of your reports. Everything outside of Realtime can take 24 to 48 hours to fully update, so don't worry if your test isn't in your normal reports yet.
Important: If you want your conversion to count as a key event in Google Analytics (so you can report on it and send it to Google Ads), you need to mark it as one. In Google Analytics, go to Admin, then Data display, then Events, find your event and click the star next to it. This only counts conversions from that point on, so it's best to do it before you start relying on the numbers.
LinkedIn will show you that it received your test, but it won't count it as a conversion.
In Campaign Manager, click Measure in the left menu, then Conversion tracking. Look at the Status column next to your conversion. Once LinkedIn receives something it changes to Active, and if you click on the status you'll see how many events it has received in the last 7 days. The count can take a few hours to update.
The only slight oddity is the conversion columns in your campaign reports. LinkedIn only counts a conversion there if the person clicked or saw one of your LinkedIn ads, so your test won't appear in them. Real conversions can take up to 3 days to show in your reports.
TikTok
TikTok shows every event it receives, whether it came from an ad or not.
In TikTok Ads Manager, click Tools, then Events, and choose your pixel. The Overview shows your events, including Total events (which counts events that didn't come from an ad too) and Last received, which is the most recent hour TikTok received that event. It isn't real time, so allow a couple of hours.
Your test won't show in the conversion columns of your campaign reports, because it didn't come from a TikTok ad.
Reddit also shows every event it receives, whether it came from an ad or not.
Go to Reddit's Events Manager (in Reddit Ads, or at ads.reddit.com/events-manager). The Total Raw Events column counts everything Reddit received, including events that didn't come from an ad. It can take a few hours to update.
Your test won't show in your campaign reports, because it didn't come from a Reddit ad.
ChatGPT Ads
In ChatGPT Ads Manager, the Event Stream shows conversions arriving within a few minutes.
Your campaign reports are slower. OpenAI says to allow at least a day for conversions to show there, and they only count people who clicked one of your ads, so your test won't appear in them.
Taboola
Converly sends Taboola conversions through the Taboola pixel on your website, so the Taboola pixel needs to be installed for this to work.
In Taboola Realize, click Tracking in the left menu and open the Conversions tab. Find your conversion and look at the Last received and Events received columns (you may need to scroll right to see them). Taboola says to allow up to an hour for events to show up there.
AdRoll
Converly sends AdRoll conversions through the AdRoll pixel on your website, so the AdRoll pixel needs to be installed for this to work.
AdRoll doesn't give you a screen that shows individual conversions arriving. So the best check is on Converly's side. Open your test on the Activity page and make sure the AdRoll card says Fired, which means Converly passed the conversion to the AdRoll pixel on your site. If it says Pixel not found, the AdRoll pixel isn't on the page.
Plausible, Fathom, Pirsch, Simple Analytics and GoSquared
Converly sends conversions to these tools through their own tracking script on your website, and they all show events almost straight away. Here's where to look in each one:
- Plausible. Your conversion shows in the Goals section at the bottom of your dashboard. Plausible only shows it once you've created a matching goal (you can read how to set that up here). To see it live, open the Realtime view from the date picker in the top right.
- Fathom. Your conversion shows in the Events section of your site's dashboard.
- Pirsch. Your conversion shows in the Events panel on your dashboard.
- Simple Analytics. Your conversion shows on the Events tab.
- GoSquared. Your conversion shows in the Events widget in Trends for your project.
The only slight oddity is that these tools can ignore your own visits. If you've told any of them to exclude your own traffic (for example by blocking your IP address, or with a setting that ignores your browser), your test won't show up in it. An ad blocker in your browser can stop their tracking script too.
On Converly's side, open your test on the Activity page and check the card for your tool says Fired. If it says Pixel not found, that tool's tracking script isn't on the page, so Converly had nowhere to send the conversion.
A quicker way to test a single destination
You can also send a test conversion straight to one destination from inside Converly, without going to your website at all. It's a handy way to check the connection to a platform is working.
Open your flow, click on the destination's action, and click Send test event on the test step. What happens next depends on the platform:
- Google Analytics. The test goes to Google Analytics' DebugView, which you'll find under Admin, then Data display, then DebugView. It shows up within about 30 seconds, and it won't appear in your normal reports.
- Meta. Before you send it, open Meta's Events Manager, choose your pixel and open the Test Events tab. Copy the test code shown there and paste it into Converly. Your test then appears in the Test Events tab within about 30 seconds.
- TikTok. It works the same way as Meta. Open the Test Events tab for your pixel in TikTok's Events Manager, copy the test code, and paste it into Converly. Without a test code, TikTok treats it as a real conversion.
- Reddit. Open the Event Testing page in Reddit's Events Manager and keep it open, because Reddit only shows tests while that page is open. Copy the test ID from that page into Converly, and your test should appear there within a minute.
- Google Ads. Google Ads doesn't have a test mode, so Converly sends a real conversion worth 1 cent. It won't show in your conversion columns (there's no ad click behind it), but it should appear in the Diagnostics tab of your conversion action within a few hours.
- LinkedIn. LinkedIn doesn't have a test mode either, so Converly sends a real conversion using made-up details that can't match anyone on LinkedIn. The sign it worked is your conversion in Campaign Manager changing to Active within a few minutes.
- ChatGPT Ads. This sends a real conversion to your ChatGPT Ads account. It should appear in the Event Stream within a few minutes.
Just keep in mind that these tests skip your website completely, so they check the connection to the platform, not your form. They also don't appear on your Activity page. To test the whole thing end to end, use Steps 1 to 3 above.
Troubleshooting
If something didn't go to plan, find where your test got stuck below.
Your test isn't on the Activity page at all
This means the form submission never reached Converly. Here are the most common reasons:
- The Converly code isn't on the page. To check, open the page with your form, right-click anywhere on it and choose Inspect. Click the Console tab, and look for a line starting with [Converly]. If you can see it, the code is installed. If you can't, follow the install guide for your website platform.
- You tested on a different website address. Converly only accepts conversions from the website in your Converly settings. Click Settings in Converly and check the Website matches the address you tested on. A staging or preview address won't work.
- Your flow isn't published. A flow that's still a draft doesn't track anything. Open your flow in Converly and make sure it's published and showing as Active.
- Your flow is set to run on different pages. If you've limited your flow to certain pages, make sure the form you tested is on one of them.
- You declined cookies, or your browser switched Converly off. If you declined marketing cookies, or tested in Brave or with a privacy extension, Converly won't run. Try again in a fresh incognito window in Chrome, Safari or Edge, and accept cookies.
- Your form didn't show a success message. Converly waits for your website to confirm the form was sent successfully. If your form shows an error, or you closed the page too quickly, submit it again and wait for the thank you message.
Your test is on the Activity page, but it failed
This means Converly received your test, but a destination rejected it. Click on the conversion, then click the card marked as failed. It shows the error the platform sent back, along with a plain English explanation of what to do about it.
For Google Ads, the most common causes are covered in Accept the Customer Data Terms in Google Ads and Grant access in Google Ads.
Important: If your form doesn't ask for an email address or phone number, a test sent to Google Ads will fail. That's because a test visit has no ad click attached, so without an email or phone number there's nothing for Google to match it to. Real visitors who click one of your ads will carry a click ID, so it isn't a problem for them.
Your test says All delivered, but you can't see it in the platform
This almost always comes down to timing, or the fact your test didn't come from an ad click. Check the notes for your platform in Step 3 above.
For Google Ads in particular, you can read more about why a conversion isn't showing in Google Ads here.
If you've worked through all of this and something still isn't right, get in touch and we'll help you figure it out.