This is one of those conversations no marketing consultant wants to have. You know the type – where you have to be the bearer of uncomfortable news that completely changes everything your client and their existing agency thought they knew about their business.

Picture this: I’m sitting in our quarterly review meeting with this brilliant business owner (let’s call her Sarah, though that’s not her real name). She runs this absolutely gorgeous and well-established eComm brand in the UAE.

For months, her paid media agency had been delivering glowing reports. ROAS over 5.9, nearly a thousand purchases, over AED 71,000 in revenue from Facebook ads. During our meetings, everything sounded wonderfully sunny. The agency was happy, the reports looked impressive, and everyone was patting themselves on the back.

But Sarah had this nagging feeling. This little voice in the back of her head that whispered, “If Facebook is working this well, why doesn’t my business feel like it’s absolutely booming?”

The Doubt She Was Too Nervous to Voice

Here’s the thing that breaks my heart about this whole situation: Sarah had been sitting on this doubt for months. She told me later that she’d felt nervous about questioning the reports because, in her words, “I didn’t want to look like I didn’t understand the data, or actually really had time to look at it to and understand it without offending anyone?”

Sound familiar? How many times have we all nodded along in meetings, looking at dashboards full of numbers that seemed impressive, but something in our gut just felt… off?

And then there’s the other uncomfortable reality – how do you tell an agency that’s been celebrating their success with you that you think their numbers might be wrong? It’s an awful conversation to have, especially when you’re not entirely sure if you’re right.

When I Decided to Dig Deeper

During one of our quarterly reviews, Sarah finally voiced what had been bothering her. “Kelly, the Facebook results look amazing on paper, but my bank account doesn’t feel like we’ve made AED 71,000 from Facebook ads. Am I missing something?”

That’s when I knew we needed to do some proper detective work.

I pulled up her Meta Ads Manager, her Shopify analytics, her “Sales Attributed to Marketing” reports – basically, I became a digital detective for the afternoon. What I found made my heart sink.

The Uncomfortable Truth Hidden in Plain Sight

Facebook was claiming 972 purchases from her ads. Nearly a thousand sales! No wonder the agency reports looked so impressive.

But when I cross-referenced this with Shopify’s own tracking – the platform that actually processes the sales – only 37 orders could be genuinely attributed to Instagram and Facebook traffic.

Thirty-seven. Out of nine hundred and seventy-two.

That’s a 96% over-attribution rate. Which means for months, everyone had been making decisions about her marketing budget based on numbers that were, quite frankly, mostly fictional.

How This Happens (And Why Good Agencies Miss It Too)

Before you think the agency was incompetent or Sarah was naive – neither was true. This happens to smart agencies and savvy business owners every single day. Here’s why:

Facebook’s attribution windows are generous. If someone saw her ad three weeks ago, then happened to buy something after Googling her brand name, Facebook would often claim credit for that sale. Most agencies report directly from the ad platform without cross-referencing actual sales data.

The UTM tracking wasn’t set up properly, so there was no way to verify which traffic was actually coming from which source. And seasonal campaigns were running simultaneously with organic social efforts and email marketing, making attribution even muddier.

The agency was reporting what Facebook told them, and nobody had thought to validate those reports against actual sales data. It’s more common than you’d think.

The Conversation No One Wants to Have

Breaking this news wasn’t just difficult for Sarah – it meant having a very uncomfortable conversation with her agency. Nobody wants to be told that the success they’ve been celebrating and reporting isn’t real.

“So you’re telling me,” Sarah said slowly, “that we’ve been spending money on ads that basically weren’t working, and nobody noticed?”

“Not exactly,” I explained. “Your ads were generating some results. But nowhere near what Facebook was claiming. And definitely not enough to justify the budget you were putting behind them.”

The Relief of Finally Trusting Her Instincts

Here’s what happened when we paused those Facebook campaigns: absolutely nothing. Sales didn’t drop. Revenue didn’t plummet. The business continued exactly as it had been.

Which was perhaps the most telling evidence of all.

“I can’t believe I doubted myself for so long,” Sarah told me weeks later. “My gut was right, but I was too nervous to question the experts.”

What We’re Building Instead

Now, instead of celebrating fictional numbers, we’re building something real. We’ve implemented proper tracking systems so we can actually trace where every sale comes from. We’re developing stronger creative concepts and more targeted campaigns that we can monitor closely.

Are we running Facebook ads again yet? Not quite. But when we do, we’ll have the systems in place to know – definitively – whether they’re working or not. And honestly? We’ll all sleep much better at night.

The Lessons That Go Beyond Facebook Ads

This isn’t just about Facebook attribution or dodgy agency reports. It’s about trusting your instincts as a business owner, even when the “experts” are telling you everything is fine.

If something feels off, it probably is. Sarah’s gut instinct was spot-on, even when everyone around her was celebrating success.

Don’t be afraid to question reports. You’re not admitting ignorance by asking for clarification or deeper analysis. You’re being a responsible business owner.

Cross-reference everything. Any marketing channel claiming amazing results should be validated against your actual sales data.

It’s okay to have uncomfortable conversations with agencies. A good agency will welcome scrutiny and want to get to the truth as much as you do.

What This Means for Your Business

If you’re working with agencies and something feels “off” about the results they’re reporting, trust that feeling. Here are the questions I now ask in every client review:

Do the reported results match what you’re seeing in your bank account? Are you comparing ad platform data with actual sales data? When was the last time you audited your attribution setup?

And perhaps most importantly: do you feel comfortable questioning the reports you’re given?

Moving Forward with Confidence

The beautiful thing about this whole experience? Sarah now has complete confidence in her marketing data. She knows that when we do run Facebook ads again, every click, every conversion, every pound spent will be trackable and accountable.

That doubt that had been nagging at her for months? It’s gone. Replaced with the peace of mind that comes from knowing exactly what’s working and what isn’t.

Ready to find out if your marketing is really working?
Book a FREE Marketing Clarity Call and we’ll walk through your reports together. I’ll show you exactly what to look for, what questions to ask, and how to spot red flags—just like I did with Sarah. No fluff, no pressure, just clear, honest insights so you can move forward with confidence.

And remember: your instincts as a business owner are valuable. Don’t be afraid to trust them, even when the reports are telling you everything is wonderful.