Zoko and the attribution gap
Zoko focuses on WhatsApp commerce — product catalogues, cart recovery, payment links, team inbox. It's built for businesses that sell through WhatsApp. But Zoko's analytics show conversation metrics, not advertising attribution.
When a customer clicks your Google Ad, visits your site, starts a WhatsApp conversation in Zoko, and eventually buys, Google Ads doesn't know the sale happened. The campaign that drove revenue gets the same credit as one that drove tyre-kickers: none.
How it actually works with Zoko
The mechanism is straightforward:
When someone taps your WhatsApp link on your site, the Tagless script modifies the wa.me URL to include a unique reference in the pre-filled message text. The customer sends the message — the reference is right there in the message body, invisible to them in practice.
That message arrives in Zoko. You route incoming messages to Tagless's universal endpoint:
In Zoko, configure a webhook for incoming messages, or connect via Make.com: trigger on Zoko incoming message, HTTP module forwards to your Tagless endpoint URL.
Tagless scans the incoming message for the reference. When it finds one, it matches it to the GCLID captured when the visitor clicked your Google Ad, and associates it with the customer's phone number.
What happens next depends on your plan:
Free plan: Any message containing a valid reference is auto-qualified as a conversion and synced to Google Ads. Simple — if they sent the message, they're a lead.
Paid plan: Tagless AI listens to the ongoing conversation thread and makes a determination on lead quality based on your qualification prompt. It can distinguish a genuine property enquiry from someone asking for directions, or a real patient consultation request from a sales pitch. Only genuinely qualified leads sync to Google Ads.
For Zoko's commerce features, when a WhatsApp conversation turns into an order, you can update the conversion value in Tagless. This enables tROAS bidding in Google Ads — optimising for revenue, not just conversations.
For a full explanation of the tracking mechanism, see How Tagless Works.
WhatsApp commerce needs attribution
If you're using Zoko to sell through WhatsApp and Google Ads to drive traffic, attribution isn't optional. Without it, you can't tell a £500 campaign that generates £50,000 in WhatsApp sales from a £500 campaign that generates nothing.