Troubleshooting Installation

Most installation problems are not installation problems. They fall into two groups: the tracking code genuinely is not loading, usually because of a cache or because it never reached part of your site, or the code is loading perfectly and the dashboard is simply not showing what you expected it to show yet. The fixes are quick once you know which group you are in, so find your symptom below and work through that section rather than everything at once.

In short: If nothing at all is appearing, clear your cache, test in a private window, make sure the code is not installed twice by two different methods, and confirm the connection status in your WordPress admin; if some of your properties track and others do not, remember that the WordPress plugin covers one root domain and every subdomain needs Google Tag Manager or the JavaScript snippet instead; and if your Focused Tab is empty on day one or the Focused Index Benchmark screen mentions fifteen days, nothing is broken, because Focused Score runs from the very first visit and those fifteen days are calibration of your Focused Ratio, not a wait for tracking to start.

Nothing at all is appearing in my dashboard

Work through these in order. The first two resolve the large majority of cases.

Clear your cache. This is the single most common cause. If you run a caching plugin such as WP Rocket or Autoptimize, or you have server-side or CDN caching in front of your site, clear it immediately after installing. Until you do, visitors are being served a cached copy of your pages that was built before the tracking script existed.
Test in a private window. Your own visits may not be recorded while you are working inside your WordPress admin, depending on your settings. Open your site in a private or Incognito window to generate a clean test visit, then check the dashboard again.
Check that the code is not installed twice. Running the Bread & Butter plugin and a Bread & Butter tag in Google Tag Manager at the same time will cause errors. Pick one method per property and remove the other.
Verify the connection. Open your WordPress admin, go to Bread & Butter and confirm the status reads Connected. If it does not, re-enter your credentials from the dashboard.
Confirm you used the right code. Your tracking code lives in your Bread & Butter dashboard under Settings, then App and Domains. That screen also lists the domains associated with your account, so it is worth checking that the property you are testing is one of them.

If you have done all five and still see nothing after a fresh visit in a private window, stop guessing and book a session at talk to a specialist.

Some of my sites track and others do not

This is the second big category, and it almost always comes down to subdomains.

The WordPress plugin covers one root domain. That is the right tool for a single WordPress site and it is the fastest route to being live, but it does not extend to anything sitting on a separate subdomain. A documentation site at docs.yourcompany.com, a store at shop.yourcompany.com, a careers portal, a booking system or a campaign microsite each need the tracking code delivered another way.

The two methods that cover them are Google Tag Manager, which is usually fastest when your marketing team can publish tags without waiting on developers, and the JavaScript snippet, pasted into the head of the template, which is the most reliable option when you want the code loading early. Both use exactly the same code from Settings, then App and Domains.

Getting this right is not a tidiness exercise. One code across every property is what keeps a person who moves from your marketing site to your docs to your store as a single profile with a single journey, instead of three fragments nobody joins up. Leave a subdomain uncovered and the research that mattered most is missing from the profile your rep eventually reads. The step by step version is in How to Add Tracking Code to Peripheral Subdomains.

My Focused Tab is empty on my first day

Nothing is broken here, and this is worth stating plainly because it is regularly mistaken for a failed install.

Focused Score is live from the very first visit. There is no training period and no cold start. The first visitor who arrives after your code goes in is scored immediately.

An empty Focused Tab on day one therefore means something much simpler: no visitor has reached a Focused Score of 6 or higher yet. Scores build from the depth and the pattern of a visit, and on a quiet first day it is entirely normal for nobody to have crossed the line. Check again after a day or two of ordinary traffic.

Two related things often add to the confusion. The Focused Tab is ordered by most recent visit rather than by score, so a high scoring visitor from last week will not sit at the top. And the Focused Tab will always show far less traffic than your analytics package does, because it is deliberately showing you the fraction of your traffic that is behaving like a buyer. If that gap is what is bothering you, Why is the Focused Tab only showing 10% to 20% of my total traffic? covers it properly.

The Focused Index Benchmark screen mentions fifteen days

This is the other message that gets read as "tracking has not started yet". It is not.

Those fifteen days are calibration of your Focused Ratio, your Focused visitors as a share of all your traffic, against the Focused Index. The Index is the benchmark that tells you whether your ratio is healthy for a site like yours, and the comparison needs a couple of weeks of your own traffic behind it before it means anything. A healthy Focused Ratio sits between 10% and 20%.

Scoring itself is already running the whole time. Use your Focused Score, your Focused Tab and your Nurture Action Queue from day one, and treat the ratio as the number that becomes trustworthy in week three.

My numbers look lower than my analytics

If tracking is confirmed working but the totals feel light, the likeliest explanation is that you are comparing two different things. Your analytics package counts sessions, including a very large volume of automated traffic. Bread & Butter is showing you people and journeys.

Before assuming a gap is a fault, check the All Traffic tab rather than the Focused Tab, since All Traffic is the view built for volume comparisons. If the shortfall is concentrated on particular pages or sections of your site, treat it as a coverage problem instead and go back to the subdomain section above.

My CRM is not receiving anything

Tracking and capture go live quickly. CRM connections are a separate step and a separate timeline, because they usually involve credentials your operations or IT team controls, so a working installation with a silent CRM is normal rather than a symptom.

It is also worth checking your filtering rules before assuming a fault. Bread & Butter sits between your website and your CRM, and you set the rules for what actually syncs, such as a minimum Focused Score, particular regions, or blocking free email providers. Submissions that do not meet your rules stay in Bread & Butter rather than reaching a rep, which is the system working as configured. Addresses that fail verification are recorded at the Spam / Bad Email stage, which both the Focused Tab and the Nurture Action Queue exclude.

Nothing collected while the CRM is disconnected is lost. It is waiting for you when the connection is made.

When to ask for help

If you have worked through the section that matches your symptom and the behaviour has not changed, the fastest route forward is a person looking at your account with you. Book a white glove support session at talk to a specialist and a specialist will walk your installation with you, check that your journeys are stitching the way you expect, and fix what is wrong on the call.

Have administrative access to your website platform ready before it starts, along with credentials for any CRM or marketing tools involved, so changes can be made live rather than written down for later.