How to track Shopify’s Snapchat ads

There’s exciting news for Shopify’s 800,000 merchants.

On April 29, Shopify announced a new partnership that will enable merchants to purchase and manage Snapchat story ads directly from the Shopify platform.

This partnership opens new advertising opportunities and direct access to Snapchat’s audience, with 18- to 24-year-olds representing 78% of the platform’s 300 million active monthly users.

However, as more Shopify merchants begin to use Snapchat story ads, they will need to find ways to track results on their stores and compare buying behaviors of their Snapchat campaigns to other paid campaigns, such as Facebook or PPC.

“But can’t I just track Snapchat like I wound track Facebook or Twitter ads?”

Snapchat is considered “dark social,” and traffic from the platform, and other dark social platforms like it, are displayed simply as direct traffic. When you’re trying to dive into analytics for just Snapchat, looking at direct traffic just not going to cut it.

The good news is that you can easily track your Snapchat traffic on Lucky Orange using UTM parameters.

[Psst! You can find us on the Shopify app store as the highest-rated conversion reporting tool]

Common question about Shopify and Snapchat ads

Do I have to use UTM parameters?

Answer: Yes; there really are no other ways to track Snapchat traffic. While you could make educated guesses based on direct traffic patterns, that’s not going to be enough to really analyze your Snapchat ad campaign results.

If you’re worried that you don’t know how to set them up, it’s OK. As we mentioned earlier, UTM parameters are relatively easy to set up.

We suggest keeping the campaign source the same for all of your Snapchat campaigns and change the campaign name or medium to identify different campaigns. For example:

Note: We suggest keeping one of the parameters the same for all of your campaigns. In the table above, we highlighted our campaign source - Snapchat - as the constant we would use for all of our Snapchat ad campaigns.

Having one parameter remain constant enables you to set up one behavior tag that will track your current and future campaigns, too.

Can I set up my UTM parameters/behavior tags after the campaign is live?

Answer: Simply put, the answer is no. You have to create the campaign URL with UTM parameters and setup behavior tags before you launch your campaign. They don’t operate retroactively..

Pro tip: Create a spreadsheet to keep track of each campaign’s UTM parameters. It’ll be helpful as you analyze the results.

I’m new to ad campaigns; what should I be looking for in the analytics?

Answer: If you’re about to run your first Snapchat ad campaign, you may not know how to sift through your campaign results with Lucky Orange.

Here are some questions you want to ask and the tools you need to answer them for Snapchat ad campaigns in particular:

What would be some good polls to run?

Answer: You can set a trigger based on a behavior tag to target just visitors from your Snapchat ad campaign. Your Snapchat audience is going to likely be different from your average customer, and the more you learn about his new audience, the more you can customize your Snapchat ad campaigns for better results.

There are numerous e-commerce poll options to consider, but here a few poll questions to get you started:

What other products would you like to see in our online store?
What’s your biggest challenge in ______?
What’s your preferred payment method?
We’re about to launch a new product line; would you like to be the first to hear about it?
How could we make your decision to buy easier?
Do you have any questions before you complete your purchase?
What would persuade you to shop with us more often?
Was there anything preventing you from checking out today?

Getting started with UTM parameters and behavior tags

Now that you know there are ways to track Snapchat traffic, let’s get started.

Before you do anything or launch any ad campaigns, you need to create a campaign URL that contains UTM parameters.

UTM parameters are bits of simple code added to a link for identification and tracking purposes. The easiest way to create a link with UTM parameters is by using Google Analytics’ free Campaign URL Builder.

Filling it out is relatively quick and easy:

Screenshot from Google’s Campaign URL Builder

The result will be a long link that will look something like this: https://www.luckyorange.com/?utm_source=Snapchat&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Snapchat%20Ads

When you set up ads for Snapchat, use the campaign URL you just created.

Now, you can stop there, but you’ll be able to see more information and visitor behavior if you set up behavior tags in Lucky Orange based on your UTM parameters.

Helpful tip: When you create UTM parameters, think about your next Snapchat ad campaigns. It’s much easier to monitor them when you keep one of the parameters a constant, such as the campaign source.

By keeping the campaign source as something basic, like Snapchat, you can create behavior tags for visitors who came from a link with Snapchat in the URL.

For example:

Screenshot from Google’s Campaign URL Builder

In this case, my behavior tag will work with any URL that contains the text Snapchat. It’ll work for tomorrow’s Snapchat ad campaign and a campaign next year.

Confused? We have you covered. Our support team is ready to help you set up behavior tags. We're available via chat on our website, email or phone (1-913-735-9032) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Central time).

Tracking and analyzing Snapchat visitors

Once the link is active in an ad and your behavior tags are set up, you can dive into visitor behavior, recordings and other great insight using a few different methods.

If you’re using just UTM parameters:

In recordings, search one of your UTM parameters. In this case, we could search by

Snapchat
Social
Snapchat Ads

Lucky Orange recordings can be filtered by UTM sources.

Our system will automatically filter through your recordings searching for these terms:

From there, you can watch recordings of those visitors and explore what happened during their visits, see if there are common device types, browsers or locations, and see quickly how active each visitor was on your website.

If you’re using Lucky Orange behavior tags:

When you use behavior tags, you have more options, including recordings, dynamic heatmaps, form analytics and polls:

Filter through session recordings

Instead of searching for “Snapchat” under the filter, search like you did using the UTM parameters. With a Snapchat behavior tag in place, you can now select “filter by tags” using your Snapchat behavior tag:

Lucky Orange recordings can be filtered using multiple behavior tags.

You’ll be able to see just those users who came from Snapchat.

While it’s similar to searching by the UTM parameters, you can now combine it with other behavior tags, such as Snapchat and check out.

You’ll be able to see just those users who came from Snapchat.

While it’s similar to searching by the UTM parameters, you can now combine it with other behavior tags based on specific web pages, traffic sources, etc. Examples include:

Snapchat
Twitter
Homepage
Product web page
Added to cart
Checkout
Thank you page
Shipping page

The more behaviors tags you have, the more you can filter data for more in-depth insight into visitor behavior:

Analyze dynamic heatmaps

You’ll find that different behaviors, i.e., checking out or not checking out, may have been influenced by certain aspects of your website, like a pop-up or unclear pricing. If you are a Snapchat visitor who didn’t checkout but lingered on the pricing page, it could be an issue with how you explain your pricing.

When you want to look at the bigger picture of visitor behavior, your dynamic heatmap is the place to go.

Under segmentation, select your Snapchat behavior tag. The data will automatically populate to show just those clicks, moves and scrolls from your Snapchat traffic:

Screenshot from Lucky Orange's dynamic heatmaps

You can segment the data further, such as by device type, other behavior tags, SEO keywords and region (to name a few).

When you’re looking at your Snapchat traffic, consider answering questions like

Where are visitors from Snapchat clicking? Where are they not clicking?
Is my call-to-action being missed?
What are they looking at on my site? Do I need a landing page just for Snapchat?
What is their most common device type? Is my site optimized for it?
How does my Snapchat traffic compare with traffic from other campaigns, like Facebook or PPC?

Pay close attention to your dropdown and hamburger menus. You can interact with those elements and see how your Snapchat audience clicked on them. If the majority are mobile users, could you simplify their experience with better dropdowns?

Consider form analytics

If you’re using a form, whether it’s for lead generation or e-commerce, you should check form analytics to see how Snapchat traffic is using that particular form.

Again, because you use behavior tags, you can segment your form analytics data just like you did for dynamic heatmaps:

Screenshot from Lucky Orange's form analytics

As a result, you can look at what fields caused the highest abandonment or conversions.

Considering the higher number of Snapchat users who are on smartphones, don’t be surprised if you see you need to reduce the number of form fields, add an easier login/checkout process or include an option to check out as guest.

Launch a poll

Polls can help you learn more about your Snapchat traffic, build email lists or just gain valuable feedback.

When you set up a poll, look under triggers. Under “Behavior Tag Triggers,” select your Snapchat behavior tag:

Screenshot from Lucky Orange's poll

In this case, we wanted it to wait a few seconds before showing the poll to Snapchat traffic to avoid overwhelming visitors the moment they came from Snapchat.

Once you’re done, save your poll and activate it from your polls tab.

You’ll be able to see responses begin to pour in, including the number of rejections, responses and comments. This information can be exported for easier sorting and analysis.

Conclusion

Shopify’s new partnership with Snapchat is a win/win/win/win for Shopify, Snapchat, merchants and customers.

Across social media, the partnership has been well-received by business owners, such as this tweet from startup marketer Ranee Soundara:

actually.... OK, this is a really great integration and ad tool for business owners
— Ranee Soundara (@naynerz) April 29, 2019

However exciting this partnership may be, before you sink money into advertising on Snapchat, make sure you can track results and understand what visitors from Snapchat click on, how they navigate across your website and what you can do to complete their purchase.