Facebook In Platform Attribution vs Shopify - Which is more accurate?

[chris_juve]

Our in platform results on Meta always has more purchases than what's reported in Shopify reports and analytics. We use attribution software but it always under attributes paid social and gives too much credit to email and organic.

We're trying to find a way to use Meta's reporting and Shopify's reporting to see where 1) new customers are coming from and 2) the cost to acquire those new customers. 

It's been tricky because we don't get 1st party data from meta so they don't report on new vs existing. 

Right now we look at our total spend in a given month and total new to file customers to get CAC.

My questions are:

Does Shopify have a report to confirm Meta's in platform data?

Is there customer acquisition costs by platform in Shopify reporting?

How can you match back unattributed Shopify sales to a paid platform?

[OneMobile]

Hi @chris_juve 

Let's address your questions one by one:

1. Does Shopify have a report to confirm Meta's in-platform data?

Shopify itself does not provide a direct report to validate or cross-reference Meta's data. Shopify's reporting focuses on sales and customer data captured within its own ecosystem.

However, if you have UTM parameters set up correctly on your Meta campaigns, this data will show in Shopify's 'Acquisition' reports, which can give you insights into the traffic and sales generated from Meta.

2. Is there customer acquisition cost (CAC) by platform in Shopify reporting?

Shopify doesn't automatically calculate CAC by platform. Instead, you'll have to rely on a third-party analytics app,

3. How can you match back unattributed Shopify sales to a paid platform?

You should set UTM parameters for all your campaigns. If there's a sudden increase in the amount of traffic buying your products without the UTM, you can attribute it to the latest campaign. 

This is because some people might click on your UTM-set link but decide to buy your products later. If you need more precise attribution, again, you'll need an analytics app/tool/platform.

P.S. If data tracking is that important to you, I highly recommend you give TrueProfit a try. This app will give you detailed breakdowns of customer acquisition costs by platform. Also, its attribution features are highly accurate as well.

I hope that this helps!