ClickMagick — We obsess over tracking, so you don't have to.™

Shopify Store Tracking + CAPI vs. ClickMagick

It's better than nothing, but attribution and ad optimization can be dramatically improved.
  • Patrick Kelly
    ClickMagick Founder
  • Jan 9, 2025
    Last updated
  • 11 minutes
    Est. read time
  • Hi, I’m Patrick — the founder of ClickMagick.

    And if you're relying on Shopify's analytics — and possibly a Conversions API (CAPI) integration — to track your ads and send conversion data back to your ad network, I've got some bad news for you ...

    What you're doing is better than nothing, but it's well short of an accurate tracking solution.

    And about half the data they're sending back to your ad networks isn't being sent correctly.

    But the good news is you can instantly boost ad optimization and ROI when you fix this. As certain as gravity.

    Keep reading to discover how ClickMagick can help you level up your ad tracking and conversion attribution, better optimize your ads, increase ad ROI by up to 20% or more within 45 days ...

    And solve your tracking and attribution problems once and for all — or you don't pay.

    Patrick Kelly, Founder

    P.S. This page is for advertisers who really want to understand how Shopify store tracking with a CAPI integration works.

    If you're not interested in the technical details and all you really care about is better results from your ads, just grab a free trial and give ClickMagick a try. It'll make you a lot more than it costs. Or you don't pay.

  • Bulletproof Conversion Attribution

    We’ve been perfecting accurate attribution for over 10 years. For them it's just an afterthought.

    You simply cannot rely on Shopify's analytics for accurate tracking.

    It's just an afterthought to them, and their tracking accuracy can't even begin to compare to what we've perfected over the past 10 years.

    Here are just a few examples ...

    People browse on mobile, but the majority of conversions happen on desktop. And the data shows that approximately 46% of people switch devices between the time they initially click your ad and later convert.

    And Shopify can't attribute conversions properly when they do.

    Yes they know a sale occured, but they have no idea where it came from.

    Lots of people also switch to private browsing mode just before entering their credit card info — and they can't track that either.

    I could go on, but that's already half your conversions not tracked properly.

    Here at ClickMagick we’ve been perfecting accurate attribution for over 10 years now — based on the billions of clicks and conversions we’ve processed for over 122,000 performance marketers and small businesses.

    We obsess over this stuff, and you're just not going to get anywhere near the level of accuracy ClickMagick provides from Shopify.

  • “Forever”
    Attribution

    ClickMagick tracks your visitors “forever” to ensure all conversions are tracked and properly attributed.

    Depending on your business, it could be weeks or even months before customers fully engage or make a purchase.

    That’s why ClickMagick tracks your visitors “forever,” so even if you have a longer sales cycle all conversions are tracked properly.

    With ClickMagick, even if someone buys 6 months after clicking your Facebook ad, we’ll still track that sale all the way back to the original ad they clicked — and their entire journey inbetween.

    But Shopify has a limited attribution window of just 30 days.

    And this means that any conversions or sales more than 30 days after someone clicks your ad won’t be tracked or attributed properly ...

    Which messes up all your stats and degrades ad optimization even more.

  • Direct Traffic Attribution

    ClickMagick will always attribute conversions to the source, no matter what your visitors do.

    There are lots of other little issues with Shopify's tracking and attribution ...

    And a lot of it is because they only use the “last click” attribution model.

    This is where credit for a conversion like an opt-in or sale is simply given to the last click right before the conversion happens.

    And while Last Click is generally good at showing you what gets people to buy, it's far too simplistic to rely on for everything.

    For example, imagine someone clicks your ad and browses your site. They're not ready to buy, but they bookmark it to return later ...

    When they return to your site via the bookmark and generate a conversion, Shopify attributes that conversion to the direct, organic click, because that was the most recent click ...

    Rather than the ad that generated the customer which is what you want.

  • Improved Ad Optimization

    Only ClickMagick Audience Optimization™ allows you to get the highest “match scores” possible.

    It's one thing when your conversions aren't tracked and attributed properly, but that's just the half of it because ...

    This dramatically reduces your ad network's ability to optimize your ads.

    See, while your Shopify store may have a basic integration with your ad network's Conversions API (CAPI) ...

    About half the time they can't send all the data your ad network needs — like the ad network “click id” — due to this broken tracking.

    So the data they do send is MUCH less useful for optimizing your ads.

    With ClickMagick, our TrueTracking™ technology ensures that conversions are always attributed correctly, back to the originating ad or traffic source.

    Which means we can always send back the ad network “click id” and other data your ad network is hungry for (up to 15 data points) ...

    Leading to increased “event match scores” and improved ad optimization.

    And when you get this right, everything changes, and you'll have an almost unfair advantage.

    ClickMagick also does lots more a basic CAPI integration can't — you can send individual conversions to multiple pixels, set up rules to route different conversions to different pixels for advanced optimization, and more.

  • Direct Response Stats & Reporting

    ClickMagick gives you one-of-a-kind stats and reports you need to scale like a pro, all in real time.

    Sure Shopify gives you basic stats like clicks, sales and LTV, but here's what you get with ClickMagick:

    Unique clicks

    Repeat clicks

    Bot clicks

    Cost per click

    Earnings per click

    Optins / CVR

    Sales / CVR

    Custom goals

    Total customers

    New customers

    Repeat customers

    Lead/cust. cost

    Average order value

    Lifetime value

    Total revenue

    Frontend revenue

    Upsell revenue

    Backend revenue

    Recurring revenue

    Ad cost / COGS

    Refunds

    Net Profit

    ROAS/ROAS24

    ROI

    And unlike with Shopify, you can see each and every one of these stats for each and every traffic source, campaign or ad you have!

    ClickMagick has better and more visual reporting as well.

    The UTM Performance Report identifies your best and worst performing ads.

    The Conversion Velocity Report reveals how long it takes visitors to convert.

    The Lifetime Value Report shows you the cost to acquire a customer, how long it takes to breakeven, and how much customers are worth over time.

    And the Funnel Steps Report paints a visual picture of the different paths visitors take through your funnel, and gives you the data you need to optimize your funnel for the most profitable paths.

    I could go on, but you just don’t get these kinds of actionable, direct response stats and reports from Shopify.

  • Advanced Attribution Models

    ClickMagick’s multi-touch attribution reveals what’s really working — top, middle and bottom of funnel.

    Shopify only uses the “last click” attribution model.

    This is where credit for a conversion like an opt-in or sale is simply given to the last click right before the conversion happens.

    Last click is generally good at showing you what gets people to buy ...

    But it doesn’t give you any insight at all into top and middle of funnel performance, so you can’t rely only on last click attribution.

    And you can't scale cold traffic acquisition campaigns with last click.

    In addition to last click, ClickMagick provides advanced multi-touch attribution models — like Linear, Position-Based and Time Decay ...

    ... which provide even deeper insights on how the different pieces of your marketing are performing, and help you scale like never before ...

    Because you’ll be able to fully optimize the different steps in your funnel independently, rather than your entire funnel as a whole.

  • Bot & Click Fraud Protection

    Only ClickMagick's ClickShield™ protects the accuracy of your stats, and your ad budget.

    “Bots” are automated software programs that click your links, click your ads and waste your money, and even “opt in” to your list.

    Then you’ve got competitors, and other people doing “market research” repeatedly clicking your ads ...

    And even your own existing customers who search for you on Google and click your paid ad every time they want to get back to your site (happens a lot!)

    Shopify can't protect you from any of this.

    But ClickMagick has industry-leading bot filtering, and ClickShield™ ...

    Which allows you to set up rules to define the type of click behavior that’s acceptable to your business, and block the rest.

    That means more accurate stats, less wasted ad spend and increased ROAS.

  • UTM & URL Management

    Create and manage all your UTM-powered links, all in one place, without the spreadsheets.

    Users love even our simplest tools, like the URL Builder and URL Manager.

    These tools allow you to quickly and easily create “tracking templates” for all your ads, or custom UTM-powered URLs for individual ads or promotions.

    You can click one button to test your URLs and your tracking setup to make sure everything's working properly ...

    And ClickMagick will catalog all of the URLs you build, along with the ability to add notes or quickly copy a URL if you need to re-use it again.

    Basically, we give you everything you need to manage all of this technical tracking stuff as easily and as efficiently as possible ...

    So you can finally ditch the spreadsheets once and for all.

  • Experience & Fanatical Support

    We've helped more performance marketers and small businesses fix their tracking than anyone.

    ClickMagick has helped over 122,000 small businesses with tracking and attribution. I'd guess we have more experience with this than anyone.

    And we're pretty well-known for our amazing support.

    At ClickMagick, we offer onboarding calls, live chat, fast responses to tickets, and even Zoom support if you need it.

    And many users have told us our support is better than anything they've ever experienced before, because ...

    Our team consists of real marketers with decades of experience — not low-paid, outsourced “customer support” reps who've never run an ad.

    You just can't get help like this anywhere else, and with all the recent and ongoing changes in the industry I really can't stress just how valuable this is.

It's a simple math problem

ClickMagick wouldn’t exist if relying on Shopify for tracking and conversion attribution was a viable option.

But as you now know there are a bunch of issues with Shopify's tracking, and the reason we’ve helped over 122,000 small businesses is simple — ClickMagick makes you a lot more than it costs. Or you don't pay.

ClickMagick TrueTracking® gives you best-in-class tracking and conversion attribution ...

Every click. Every conversion. Every journey in between. Exactly as it happened ...

You can finally optimize your marketing based on your actual results ...

And we’ll automatically send your true conversion data back to your ad networks in real-time ...

Leveraging first-party data collected on your website or in your online store ...

Which leads to improved ad optimization, and more conversions at the lowest cost possible.

This is way too important to rely on a partial solution using Shopify tracking and a basic CAPI integration ...

Learn more or sign up for a free trial and get started right now. You can have everything up and running in under an hour, and I guarantee you’ll be blown away by the results.

And if you have any questions, feel free to email me personally — patrick@clickmagick.com

Patrick Kelly, Founder
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