What the Snapchat Conversions API is
The Snapchat Conversions API (Snap CAPI) is Snap's server-to-server endpoint for web conversions. Your server sends a PURCHASE event with order details and hashed customer data, using a token you generate in Snap's Business Manager. It's designed to run next to the Snap Pixel, not to replace it.
Snapchat's own app for Shopify can install the pixel and send some events. If Snapchat is a meaningful channel for you, the question is whether purchases from in-app clicks are reaching Snap reliably. That's what a server-side setup fixes.
Why Snapchat sales are hard to track in the browser
Nearly every Snapchat ad click happens on a phone and opens in Snapchat's built-in browser. Buyers often look, close the app, and come back later in Safari or Chrome to buy. Each of those is a separate browser with separate cookies, so the Snap Pixel in the second browser doesn't know about the first click.
Younger audiences also tend to use ad blockers and strict privacy settings more. Together, that makes Snapchat one of the channels where pixel-only reporting tends to look the weakest compared to real sales.
What Snap needs to match a purchase
- ScCid: Snapchat's click id, added to your landing URL when someone taps an ad. Saved at landing, it ties the sale to the click.
- The _scid cookie the Snap Pixel sets in the browser.
- Hashed email and phone number (SHA-256).
- IP address and user agent from the visit.
- Order value, currency and order id.
Deduplication between Snap Pixel and Conversions API
If both the Snap Pixel and the Conversions API report the same purchase, Snap uses the event id to recognize them as one. The pixel and the server must send the same id for the same order. Settl generates one id per action and uses it on both routes.
If you already run Snap's Shopify app and add server events from another tool, check that the ids match. If they don't, disable one source for purchases, or you'll see more purchases in Snap Ads Manager than you actually had.
Snapchat Conversions API on Shopify: what to expect after setup
Once the Snapchat Conversions API is live on your Shopify store, the first thing you'll notice is more PURCHASE events in Snap Ads Manager. For many stores Snapchat is the channel where that difference is biggest, because so much of its traffic comes through the in-app browser.
That doesn't mean Snapchat suddenly works better; it means you can finally see what it was doing. Give campaigns optimized for purchases a week or two with the fuller data before judging them, and avoid changing budgets and creatives at the same moment.
If you sell to a younger audience, Snapchat buyers often come back later through another channel, such as an Instagram story or a direct visit. The saved click is what lets Snap still see its part in that sale, within its own attribution window.
How to check it in Snap Events Manager
In Snap's Events Manager, open your pixel and look at the event overview. Recent PURCHASE events should show up, and the details tell you whether they came from the pixel, the Conversions API, or both. The test events option lets you confirm a test order arrives correctly.
Then compare a week of PURCHASE events with your Shopify orders from Snapchat ads. A big gap that stays after adding server events usually means click ids aren't being saved at landing, or the hashed email is missing.
Common mistakes
- Reading the click id at checkout instead of at landing, after the buyer has already switched browsers.
- Sending events without value and currency, so Snap can't optimize for revenue.
- Two sources sending PURCHASE with different ids.
- Judging Snapchat on pixel numbers alone and cutting a channel that was actually selling.