Integrate with Shopify

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Affiliate & Influencer on Shopify integrates impact.com's conversion tracking & reporting with your Shopify store. Our app is a no-code plugin, meaning you can integrate and end-to-end test without needing web development expertise.

This guide covers…

  • A checklist of action items for your impact.com account before integrating
  • How to find and install the impact.com plugin to your Shopify store
  • Full end-to-end conversion testing in your store
  • Troubleshooting tips
  • How order (and item) reversals and modifications work

Pre-integration checklist

The steps below cover the necessary configuration needed to integrate with Shopify. In most cases, your account will be pre-configured with all of these settings, but we recommend checking each to confirm.

⚠️

Prerequisites

Confirm the following about your Shopify store & impact.com account:

Step 1: Event Type configuration

☑️

Online Sale Event Type

Confirm that your impact.com account has one (1) event type that's validated and configured to track Online Sales.

  1. From the left navigation bar, select
    [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings    .
  2. In the right column, go to the Tracking section and select Event Types.
  3. Confirm that your event type matches the screenshot below:
    • Type column reads Online Sale.
    • Tracking reads as Web Services.
    • Validated reads as
      [Checkmark].
    • Promo Code reads as
      [Checkmark].

☑️

Tracking Method & Returns Processing

Confirm that the validated event type reports conversions and modifications/reversals (i.e., order & item returns) via API.

  1. From the left navigation bar, select [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings.

  2. In the right column, go to the Tracking section and select Event Types.

  3. On the Event Types screen, hover your cursor over the right-most column and select
    [Horizontal Ellipsis]→ View/Edit.

  4. On the View/Edit Event Type screen, confirm that:

    • Tracking Method is configured as Non-Pixel Tracking (advanced) — Use system web service (API).
    • Returns Processing is configured as Automate returns processing (advanced) — Use system web service (API).

☑️

Customer Status Mapping

Confirm that impact.com can distinguish between new and existing customers in your Shopify store. Having this data enables to you adjust commission structures based on customer type.

  1. From the left navigation bar, select [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings.
  2. In the right column, go to the Tracking section and select Event Types.
  3. On the Event Types screen, hover your cursor over the right-most column and select
    [Horizontal Ellipsis]→ View/Edit.
  4. On the View/Edit Event Type screen, select Show advanced settings.
  5. Next to the Customer Status Mapping line item, select
    [Pencil Icon].
  6. Confirm that New Customer Value has the value New, and Existing Customer Value has the value Existing.
  7. Select Save.

Step 2: Gateway Tracking configuration

☑️

Campaign Tracking Template (irclickid)

Confirm that the campaign tracking template is configured exactly the same as the steps below, otherwise tracking will not work.

  1. From the left navigation bar, select [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings.
  2. In the right column, select Gateway.
  3. Find the Campaign Tracking Template line item. Confirm it's configured exactly identical to the screenshot below (irclickid = {clickid}):
  4. Select Save.

☑️

Deep Linking

Confirm that your website and store domain(s) are configured under deep linking, which enables partners to link traffic directly to specific pages and products.

  1. From the left navigation bar, select [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings.
  2. In the right column, select Gateway.
  3. Find the Deep Linking line item and configure the following domains under Permitted Domains, replacing example.com with your exact domains — do not use spaces between commas:
    example.com,example.myshopify.com,*.example.myshopify.com
  4. Select Save.

Step 3: General tracking configuration

☑️

Site Definition

Confirm that your website domain(s) are configured as site definitions, which enables our tracking solution to forward traffic from our domains to yours.

  1. From the left navigation bar, select [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings.
  2. In the right column, select General.
  3. Next to the Site Definition line item, confirm that your domains that you want tracked are specified as a comma-separated list (no spaces). For example, *.example.com,example.com tracks everything on your top domain and any subdomains, such as www.example.com or store.example.com.
  4. Select Save.

☑️

Disable View-Through Tracking

Confirm that View-Through Tracking is disabled.

  1. From the left navigation bar, select [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings.
  2. In the right column, select General.
  3. Next to View-Through Tracking, ensure it's disabled.

Add Impact to Shopify

This instruction set covers installing Affiliate & Influencer to your Shopify store.

☑️

Install Affiliate & Influencer

  1. While logged in to Shopify, visit the Affiliate & Influencer by impact.com app in the Shopify App Store and select Add app.

  2. Shopify will prompt you that you're about to install Impact: Partnership Cloud. Review the details on the screen, and select Install App.

  3. Once installed, find it in your list of Shopify apps. To begin, select Activate Integration.

  4. Add your impact.com account information:

    Refer to your Program Elements document for your specific account information.

    Account DataDescription
    Impact Account SID*Navigate to
    [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings → API     to find your Account SID. Copy the full case-sensitive value.
    Auth Token*Navigate to
    [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings → API     to find your Auth Token. Copy the full case-sensitive value.
    Program ID*Enter your Program ID value (a.k.a Campaign ID value). To find this value, select your brand name in the top left corner of Impact. Your Program ID is shown in gray type under your Program name in the Program column.
    Sale and Subscriptions Tracker*Navigate to
    [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings → Event Types    . Your Event Type ID is the number in parenthesis next to the name of the event type — enter this value.
    Recurring Subscription TrackerLeave this field blank.
    Universal Tracking Tag (UTT)*Navigate to
    [Vertical Ellipsis] → Settings → General    . Paste your entire unique UTT code into this field.

  5. Select Save. You'll see a confirmation screen for the enabled integration, along with your Impact account info.

End-to-End Testing

Now that impact.com is fully integrated with your Shopify store, you can begin end-to-end testing to ensure everything is working properly. Follow the steps below sequentially to test your integration.

Step 1: Create a 0% Test Contract

☑️

Create 0% Test Template Terms

Creates a new set of template terms with a 0% default payout (or "commission"), used for testing with a test partner account.

  1. From the left navigation menu, select Contracts → Template Terms.
  2. In the upper right corner, select Create Template Term.
  3. For the Name, enter Test Terms.
  4. For Event Type, select Online Sale.
  5. Set the Default Payout to 0% of order sale amount.
  6. Scroll down and select Save.

Step 2: Get Branded Links

☑️

0% Template Terms sign up link

Gets the unique URL that will send users to sign up as a new direct partner to your Impact program on your 0% template terms.

  1. From the left navigation menu, select Contracts → Template Terms.
  2. In the list, find your test template terms you created in the last step. Under the Actions column, select
    [Down Caret] → Get Branded Links.
  3. Next to Promo Page Link, copy the the full URL and paste it somewhere accessible, such as a text editor.

Step 3: Create a test partner account

☑

Direct Partner sign up

Create a new direct partner account that's applying to your impact.com program on the 0% test template terms.

  1. In a new tab, copy and follow the link from the last step.

  2. Follow the prompts onscreen to create a direct partner account for your brand.

    Make sure to use a different email address and username from your Impact brand account. Keep the username and password saved somewhere easily accessible, as you'll need to access it later.

  3. Select Sign Up.

    We recommend adding TestPartner somewhere in the partner's name (e.g., YourBrand_TestPartner) to ensure everyone with access to your Impact account knows this is a test account. Be sure to save the password somewhere safe.

Step 4: Accept your test partner account

☑

Accept partner proposal

Accepts the test partner account's application and signs them to the 0% test template.

  1. Back in your impact.com brand account, in the left navigation menu, select Partners → Proposals.
  2. Under Received Proposals, find your test account name and select View Terms.
  3. In the top right corner of the screen, select Actions → Accept.

Step 5: Get a partner tracking link

☑

Create a Link

Creates a new tracking link in the test partner account, which is used to forward traffic to your store and attributes conversions to the partner.

  1. In an incognito/private browser window, sign in to your test partner account.
  2. On the dashboard, find the Create a Link widget.
  3. Select the link to copy it to your clipboard.

Step 6: Test Conversion Events

❗️

Important!

When testing, make sure to disable any ad/content blocker extensions that may be active in your browser. Make sure you use your test partner tracking link to access your site!

For the most accurate results and fastest launch time, Impact recommends testing a conversion in your live Shopify store, then canceling the order once you've confirmed that Impact tracked it.

☑️

Complete a test conversion event

  1. In an incognito/private browser window, paste & follow the tracking link from Step 5.

  2. Once you've reached the landing page, complete a test conversion event in store with the following:

    • At least two (2) items with different SKUs
    • An item with a quantity value of 2 or more
    • Apply a promo code (or coupon code) to the order

  3. Complete the order and check out, making sure to reach your store's "Thank You" or "Confirmation" page to confirm that the order went through.

Step 7: Verify actions in Impact & reverse orders in Shopify

📘

Note

Your test conversion should appear in impact.com within 30 minutes, but can take up to 2 hours before appearing. If your conversion doesn't appear in impact.com within 24 hours of the test conversion occurring, reverse the order in Shopify, verify that the Event Type ID in Shopify matches your Event Type ID in impact.com, then try another test conversion through your test partner link.

☑️

View Pending Payouts

  1. In your impact.com brand account, navigate to Transactions → Pending Payouts → Actions.
  2. Verify that your test conversion events appears as a pending payouts.
  3. Select the linked Action ID to view action details. Order ID should match your Shopify order ID, Items and SKUs should appear, and the promo code used should appear as well.
  4. Once you can verify the conversion was accurately reported in impact.com, make sure to Cancel the order in Shopify. Modifications and reversals you do in Shopify are automatically sent to impact.com.

Troubleshooting

My test conversion isn't appearing in impact.com

If your test conversion isn't appearing, check the following:

  • You accessed your Shopify store using the test partner tracking link in Step 5. If you don't use this link, the conversion won't be credited to your test partner and may not appear.
  • You've waited at least 30 minutes since the test conversion occurred in your Shopify store. Conversion reporting can take up to 2-4 hours during peak times — consider checking back later in a few hours.
  • Your Event Type ID in Shopify exactly matches the Event Type ID in impact.com.
  • Use the OrderId (OID) Lookup tool to search for the Shopify Order ID of the test order.

If the conversion still hasn't appeared after several hours, there may be something wrong with integration. Reverse the order in Shopify, verify that you've followed the installation instructions & end-to-end testing instructions closely, then try again.

IrClickId appears under "Additional Details" on the Shopify Order page

When you view an order in Shopify that was tracked by impact.com, you may notice the irclickid value appears in the Additional Details section on the order page.

The integration does not overwrite any existing or new notes you apply to customers in Shopify. Any notes you had for a customer will remain untouched, and new notes can be individually created.

Modifications & Reversals

Once integrated, you can modify & reverse items and/or entire orders in Shopify and Impact will update actions accordingly.

❗️

Important!

Modifications and reversals you make in impact.com will not be sent to Shopify — we recommend always modifying or reversing items & orders in Shopify first, then confirm it was modified/reversed in impact.com's platform.

A few things to keep in mind:

  • A SKU represents an item within an order. For example, if an order has 1 item with the SKU 1ABC23 priced at 10.00, the line item SKU amount would be 10.00.
  • A line item SKU is a SKU with a quantity larger than 1 in an order (e.g., the order has multiples of the same item). For example, if an order has 2 items, both with the SKU 1ABC23 priced at 10.00 each, the line item SKU amount would be 20.00. impact.com will always show the line item SKU amount.
  • When applying order-level reversals, the amount reversed from the order is distributed and weighted across all items within an order. In some cases, reversing certain amounts at the order-level could completely reverse an item if the item's price is less than the weighted amount that's applied to it.
  • When applying item-level reversals after an order level discount has already been applied, the remaining amount for the item will be weighted / deducted across the remaining items.

Item-level reversals

When modifying a SKU in Shopify, impact.com will receive the updated Quantity and Amount and apply it to the item.

Example

  1. Shopify reports an order to Impact with two different SKUs that both have the same price: 

    +-----------------+
|  ITEM  | PRICE  |
|========|========|
| 1ABC23 | 10.00  |
| 9XYZ87 | 10.00  |
|=================|
|  TOTAL | 20.00  |
+-----------------+

  2. In Shopify, a 5.00 reversal is applied to this order, which is distributed across all SKUs in the order. It will now show in Impact as:

    +-----------------+
|  ITEM  | PRICE  |
|========|========|
| 1ABC23 | 07.50  |
| 9XYZ87 | 07.50  |
|=================|
|  TOTAL | 15.00  |
+-----------------+

    The 5.00 is split evenly across the price of the two items in the order.

  3. Let's reverse an individual line item: SKU 1ABC23 is fully reversed, which at its original price of 10.00, means that 10.00 is reduced from the order.

    +-----------------+
|  ITEM  | PRICE  |
|========|========|
| 1ABC23 | 00.00  |
| 9XYZ87 | 05.00  |
|=================|
|  TOTAL | 05.00  |
+-----------------+

    Since the item was already reduced at the order level, the remaining 2.50 that can't be removed from 1ABC23 (since it was already reduced) is applied evenly to the rest of the items in the order.

  4. One final step: reverse 9XYZ87, meaning 10.00 is reduced from the order. Since it's the only item left and has been reduced down to 5.00, reversing this will refund the entire order in Shopify and reverse the action in Impact.

Order-level reversals

Example

  1. Shopify reports an order to Impact with two different SKUs that both have the same price: 

    +-----------------+
|  ITEM  | PRICE  |
|========|========|
| 1ABC23 | 10.00  |
| 9XYZ87 | 10.00  |
|=================|
|  TOTAL | 20.00  |
+-----------------+

  2. In Shopify, a 5.00 reversal is applied to this order, which is distributed across all SKUs in the order. It will now show in Impact as:

    +-----------------+
|  ITEM  | PRICE  |
|========|========|
| 1ABC23 | 07.50  |
| 9XYZ87 | 07.50  |
|=================|
|  TOTAL | 15.00  |
+-----------------+

    The 5.00 is split evenly across the price of the two items in the order.

  3. Going another step further, the order has a 15.00 reversal applied to it in Shopify. The order is fully refunded in Shopify and reversed in Impact:

    +-----------------+
|  ITEM  | PRICE  |
|========|========|
| 1ABC23 | 00.00  |
| 9XYZ87 | 00.00  |
|=================|
|  TOTAL | 00.00  |
+-----------------+

Supported parameters

The table below lists all of the supported parameters of the integration — in other words, data that Impact captures from Shopify.

Parameter Example Description
CampaignId 8882 Also known as a Program ID, this is the ID number for your Impact program/campaign.
ActionTrackerId 16027 Also known as the Event Type ID, this is the ID number for your Impact event type.
EventDate 2020-06-18T14%3A33%3A49 Tracks the date that the action occurred.
ClickId 2uz3sQWFlxyJRcqwUx0Mo34VUkiyyO0tIzeG3U0 This is the Click Id associated with the action.
OrderId 2516623458378 This is the Impact Oid (Order ID) value associated with the action (not the Shopify Order ID).
CustomerId 3222174466122 If you're tracking and passing customer info, this is an ID number to reference the customer associated with the order.
CustomerEmail 38b85baa75385758d44d3dbfd97921c32e0d09a9 If you're tracking and passing customer info, this is the SHA1 hash of the customer's email.
CustomerStatus EXISTING or NEW If you're tracking and passing customer info, this is the status of the customer associated with the order.
CurrencyCode USD This is the currency code for the currency recorded in the action.
IpAddress 1.1.1.1 The IP address associated with the action.
UserAgent Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X x.y; rv:42.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/42.0 The user agent string associated with the action.
For item-level data, the {i} value is replaced with an integer (e.g., 1), and increased for each item that's reported to Impact. For example, If an order had two items, it'd report ItemSku1, ItemQuantity1, ItemCategory1, ItemSubTotal1, then ItemSku2, ItemQuantity2, etc.
ItemSku{i} KS944RUR The Shopify SKU number for an item in the action.
ItemQuantity{i} 1 The quantity amount for the first item in the action.
ItemCategory{i} Electronics The name of the Shopify Collection that the item is organized under.
ItemSubtotal{i} 60.00 The subtotal amount of the item before taxes, shipping, and any other costs are added onto the total.
OrderPromoCode{i} Welcome10 Promo code used for the order tracked by the conversion. Only works as an attribution key if this code was assigned as a unique tracking code to a particular partner. In that case, that partner will win credit for this conversion.

Updated 11 months ago