Be it Meta or Google, ad platforms are emphasizing advertisers to use first-party data to train their AI & ML models for better ad performance. So marketers rely on standard tracking, believing that they can collect reliable, rock-solid data. And one such tracking aid is that marketers who run ads for Shopify stores rely on Shopify Conversions API (CAPI) for tracking their users data.

But. Let me make this very crystal clear for marketers. Shopify is a storebuilder, and it is perfect for that. But Shopify’s CAPI is not meant for marketers. It does track, yes, but it is not the right fit for shooting up really results.

So what’s the real deal? Implementing Advanced CAPI to break down the mediocre ROAS without any tracking limitations of Shopify Conversions API (CAPI).

Shifting to Advanced CAPI is like switching from rabbit-ear antennas to streaming on demand—you’re not just getting a signal; you’re getting crystal-clear, real-time data that puts you in control of every move.

Let’s understand how this shift to Advanced CAPI can benefit your overall ad performance.

The Power of Advanced Conversions API for Shopify: Benefits

Track without signal breakage due to One-Click Checkout:

With Advanced CAPI implementation, you can track the complete customer journey on the Shopify stores. In Shopify, when the user initiates one-click checkout, they move into the different domain to make the payment. Due to this, tracking the complete user journey becomes impossible, leading to data loss. 

But, as Advanced CAPI tracks the user despite the interruption, you will be able to track the entire user journey without any data loss and attribute the conversions to the ad platforms accurately. This will further help with understanding the loopholes that you might be missing out on during the campaign optimization.

Control events tracked and sent to Meta:

Advanced CAPI allows you to control the event parameters and understand which events are collected and are sent to Meta. This prevents Meta from being cluttered with raw event data, which might contain accidental clicks or irrelevant page views. 

Instead, you can train Meta’s AI by sending more data on high-ticket purchases, filtering out low-value events. Unlike Shopify’s default tracking, which sends data in a black-box manner, Advanced CAPI lets you customize, filter, and optimize the data flow.

By having control over the events that you sent to Meta, you can effectively optimize campaigns for granular targeting, thereby increasing the possibility of conversions.

Customize events before sending them to Meta:

With Advanced CAPI, you can customize the events and send them to Meta. Generally, with Shopify CAPI, you will only track standard events and send them to Meta, no matter what the campaign objectives are. If your campaign objective is purchase, you will send standard events; if your campaign objective is white shoes, send standard events; if your campaign objective is women apparel, send standard events. 

Do you really think that is the right way to optimize your campaign?

Remember each campaign is a separate AI model; you need to train them to be smart and act smart. With Advanced CAPI, you can configure events in a customized way, such as high AOV, low AOV, or even for a specific product category (men’s watch, women’s shoes). These customized events help feed Meta’s AI to target the exact user, thereby increasing the number of high AOVs or the number of women’s shoes purchases. Resulting in reduced waste ad spend, lower cost per purchase, and increased ROAS.

Custom reporting in Meta ads:

With Advanced CAPI in place, you can visually see the accurate conversions for every specific event that you track inside Meta Ads reporting. You can track conversions; if your campaign is set to target high AOV users, you can see clear numbers on how many high AOV conversions have been reported from that specific campaign.

This is impossible with Shopify Conversions API.

You’re not just seeing total purchases—you get a breakdown of which campaigns drive premium customers, helping you refine ad spend allocation and giving a true picture of ad performance.

Optimize Ads for Specific Campaign Objective:

From the detailed custom reporting of Advanced CAPI, you will be able to take data-driven decisions after analyzing the data of which ads led to more conversions. You can determine which campaign drives high AOVs, which segment generates more leads, or which creatives are working better for your campaign. 

Instead of just optimizing campaigns for generic conversions, Advanced CAPI let’s you track and prioritize high-value purchases. For instance, if you see a campaign giving high AOV purchases, then you can send Meta by having high AOV purchases as your conversions, to further optimize your campaigns. You can instantly tweak budgets, exclude low-value audiences, and refine bidding strategies, leading to higher ROAS and better ad efficiency.

Audience Segmentation:

1PD Ops allows you to create custom audiences based on engagement, gender and specific product categories. Not just that, you can also go even deeper, like 90-day product viewed but not purchased, 60-day product viewed but not purchased, and many more. For example, you can also segment the anonymous website visitors who showed interest in the products or services and retarget them with personalized messaging and make them your customers.

Segmenting the audience aids in driving relevant users for specific campaign objectives without confusing Meta’s algorithm. This segmentation helps you create more personalized and time-sensitive ad campaigns. And sending these audience segments to Meta through Advanced CAPI helps Meta reliably retarget and nurture users, thereby increasing conversion rates. 

Create lookalike audiences:

With the granular audience segments created with Advanced CAPI, you can further create similar high-value lookalike audiences, unlike Shopify CAPI. Instead of creating generic lookalikes based on all past visitors, you can go ahead and create lookalike audiences such as repeat buyers with multiple transactions and users who engaged with high-ticket items but didn’t convert.

For instance, we did an experiment on Meta; on the one hand, we uploaded a CSV file with a lookalike audience from the website to Meta, and on the other hand, we made real-time integration of value-based custom audience lookalikes with Advanced CAPI. The lookalike audiences from Advanced CAPI gave better results with a 25% higher conversion rate compared to the other.

By implementing advanced CAPI, you can optimize campaigns with precise audience signals for improved results.

Audience Unification:

With Shopify Conversions API, you cannot upload your offline purchase data and send them to Meta. Whereas Advanced CAPI allows you to unify both the online and offline user data, stitch them together and help build a complete 360-customer profile. You will be able to see how many user profiles got unified on both the server and the browser side. 

This helps optimize your ad strategy by focusing on the entire customer journey, not just last-click attribution. This complete picture of customer journey can help you identify the leaking part of your campaigns, meaning you can identify which makes the users churn out without making the desired action and vice versa.

Let’s get into some real-life brands who are roaring by switching to Advanced CAPI.

How Shopify Brands Are Driving 30% More Revenue with Advanced CAPI

Mirali implemented Advanced CAPI, and now it is enjoying all the above benefits with skyrocketing numbers.

The brand was limited by the standard event of Shopify Conversions AP. This restriction hindered their ability to optimize campaigns for specific goals, such as promoting higher AOV products or particular categories.

Advanced CAPI came into the picture, and the magic happened:

• Powered Meta with first-party data (1PD) signals for higher event match quality
• Created multiple custom conversion events based on the AOVs and categories to scale the campaigns.
• Structured campaigns by excluding audiences and events
• Created a custom audience for the entire last 90 days for those who have viewed content but not purchased.

Results:

Scaled 3.7X times, 200% improved the number of purchases, and 25% are high AOVs.

Make the switch now.

Conclusion

As data privacy regulations tighten and third-party cookies phase out, relying on first-party data is no longer optional—it’s essential. With Advanced CAPI, Shopify store owners and performance marketers can take control of the data, improve attribution accuracy, and optimize Meta Ads for higher conversions.

Shopify is great, but not its CAPI. You cannot compromise on basic tracking anymore. Because brands have already started to speed up with their marketing strategies. It’s high time, because big sharks Meta and Google have started emphasizing it. It’s your wake-up call to switch to Advanced CAPI.
Wanna implement Advanced CAPI to increase your ROAS and purchases? Book a Demo with the experts today.