Meta + Shopify + DataSauce = Goodbye to guesswork when tracking in-store sales.

So, the story goes: 1) View an Instagram ad → 2) Like what you see → 3) Exit the app → 4) Ponder for a few days → 5) Head to Chadstone or Emporium or Westfield or wherever else, to finally buy what the ad planted in your brain a few days ago. Sound familiar?

It’s a tale as old as time. A universal experience. So common, it’s basically subconscious.

But it’s also been a conversion tracking nightmare, until now.

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Quick summary, for the attention deficit in the room.

For years, digital marketing agencies (like ourselves) have nailed the art of tracking every click, add-to-cart, and checkout via Meta Ads – or most paid ads channels, for that matter.

But when it came to measuring how ads influenced in-store purchases? Total blind spot.

On average (*and just as a fun-fact), humans have ~6,000 thoughts a day. And the factors or triggers that influence these thoughts? Practically undecipherable.

So, even if the world’s best Meta Ads agency had the strongest hunch that they influenced a brand’s in-store purchase, getting proof of that would require either: 

1. Interrogation
2. Hypnosis to tap into someone’s mind, or
3. Pretty expensive third-party offline conversion tracking tools and CDXPs

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Not anymore.

Thanks to our close partnership with Meta, DataSauce has officially become the first in the ANZ region to trial Meta’s new CAPI for Offline Integration Solution using Shopify Flow. 

And it’s exactly as big a deal as it sounds, especially in the realm of reporting.

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Why do I need to track offline conversions?

Our team on the tools explains it best.

“Tracking the impact of our paid ads on in-store behaviour has always been difficult. If analysis of performance metrics on Meta Ads only stopped at online activity, we could never have concrete certainty about digital marketing’s true impact on sales and ROI.

But we all know that consumer behaviour transcends ad-level decisions. Social media ads could easily be the catalyst behind someone stepping in-store to make a $1,000 purchase, but attribution and tracing this back for sure? Been tough.” 

Now, this new Shopify Flow x Meta’s latest CAPI (aka. Conversions API, a server-to-server tracking tool that supplements Meta Pixels and sends event / conversion data directly from a business’ POS to Meta's servers) allows us to attribute in-store conversions to Meta ads, giving brands full visibility into how their paid media strategies drive foot traffic and sales.

Clean, accurate AND direct insights to prove the true impact of your campaigns.

Both online and offline.

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Benefits, and how this changes the game.

With enough data, this integration can help a paid media agency like us optimise Meta campaigns for in-store conversions (not just online) heaps better.

This even extends to ad creative. 

For instance, what style of Instagram ad or Reels best incentivise a visit to physical stores? You’ll be able to see a breakdown of conversions between online and offline right in Meta Ads Manager itself, within those same columns you know and (hopefully) love. 

It’s the missing link between digital intent and real-world action.

And having implemented this for our clients like Godiva and Eva, we’ve already seen it work and reap benefits a plenty. We’ve long suspected that, for an account of ours in the Food & Beverage space, we were driving more purchases in-store than ever reported.

Today? There’s proof. Exceedingly fantastic ones that reveal how those offline conversions we couldn’t track before? Equal in volume to the online ones we could measure.

That’s a whopping 50/50 split in results, in impact, in newfound data!

Such added visibility then serves as extra grounds to scale, pivot strategies, tweak budget allocation, and simply make more educated decisions across our paid funnel overall.

It’s a Meta Ads agency’s dream. And we’re the first to enjoy it.

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The Solution: Shopify Flow x Meta CAPI for Offline

Meta’s new CAPI for Offline uses Shopify Flow automations to feed in-store conversion events directly back to Meta — at zero cost, and with minimal set-up.

Which does mean you’ll need to be on Shopify to implement it.

But for brands with a Shopify POS, brick and mortar presence, and active Meta campaigns, this means you can finally track offline conversions with ease. And since it’s all configured through Shopify Flow, set-up is simple and automated.

You’ll just need a designated template to import as a Shopify workflow to set this in motion.

Full details are still on the hush-hush side at the moment, but our clients can absolutely access this if they’re interested. Just get in touch with us here / via your Account Manager.

As Meta continues to roll out this Beta more widely, we’re working closely with their engineering team (and our favourite rep, Lucinda) to refine and scale this integration.

Want in on the next phase?

We’ll link the CTA here again to get in touch with our digital marketing extraordinaires who’ll help connect your Shopify store, your Meta ads, and your in-store data – so you’ll finally see the full picture of your customer journey. As you deserve!