This article will walk you through the details of Popsixle's Routing Optimization system and how it helps deliver the best possible attribution on Facebook's ad platform
What is purchase routing optimization (PRO)?
PRO is Popsixle’s way of ensuring that Facebook attribution is as accurate as possible by intelligently routing non-standard purchase events from your Shopify store to different event types.
What are non-standard purchase events?
Broadly speaking, any type of purchase that is processed by Shopify that isn’t generated by your website directly. These fall into three categories, Subscription Payments, Offline Orders, and Facebook/Instagram Shop Orders. Learn more about each category further down in the article.
Will this impact my ad performance?
It’s expected that if your account was previously over-reporting from being sent incorrect purchase data, you may see what appears to be a drop in performance in Facebook’s Ad Manager as it adjusts to more accurate reporting (remember Facebook was taking credit for phantom purchases, and this does not affect your actual performance).
Facebook will quickly acclimate to the correct purchase volume and will start pushing ads that generate these sales more than before, leading to better overall ad performance.
Over the course of your trial the Popsixle team will work with you to understand where your account stands in terms of attribution accuracy with the Popsixle health check and reporting.
Where can I see the routed purchases?
All purchases, including routed purchases, can be seen in the Popsixle Events Summary tab of your Popsixle dashboard. You can also see them directly in Facebook Events Manager.
Data in the Popsixle Dashboard
Data in Facebook Events Manager
Can I use the data being sent to Facebook in my ad account?
Yes. Like other event types you can use routed purchases to create a Facebook lookalike audience.
Non-Standard Purchase Event Categories
A breakdown of the three non-standard purchase event categories that PRO works with.Subscription Payments-
What are they?
Charges processed from a recurring subscription product after the first order was made. This does not include the first payment made for a subscription
What does Popsixle do with this type of purchases?
Recurring subscription charges are sent to Facebook as Subscribe events
Why does Popsixle do that?
Facebook should not take credit for anyone making a payment for a subscription that already exists. By routing the orders to Subscribe events, Facebook can still receive the data but makes sure that its ad platform doesn’t take credit.
Offline Orders
What are they?
Orders generated from non-web based sources. These may include draft orders, POS system generated orders,, orders sent to influencers or other marketing professionals via your Shopify store, orders processed via a mobile phone at an in-person event, or any other way orders could be processed by Shopify that were not generated by someone going through your site.
What does Popsixle do with this type of purchases?
Orders are sent to Facebook as an OfflineOrder event
Why does Popsixle do that?
Shopify store owners often use their store to process orders that may not have been generated from their website which Facebook should not try to take credit for and shouldn’t use to power their audience targeting engine. For this reason, these orders are routed to a different event type.
Facebook/Instagram Shop Orders
What are they?
Orders generated from Facebook Shop ads. In other words, orders generated directly on one of Meta’s platforms
What does Popsixle do with this type of purchase?
Orders are sent to Facebook as a ShopOrder event
Why does Popsixle do that?
Since these orders were generated on Facebook or Instagram, Facebook is aware that they helped generate the sale and will, rightly, take credit for it. However, these orders are still processed by Shopify and if Popsixle sends them as purchase events there is the possibility that Facebook may double count the purchase. These purchases are sent as a separate event type in order to ensure that there is no double counting.