February 14, 2022

Why Snapchat Advertisers Need Better Analytics

Snapchat is an innovative technology-fueled advertising tool for brands that want to give audiences an interactive experience using augmented reality. Taking into account marketing for your e-commerce business, it's critical to understand how many people you're reaching, and the degree of interaction your content receives. Where Snapchat shines in innovative solutions for advertisers to sell products, it lacks granularity in data available in its suite of analytics. The main issue is that Snapchat doesn't provide much information about whom you're targeting or how engaging your advertisements are.

Snapchat has joined the army of apps that have taken the leap of faith in joining the world of social commerce. In addition to the release of Public Profiles for Businesses in May of last year, the app revealed a plethora of additional in-app buying opportunities. Among these is a drive to make augmented reality filters, termed “lenses” by the company, a more vital part of the shopping experience. Customers who visit a store's Snapchat page may try on any product in their inventory as a Lens and then purchase it through Snapchat. It is an intriguing feature that allows eCommerce businesses to function fully online without the shopper having to have an in-person encounter. This is particularly great for the beauty category, eyewear, apparel, and shoes.

We're all aware that some apps, such as Meta, collect information on account participation. The availability of these analytics is one of the advantages of Meta marketing. However, for Snapchat, analytics options are severely restricted, other than a summary of visits and screenshots. As a consequence, if you want to use the platform to advertise your Shopify store, don't expect the app to generate a comprehensive set of analytics.

The partnership between Shopify and Snapchat has made it possible for Shopify store owners to run ads on Snapchat.

Currently, Snapchat Ads Manager provides the following important advantages to Shopify business owners.

1. Deploy the Snap Pixel to target new and existing customers, build campaigns that optimize for sales, and track the actions that matter most to your business.

2. Sync your Product Catalogs to create ads quickly with Snapchat Ads Manager or using Shopify's Marketing capabilities

Brands may use the app's Marketing tab to install the Snap Pixel, sync Products Catalogs, and run ad campaigns.

Snap Pixel was made available by the platform as a means for eCommerce businesses to monitor customer journeys and as a conversion-tracking tool for store owners to utilize to study how their Snapchat advertising may have influenced visits to their websites.

Insights, analytics, and reports are very important for store owners because that's what prompts us to make sound decisions that will benefit the business in the long run. How conversions are attributed can have a significant impact on critical decisions regarding your advertising budget, your business goals, and the longevity of your business.

Snapchat Ads claims attribution if a shopper watches or clicks on a Snapchat ad before installing or doing any in-app activities. If a shopper views an ad on a platform other than Snapchat before completing an install or in-app event, mobile measurement partners may assign the conversion to that platform. As a result, there will be a conflict in attribution measurement.

But what exactly is a mobile measuring partner? And how does this affect advertisements?

A mobile measurement partner is a company that helps applications like Snapchat measure campaign effectiveness across advertising marketing channels, media sources, and ad networks.

The app is compatible with all mobile measuring platforms.

In order to correctly attribute conversions for a certain app, Snapchat collaborates with mobile measurement partners to connect conversions with Snapchat ad exposures in order to efficiently attribute conversions (e.g., installs, purchases, and openings) for a certain app.

Snapchat, on the other hand, has not hidden the fact that there are variations in attribution between Snap Ads Manager and third-party Mobile Measurement Partners.

Some of the attribution concerns that company owners experience are as follows:

  1. Snapchat and mobile measurement partners may utilize different time zones which may cause discrepancies when evaluating hourly or daily attribution.
  2. Settings for the Attribution Window For Snapchat Ads, the default attribution lookback window is 28 days click-through and 1-day view-through.
  3. Attribution for the Last Touch, If a shopper sees an ad on a platform other than Snapchat before completing an install or in-app event, Mobile Measurement Partners may attribute the conversion to that site.

When a shopper swipes up on an ad, they enter a 28-day attribution window during which the Snapchatter's behaviors on your website may be tracked back to the ad they swiped up on. When a Snapchatter views an ad but does not swipe up, they enter a 1-day attribution window in which their actions on your website or app may be connected to the ad they saw.

The good news is that you may change this time frame in Manage Ads Reporting.

The Downside to Snapchat Advertising Analytics

Snapchat has grown exponentially, but it still doesn't provide many stats about how effective and engaging their advertisements are. This is a huge problem for brands who want to scale their advertising efforts. Brands have no idea if their ads are going to work since Snapchat doesn't provide a robust suite of analytical data to inform better decisions on ad spend and attribution. If a customer views or clicks on a Snapchat ad before the install or in-app action, Snapchat Ads claims attribution. If a customer views an ad on a separate channel before completing an install or in-app event, Mobile Measurement Partners may attribute the conversion to a channel other than Snapchat.

In e-commerce, it's important to know your audience and how they're interacting with your content. However, Snapchat has been criticized for not offering enough analytics for advertisers. They do offer some data, but it's not very comprehensive. As a result, we're seeing a lot of brands and stores turning to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. To determine the effectiveness of their Snapchat Ads, stores need better analytics that provides some more detailed insights, they need to run their campaigns more effectively!

Trackify X in Beta for Snapchat Analytics

Whether you're investing in a huge or small campaign, it's critical that you can track how profitable your efforts are. Trackify X will be able to remedy this problem by giving more detailed attribution data, allowing you to create better look-a-like audiences. Trackify X analytics on Snapchat will give you more granularity and visibility into these efforts, and help discover more about how similar audiences behave. By reintroducing relevance and ease-of-use into the advertising experience, the beta version will be available in the coming month with a select group of users. It will be rolled out to a larger audience in the coming months. This will offer advertisers more segments to choose from during setup, giving you more control and data as it relates to tracking results and reporting.

Supercharge your Facebook Ads today with Trackify X by starting your 14-day free trial now!