Campaigns, UTM links and attribution
How you learn which ad an order actually came from, and what makes that number trustworthy.
The question every merchant spending on ads asks: what did this ad actually produce? This page explains how the system answers it.
Campaigns
You record your campaigns in the system along with their ad spend. Without the spend you can know how many orders a campaign produced — not whether it made or lost money.
UTM links
UTM parameters are added to the end of an ad link and tell the system where a visit came from.
An example of the shape:
https://yourstore.com/products/x?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=summer
Use UTM links with your campaigns so Snap Shop can tie a visit to its source and follow its effect on your orders. The system reads these parameters from the link the customer arrived through, and uses them for attribution.
Consistency here is the whole game — if the same campaign is written three different ways, it becomes three campaigns in your reports.
Attribution
When an order is placed, the system links it to its source.
The model used is first-touch: the order is attributed to the source that brought the original visit.
Why our numbers differ from the ad platform
This is normal, and worth understanding:
- The ad platform counts an order when it is placed
- We subtract refunds and the cash-on-delivery orders that came back to you
In a market with a real RTO rate, the gap between those two numbers is the gap between a campaign that looks successful and a campaign that is.
ROAS after refunds and returns
That is why ROAS in the system is computed on net revenue — what was ordered, minus refunds, minus the cash-on-delivery orders that came back — not on what the ad platform booked.
A campaign with a high platform ROAS whose orders come back is not a successful campaign — it is a campaign buying shipping.
Influencers and partners
If you work with influencers or partners, the system records them, calculates their commissions, and attributes their orders to them like any other source.
Coupons
A coupon also works as a measurement tool: one coupon per channel gives you a second reading alongside UTM. And the discount enters the net profit calculation, so it is never lost from the maths.