Snapchat has launched Snap Pixel, a tool which lets advertisers track what users do online after viewing one of their ads, taking on the likes of Facebook and Google in the retargeted ad arena.
Other major platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and Google, offer similar tools to advertisers, but Snapchat has previously rejected using this method.
Initially, Snapchat’s tag can only be used to measure conversions, but eventually, brands will be able to use it to retarget site visitors and create lookalike audiences.
Snap Pixel is a conversion-tracking tool for brands to measure how their ads on Snapchat may have impacted traffic on their sites.
Initially, Snap Pixel remains in a testing phase, and brands will need to contact Snapchat’s sales team to request access.
Brands will only be able to track conversions for their vertical-video Snap Ads, not Sponsored Lens or Sponsored Geofilter campaigns, the spokesperson said.
In the near future, Snapchat plans to make the tracking tag available to all advertisers, including those buying ads through its self-serve Snapchat Ad Manager tool.
By enabling conversion tracking, Snapchat aims to better compete for brands’ budgets with Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Pinterest and Twitter which all offer similar tools.
How it works
To track conversions from Snapchat’s ads, brands will add the Snap Pixel code to the pages on their sites that they want to track and will specify the conversion event that the page corresponds to, such as “Add to Cart” or “Purchase.”
Advertisers will be able to select from nine predefined conversion events, but eventually, they will be able to create their own custom events. The currently available conversion events are:
- Purchase
- Save
- Start Checkout
- Add to Cart
- View Content
- Add Billing
- Sign Up
- Search
- Page View
Once the Snap Pixel has been set up on a brand’s site, the marketer will be able to view the conversion-tracking measurements through Snapchat Ad Manager or a third-party software provider that plugs into Snapchat’s advertising API. Brands will be able to tweak the timelines of those measurements, so they can see how many people converted within the past 24 hours or up to 28 days ago.
Brands will also be able to break out the audiences who simply viewed an ad separately from those who engaged with it by swiping up to see an attachment, such as a web page loaded via Snapchat’s in-app browser.
By the end of the year, Snap Pixel will also support more sophisticated targeting, with the ability to create custom audiences dynamically based on the ways Snapchatters engage with a marketer’s site(s). This means: for every standard event type an advertiser configures on their site — page view, Add to Cart, Purchase etc. — Snap can build a reachable audience of Snapchatters who have completed that action, or expand reach by creating a lookalike audience.
Case Study for Snap Pixel
In one case study during the alpha test phase, TechStyle Fashion Group, whose brands include JustFab, Fabletics, and ShoeDazzle, used Snap Pixel and saw impressive results. The client was focused on two key goals: generating new customer leads and driving online sales.
Key results are listed below:
- Across all TechStyle brands, Snap was able to drive a cost per purchase 40-60% lower than their goal, in just 24 hours after someone saw their ad.
- Their secondary KPI, which was to drive new leads, achieved a cost per sign up 30-50% under their goal for each of the brands.
- The client was able to attribute 28% more conversions to Snap by including 1-day of view through attribution, which is not traditionally captured through URL-based tracking. This helped them understand the impact that viewing an ad had on customer’s propensity to purchase.
- ShoeDazzle, one of their brands, was able to drive a cost per purchase and cost per sign up that were 63% and 48% under their goal, respectively.
