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The Snapchat Conversions API Program for Offline Conversions

The Snapchat Conversions API Program for Offline Conversions enables advertisers to send offline conversion data to Snapchat. Snapchat matches the customer information tied to your conversion data with Snapchat user information to create conversion reports in Snapchat. These reports provide advertisers with aggregated and pseudonymized conversion data that allows them to understand the value of their Snapchat campaigns.

The Snapchat Conversions API Program is a Snapchat-paid program, so there is no cost for brands and advertisers.

Note

  • Snapchat must approve all program participants. Contact your LiveRamp or Snapchat rep to find out about getting approved for the Snapchat Conversions API Program.

  • The Snapchat Conversions API Program for Offline Conversions was formerly known as "he Snapchat Offline Conversion Reporting Attribution Program".

Overview of Steps Involved

The following steps need to be performed to enable the attribution analysis in Snapchat:

  1. Before your campaign starts, you send LiveRamp a sample conversion data file so we can test the integration with Snapchat (if necessary).

  2. Snapchat sets up a Snap Pixel within your Snapchat Ad account to link your campaign conversions.

  3. You send a daily feed of offline (in store) conversion data from the last 62 days with PII to LiveRamp.

  4. You activate your campaign.

  5. LiveRamp normalizes and SHA-256 hashes the PII and delivers the data to Snapchat.

  6. Snapchat matches the hashed PII to Snapchat users.

  7. You view the attribution analysis in Snapchat.

See the appropriate sections below for more information on performing these steps.

Format the File

Before sending your conversion data to LiveRamp, make sure to strictly follow the guidelines listed below:

Caution

  • If an uploaded file does not meet these requirements, you will need to reformat the file until it is formatted correctly.

  • Conversion data must be uploaded within 28 days of the conversion. Files containing conversion data older than 28 days old will fail when distributing to Snapchat.

  • If you're using multiple programs, you can often use one universal file for most or all of those programs. For more information and a universal file template, see "Using a Universal File for Multiple Conversions API Programs".

  • If any guidelines listed here conflict with the guidelines in our general file formatting instructions, follow these guidelines.

  • Headers must be included in the exact order as listed below and must match exactly.

  • Each record must contain at least one PII identifier (either email or phone).

  • Fields must not have leading or trailing white space.

  • Your conversion data file must use one of our allowed delimiters (commas, tabs, or pipes), and be one of our allowed file types (.csv, .tsv, .psv, or .txt).

  • The Snapchat program uses our Measurement Enablement workflow. Make sure to follow our recommended file limits for Measurement Enablement workflow files (such as a maximum of 500,000,000 rows per file and maximum uncompressed file size of 50GB).

  • Include all of the required columns listed below.

  • Unless values are required for a field, fields can be left blank if there is no data for the given row (do not include “N/A” or “null”).

  • The file must be rectangular. That is every row must have the same number of delimiters and columns of data.

  • Only basket-level data can be accepted at this time.

Tip

To download an Excel file template that contains all possible columns and formatting instructions, click here.

After transferring your data into the file template, be sure to delete the row with the formatting instructions and save the file in one of our allowed file types (.csv, .tsv, .psv, or .txt) before uploading.

Once the file has been formatted correctly, upload the file to LiveRamp. Most customers automate this process to send files on a regular cadence (usually daily). See the “Upload the File” section below for more information.

Note

Once you set up the file format for an existing conversions program feed, try to keep the file format (such as the column headers or the column order) the same for all subsequent files. If you change the file format for an existing feed, create a support case before uploading the new file to ensure your existing feeds are not impacted. For more information, see "Changing the Format of an Existing File".

List of All File Columns

See the table below for a list of columns and formatting instructions:

Field Name

Column Required?

Values Required?

Notes

email_1

Yes

Yes, if using email as an identifier

  • Must be plaintext. Do not send hashed emails.

  • If you have multiple emails for a consumer, send your best one in the “email_1” column.

email_2

No

No

  • Must be plaintext. Do not send hashed emails.

email_3

No

No

  • Must be plaintext. Do not send hashed emails.

email_4

No

No

  • Must be plaintext. Do not send hashed emails.

transaction_category

Yes

Yes

Enter a free text “transaction category” value in this field for each transaction row, such as something like "store sales."

transaction_timestamp

Yes

Yes

  • Corresponds to the date/time of transaction in UTC - (example “2017-02-07T13:25:00Z-0800" should be the time the conversion happened in UTC).

  • Standard formats:

    • yyyy-MM-dd

    • yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'-0000 (for example, 2021-06-04T10:01:00Z-0000)

  • Additional formats:

    • MM/dd/yyyy h:mm:ss aa

    • MMM dd, yyyy h:mm:ss

    • MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss

    • yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss

    • yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss

    • yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ssZ

transaction_amount

Yes

Yes

  • The transaction amount.

  • Do not include any (currency) symbols.

  • Format Required: XXX.XX

phone_1

Yes

Yes, if using phone as an identifier

  • Include country code (i.e. "1" for U.S.). Remove symbols, letters, and any leading zeros.

  • Must be plaintext. Do not send hashed phone numbers.

  • If you have multiple phone numbers for a consumer, send your best one in the “phone_1” column.

phone_2

No

No

  • Include country code (i.e. "1" for U.S.). Remove symbols, letters, and any leading zeros.

  • Must be plaintext. Do not send hashed phone numbers.

order_id

Yes

Yes

  • A unique ID (such as a transaction ID) that corresponds to the order that the particular item belongs to (this is often referred to as an “ordinal”). If the value is not unique, a partner may deduplicate some of these events when ingesting your conversion data.

  • To measure item-level events, the value will need to be a unique value for each item within a basket. LiveRamp recommends using the concatenated value of the order ID + product SKU. For example, if the  order ID is “123” and SKU is “456”, the “order_id” value would be “123456”.

  • Do not include special characters, currency symbols, or commas.

event_conversion_type

Yes, if providing both online and offline transactions

Yes, if providing both online and offline transactions

Describes where the transaction occurred. Possible values for this field:

  • OFFLINE

  • WEB

  • MOBILE_APP

Header Row Example

The headers shown below are all required.

email_1|transaction_category|transaction_timestamp|transaction_amount|phone_1|order_id

Transaction Data Examples

alex@gmail.com|in-store|2014-03-31|99.99|3425551122|252343

julian@gmail.com|phone order|2014-03-30|55.55|308345

Send Conversion Data to LiveRamp

If you’re not currently using another LiveRamp conversions program (such as Google or Pinterest), we might need you to send us sample conversion data to set up the integration.

Caution

At this time, we can only accept basket-level data for this program.

Conversion Data Guidelines

Each conversion data record must include at least one PII identifier (either email or phone) and the required conversion data:

  • Transaction category

  • Transaction timestamp

  • Transaction amount

  • Order ID

Conversion data should be uploaded within 62 days of the conversion.

Name the File

Name each file you upload with a unique file name that includes a date. For example,“LR_ACME_Attribution_YYYYMMDD.csv”.

Upload the File

Upload conversion data files using LiveRamp’s SFTP server or your SFTP server.

You can also have us pull files from an AWS S3 bucket or GCS bucket. See “Getting Your Data Into LiveRamp” for more information.

Caution

Files for this program cannot be uploaded via Connect. We recommend either uploading via our SFTP server or having us pull files from an S3 bucket.

After uploading, contact your LiveRamp Implementation manager to confirm that you have uploaded conversion data.

Note

For future uploads, you do not have to email LiveRamp to confirm that you have uploaded data assuming headers have not changed or additional columns have not been added.

Once the file is uploaded, information on file processing status can be viewed in LiveRamp Connect.

Contact LiveRamp (snapchat@liveramp.com) if you have any questions.

After Snapchat has ingested the conversion data, you can view attribution reporting within Snapchat. While offline conversions reporting is in beta, make sure to toggle “Beta Reporting” to “On.” Your Snapchat sales representative can provide assistance if you run into any issues.

FAQs

At what cadence should I send my conversion data files?

At this time, Snapchat requires transaction files be sent daily.

What conversion data should I include in my conversion data file?

Include all traceable transactions in your delivery. Avoid sending duplicate transactions (transactions already sent to LiveRamp). Do not include transactions with a transaction date in the future.

What if I want to include “event_conversion_type” or “event_type” information?

By default, the program uses “OFFLINE” for the “event_conversion_type” and “PURCHASE” for the “event_type”. If you would like to not use the default options, please include an “event_conversion_type” type column in your transaction data file and speak to your LiveRamp representative.

What should I do if I include online and offline data in my transaction data file?

By default, the program uses “OFFLINE” for the “event_conversion_type”. Please inform your Snap representative that your file includes both online and offline data and include an “event_conversion_type” column in your file.

What should I do if I have issues uploading my data?

For issues with Snapchat conversions rrogram file uploading, create a support case. When creating the case, select “Analytics & Measurement” for the product type, “Offline Conversion & Measurement” for the type, and “Other Conversion Workflows” for the subtype.

How long will it take after I upload my data before I can view attribution reporting in Snapchat?

It usually takes 1-3 days to get the data to Snapchat and then about 2-4 days for Snapchat to ingest the data. Please note that if you are sending delayed data to LiveRamp that goes beyond the time of the campaign, you won’t see results in Ads Manager immediately. Once you send data that covers the time period of the campaign, you can expect to see it in Ads Manager within 2-4 days.

Is this program available for international transaction data?

No, this program is currently only available for US transaction data.

In this section:

A category of identifiers where the identifiers consist of PII (personally identifiable information). PII identifiers are sometimes also referred to as "offline identifiers."

A type of conversion data that is calculated on a “per basket” (or “per transaction”) basis. So fields like “transaction amount” would reflect the transaction amount for the entire transaction, rather than the transaction amount for a specific item within a “basket” (as is done with “item-level data”).