Shopify has so many capabilities available to merchants. One capability you might have heard of, but don’t understand how it can benefit you? Server pixels. We at Fyresite have broken down everything you need to know about server pixels into one blog, so you don’t have to hunt down the answers yourself.

What Are Server Pixels?

To fully understand what server pixels are, we first have to look at what app pixels are. App pixels are scripts which are installed as part of a third-party app or sales channel. App owners create these pixels, and they are then set up in strict, isolated environments called a sandbox in your store. A sandbox uses Shopify controlled APIs to collect or retrieve data. This reduces the overall impact of the app on the performance, security, and privacy on your website. When you add an app that uses app pixels, it is up to you to make sure that you know what information these pixels are collecting.

Server Pixels are one of the main ways to transfer app pixel data. Server Pixels transfer customer events through a server to the app owner. Customer events are actions that are taken by your customers that can help you understand how customers are interacting with your business. Certain app owners have the ability to access the server pixels, so you can check with the app owner to see if they have permission to view them.

You can also pair server pixels with web pixels. Instead of transferring app pixel data via a server like server pixels, web pixels transfer customer events using a browser. Using both server pixels and web pixels is the optimal way to ensure that the most customer events from the app pixels reach their destination.

Who Can Use Server Pixels?

Server pixels are available to any merchant that sells on Shopify. There are many tiers to Shopify. To see when and why we recommend Shopify Plus, read this blog.

What Can You Do With Server Pixels?

First, we need to look at why pixels are helpful in the first place. Tracking customer event data allows you to track important customer data and see how they’re interacting with your shop. With this information, you can customize your marketing strategy and automations to be their most impactful. Previously, to track customer events merchants had to add custom JavaScript snippets to places in their store in the places they wanted to track customer events, such as checkout. This was time consuming, difficult to manage, and often meant working with scripts that were not quality controlled.

One of the benefits of using server pixels is that you can increase the amount of customer events, such as checkout events, that are transferred to app owners through a server instead of an intermediary, such as a web browser.

Server pixels are also helpful because they increase the number of events that have attached identification from your store. This includes important information such as email addresses.

Since any pixels added to your store can potentially slow it down, we recommend partnering with a Shopify partner such as Fyresite to make sure you keep your site optimized.

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