Getting Started with Attribution.ai

Welcome to Attribution.ai, the trusted measurement platform for DTC brands. This guide walks you through every step of onboarding -- from creating your account to understanding your first dashboard reports.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have the following:

A Shopify store on any plan that supports checkout extensibility (Basic Shopify or higher)
Admin access to your Shopify store
At least one active ad platform account (Facebook, Google, TikTok, Amazon, Snapchat, or Klaviyo)
A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge)

Step 1: Create Your Account and Connect Shopify

Visit attribution.ai and click Start Free Trial. All plans include a 14-day free trial with full access. A credit card is required to start the trial, but you are not charged until it ends.
You will be prompted to connect your Shopify store. Click Connect Shopify to begin the OAuth authorization flow.
Log in to your Shopify admin if prompted, then review and approve the permissions Attribution.ai requests. These include read access to your orders, customers, and product data.
After authorization, you will be redirected back to Attribution.ai and your store data will begin syncing. The initial sync imports your recent order history so you have data to work with immediately.

If you manage multiple Shopify stores, you can connect additional stores later from Settings > Stores. All plans include unlimited store connections.

Step 2: Install the Tracking Pixel

The Attribution.ai pixel is a lightweight JavaScript snippet (under 5KB gzipped) that captures visitor sessions, UTM parameters, referral sources, and ad platform click IDs on every page of your store.

Automatic Installation (Recommended)

In your Attribution.ai dashboard, navigate to Settings > Pixel Setup.
Click Install Pixel Automatically.
The app injects the pixel into your Shopify store via the ScriptTag API. No code editing is required.

Manual Installation

If you prefer manual control or use a headless Shopify storefront:

Go to Settings > Pixel Setup and click Copy Pixel Code.
In your Shopify admin, navigate to Online Store > Themes > Edit Code.
Open your theme.liquid file and paste the pixel snippet just before the closing </head> tag.
Save the file.

Verifying the Pixel

After installation, open your store in an incognito or private browser window and navigate through a few pages. Within 60 seconds, you should see page view events appearing in the Events tab of your Attribution.ai dashboard. If events do not appear, consult the pixel troubleshooting guide.

Step 3: Set Up the Post-Purchase Survey

Post-purchase surveys capture self-reported attribution data directly from customers on the checkout thank-you page. This is especially valuable for channels that pixel tracking cannot detect, such as word-of-mouth, podcast mentions, and organic social content.

In your dashboard, go to Settings > Surveys.
Click Install Survey Extension.
Follow the prompts to enable the Attribution.ai checkout UI extension in your Shopify admin under Settings > Checkout > Post-purchase extensions.
Once enabled, the survey automatically appears on your order confirmation page.

Attribution.ai uses two survey flows optimized for different customer types:

Flow A (First-time customers): Three questions covering how the customer first heard about your store, what motivated their purchase, and how long they had known about your brand before buying.
Flow B (Returning customers): A single question asking what prompted their return purchase (email, SMS, social media, reorder, discount, etc.).

This dual-flow approach keeps surveys short and relevant, resulting in completion rates typically between 30% and 60%.

Step 4: Connect Your First Ad Platform

Linking your advertising accounts allows Attribution.ai to pull spend data and match it against conversions for accurate ROAS calculations.

Navigate to Settings > Integrations.
Find the ad platform you want to connect and click Connect.
Complete the OAuth authorization flow for that platform.
Select the specific ad account(s) you want to sync.

Attribution.ai supports the following platforms:

Platform	Click ID	Data Synced
Facebook / Meta Ads	fbclid	Spend, impressions, clicks, campaign structure
Google Ads	gclid	Spend, clicks, impressions, search terms, keywords
TikTok Ads	ttclid	Spend, clicks, impressions, campaign metadata
Amazon Ads	--	Spend, impressions, clicks, campaign performance
Snapchat Ads	ScCid	Spend, impressions, clicks, campaign data
Klaviyo	--	Email/SMS campaign performance, revenue attribution

All plans include unlimited integrations. Ad platform data syncs every six hours automatically, and the initial connection imports up to 90 days of historical data (60 days for TikTok). You can trigger a manual sync at any time from the Integrations page.

Step 5: Wait for Data Collection

Attribution.ai needs time to collect enough data for meaningful insights:

Day 1-3: Data collection begins. You will see raw events populating in the Events tab, and initial order-to-channel matching starts.
Week 1: Attribution models produce reliable channel-level breakdowns. You can start comparing models and reviewing channel performance.
Week 2+: AI-powered insights and trend analysis become available as the system accumulates sufficient historical data. Media Mix Modeling (MMM) reports begin generating once baseline data is sufficient. MMM runs are token-gated (not frequency-gated), so you can run analyses as needed.

Step 6: Explore Your Dashboard

Once data starts flowing, your dashboard provides several views to explore:

Overview: A high-level summary of your attribution metrics including total attributed revenue, top channels, ROAS trends, and recent orders.
Attribution: A detailed breakdown of all channels with attributed revenue, order count, ROAS, AOV, and CPA. Use the model selector to switch between attribution models.
Channels: Individual channel deep-dives with campaign-level performance data.
Surveys: Survey response analytics showing completion rates, channel distribution, and comparison with pixel-based attribution.
Events: A raw feed of all tracked events (page views, clicks, conversions) for debugging and verification.
MCP / AI Access: Connect Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini to query your data in natural language via Connect Your AI (/dashboard/connect-ai).

Step 7: Invite Your Team

Attribution.ai supports multi-user access with role-based permissions. Navigate to Settings > Team to invite team members. Available roles are Owner, Admin, Manager, Analyst, and Viewer, each with different permission levels. See the team management guide for details on what each role can do.

Choosing the Right Plan

Attribution.ai offers a single, all-inclusive plan:

$399/month + $0.05 per order (flat rate — annual subscribers get 20% off everything)

Annual billing is available at $319.20/month (billed annually) with orders at $0.04/order.

Everything is included from day one:

Unlimited connected stores (including Shopify)
Unlimited integrations (Facebook, Google, TikTok, Amazon, Snapchat, Klaviyo)
All attribution models (last-click, first-click, linear, time-decay, position-based, Markov chain, Shapley)
Media mix modeling (unlimited runs)
Incrementality testing
Post-purchase surveys
Pixel tracking
AI-powered insights
MCP API access (connect Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini)
5M AI tokens included per month (overage at $10/1M tokens)
14-day free trial with full access (credit card required to start)

Common Setup Questions

How long does the initial Shopify sync take? The initial order import typically completes within a few minutes for most stores. Very large stores (100K+ orders) may take up to 30 minutes.

Can I install the pixel and survey at the same time? Yes. The pixel and survey are independent components. You can install both during your initial setup or add the survey later.

What if I do not have any ad platforms connected yet? Attribution.ai will still track organic traffic, direct visits, referral sources, and survey responses. However, you will not see ad spend or ROAS data until you connect at least one ad platform.

Do I need to change my ad URLs? No. Attribution.ai reads the existing click IDs (gclid, fbclid, ttclid) and UTM parameters that your ad platforms already append to URLs. No changes to your ad setup are required.

Need Help?

If you encounter any issues during setup, check our troubleshooting guides for pixel issues, sync problems, and integration setup. You can also reach out to support through the Help section in your dashboard. Email support is included on all plans, and enhanced support coverage is available for high-volume teams.