Overview
With Sonar Optimize, Triple Whale integrates directly with TikTok to send enriched, first-party data from your website and ecommerce platform. Running Sonar Optimize gives TikTok a more complete view of your customer journeys—leading to improved signal quality, more accurate reporting, better campaign targeting, and higher performance.
How Sonar Optimize Works
The Triple Pixel tracks all your website interactions and conversions, using advanced identity resolution to recognize returning visitors. Sonar Optimize takes each of those events—whether it’s a page view, product interaction, or purchase—and enriches it with additional first-party data from platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce [Beta], and WooCommerce [Beta].
That enriched data is then sent back to TikTok through their Events API, giving TikTok a deeper, server-side understanding of what’s happening on your site.
Configuring Sonar Optimize for TikTok
Head to Sonar settings > TikTok (Data > Sonar Enrichment > Integrations > TikTok > Connect). Click Save and Continue to begin the self-setup.
1. Connect Dataset & Create a New TikTok Pixel
Connect Dataset
Select the TikTok Dataset you’d like to connect to receive Sonar Optimize enrichment.
If you are not seeing your dataset and you previously connected to TikTok, you may need to disconnect and reconnect in order to grant the additional permissions needed for Sonar Optimize.
Create a New TikTok Pixel
Click the button to Create New TikTok Pixel.
Give the pixel a name (it is recommended you add 'TW' or 'Triple Whale' to help you identify your new pixel in the TikTok event manager.
Ensure your newly created pixel is selected in the dropdown
Select the TikTok Pixel you want to enrich. If you’ve already created a new pixel and don't see it in the list, you may need to refresh the page or disconnect and reconnect TikTok.
Why Do I Need to Create a New Pixel?
TikTok leverages the event_id sent by its client pixel to deduplicate events sent through the Events API. Since Triple Whale does not manage your client pixel, connecting Sonar to your existing pixel could cause duplication of client events.
By creating a new pixel, you can ensure that Sonar does not interfere with any existing event capture on your site, and will allow you to test your new Sonar pixel side-by-side with your existing setup.
Keep in mind, you do not need to implement this new pixel on the client-side. All Sonar events will be sent via a server-to-server connection with TikTok.
Pixel Importance: TikTok uses the event_id from client pixels to deduplicate events. Using an existing Pixel for event reporting may cause deduplication issues and result in conversion duplication. Creating a new Pixel ensures Sonar does not interfere with existing event capture and avoids deduplication problems.
Safety of New Pixel: Creating a new Pixel and enabling Sonar will not affect running campaigns, which will continue using the existing Pixel for conversion tracking. The new Pixel is only for TripleWhale attribution and does not impact existing Pixel settings or ad performance.
2. Review Your Triple Pixel Setup
Ensure you have correctly installed the Triple Pixel the following components in your Shopify Theme:
Theme App Embed
Web Pixel Extension*
The Web Pixel Extension is required to track checkout events like Initiate Checkout and Add Payment Info for Shopify sites.
Once enabled, click Save & Continue.
For more information on enabling the Triple Pixel, follow this link.
If you’re using a headless Triple Pixel setup, you can skip this step and follow these instructions.
3. Send Enriched Events to TikTok
Sonar supports sending two types of data to TikTok.
Standard Conversions
Standard conversions are the same conversions you already capture with your TikTok pixel and can be used as standard campaign objectives. Select which standard conversion events you’d like Triple Whale to send to TikTok. For optimal results, we recommend sending all relevant conversion types back to TikTok.
Attribution Metadata (Recommended)
This adds Triple Whale's attribution layer on top of those conversions. Instead of relying on TikTok's self-attributed optimization, the events include Triple Whale's determination of credit assignment. Once available, this will help TikTok's algorithm optimize toward conversions that Triple Whale attributes to TikTok, a feature currently in progress. Enable attribution metadata now to start sending Triple Whale attribution data to TikTok, so you're ready for improved ad optimization as soon as TikTok begins leveraging this data.
Configure Attribution Settings
Select your preferred settings for how events are tracked and attributed:
Product Identifier – Choose whether to send Product ID or Product Variant ID with your events. In most cases, Product ID is recommended.
Attribution Model – Select the Triple Whale attribution model you use for making campaign decisions.
Time Window – Select the attribution window that aligns with how you evaluate campaign performance.
Once configured, enable the Attribution Metadata toggle to begin sending Triple Whale attribution data with your events.
Configure Exclusions
By default, any order processed by your store will be sent to TikTok to be used to measure and optimize your campaigns. However, there are certain types of orders that you may want to exclude, including orders placed through third party marketplaces, or offline orders that wouldn't typically include a web journey.
By default, Triple Whale excludes certain sales channels (typically channels that don’t have a Triple Pixel tracked customer journey) from the conversion events it transmits, such as:
Draft orders
Point of Sale (PoS) orders
Returns
TikTok Shop orders
Shop App orders
You can also choose to exclude certain conversion events from being sent to TikTok based on order tags and/or custom sales channels.
If you have other order sources that wouldn't typically include an attributable ad touchpoint, it is recommended you exclude them using a source or tag exclusion.
To exclude a custom sales channel:
Provide the channel name and the channel code.
If you’re unsure about your channel code, reach out to Triple Whale support.
Click Done once complete.
Validate Your Setup
In Triplewhale, Data > Sonar Enrichment > TikTok > View > Delivery Overview, you can monitor how many enriched events Triple Whale is sending to TikTok by event type and date. This view helps confirm that TikTok is receiving enriched, high-quality data from your site.
In your TikTok Ads Account, go to Events Manager > Data Sources, and find your connected TikTok Pixel. Ensure that you see events in your dashboard.
Once you see data flowing, you are now set up with Sonar for TikTok!
It may take up to 6 hours before you see events in your TikTok Event Manager after first connecting Sonar.
Using Your Sonar-Enabled Pixel for Campaign Optimization and Bidding
Before connecting any campaigns to your new pixel, it is a good idea to collect data for up to two weeks.
Once you are ready, you can leverage your new Sonar-enriched pixel data for your conversion campaigns by selecting your Sonar-enabled Pixel during the new campaign creation process.