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. When TikTok’s own pixel has already tracked an event, Triple Whale includes a deduplication key so TikTok can match and merge both sources into a unified, high-quality signal.
Configuring Sonar Optimize for TikTok
1. Review Your Triple Pixel Setup
Go to Sonar Settings > TikTok and click Save and Continue to begin. 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.
If you’re using a headless Triple Pixel setup, you can skip this step by selecting "I have an alternate pixel installation."
2. Create a New TikTok Pixel and Connect to Sonar
Click the button to create a 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.
If you have a headless Triple Pixel setup, and can ensure that you are sending the same event_ids to both the TikTok web pixel and the Triple Pixel, then you can proceed without setting up a separate pixel.
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.
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 Pinterest.
Attribution Metadata
You can also pass Triple Whale-attributed orders back to TikTok. This setting allows Triple Whale to send TikTok data on how Triple Whale attributes your orders to allow TikTok to better optimize towards your preferred attribution view in Triple Whale.
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
Meta Shop orders
Shop App orders
You can also choose to exclude certain conversion events from being sent to Pinterest 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.
Enable Sonar and Validate Your Setup
After configuration, click Save Configuration. Triple Whale automatically monitors your setup, but you can also check manually:
In Sonar Settings > TikTok > 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 by selecting your Sonar-enabled Pixel in the Optimization and Bidding configuration step when creating new campaigns.