Google Tag Manager & Meta Pixel

What are Tracking Pixels?

A pixel refers to a “tag”: it is a piece of HTML code that will get inserted in the page and allow to track specific actions performed by users on Shotgun website (not app). This information is then sent to external services (Meta Ads manager, Google Analytics…)

Organizer pixels are present on your organizer page and all your events pages. They are initialized on mouse move or touch event or after 9 seconds of the initial page load.

We support 2 types of pixels:

• Google Tag Manager (”GTM”)
• Meta Pixel (Facebook & Instagram)

1 - Google Tag Manager

How does it work?

GTM tags are “containers”, which means they are just empty frameworks from where marketers can setup actual tags directly from tagmanager.google.com

They are especially useful to track traffic on Shotgun (which pages are users visiting? when?) using Google Analytics, and to run ads campaigns on Google Ads (retargeting)

Events (actions)

There are standard GTM triggers like “History change” (i.e. navigation) but also some custom events that we implemented:

• addToCart triggered when adding a ticket with the (+) button
• removeFromCart triggered when removing a ticket with the (-) button
• purchase triggered when the cart is validated and the user enters the checkout flow
• order.confirmation triggered on the confirmation page

Properties (variables)

The events come with variables added that can be used to replace placeholders in tags. addToCart and removeFromCart have the following variables (all strings):

• event_name
• ticket_id (deal ID)
• ticket_name (deal title)
• ticket_price (deal price)

purchase and order.confirmation have the following variables:

• event_name
• order_id
• order_amount

How to setup?

1. First, you will need to create a GTM from the Google Tag Manager console (more information here)
2. From the Google Tag Manager, invite notifications@shotgun.live as a user on the GTM. In order for the Shotgun tech team to review it and make sure nobody adds malicious HTML snippet in the website.
3. It will automatically trigger a message on our side. Our support team will review it, and implement your GTM on all your account

   

4. Once installed by our support team, we will let you know. From there, you can double check it works properly by using the Google Tag Assistant

2 - Meta Pixel

How does it work?

Meta pixels are created and setup directly from the Meta Business Console, they are owned by a Meta Account, linked to a facebook/instagram page.

They are often used to run ads campaigns: to target users that visited an event page but didn’t bought a ticket (retargeting), and to track the number of sales generated

Properties

How to setup?

1. First, you need to create a Pixel from the Meta Console (more informations here)
2. Then, simply copy and paste the Pixel ID in the Smartboard (under Settings > Pixels Tracking)
   
3. Once installed, you can test it works properly using the Meta Pixel Helper extension on Chrome
   You should see see several pixels loaded: Shotguns pixels and your pixel. Check which is which using the Pixel ID.
   ⚠️ Make sure your adblocker is disabled

How to use the Conversion API?

Conversion API is a server-to-server tracking, which gives the following advantages:

• Reconciliate and consolidate client-side tracking with additional data
• Bypass AdBlockers

This means that every action (PageView, AddToCart…) can be tracked both by Meta Pixel (browser) and Conversion API (server) for more accuracy; duplicated events are then reconciliated by Meta.

In order to use the Conversion API, do the following:

1. First, complete your Meta Pixel setup (see above)
2. Then share your access token following these steps: How To Share Access Token
3. Copy and Paste this Access token to the Shotgun Support team using this form

❓ FAQ

• Does it work on app?
  No, pixel is a web technology and thus only works on the website (and widget)
  
  
• Does it work with adBlockers?
  AdBlockers usually prevent Web trackers from loading (GTM & Meta Pixels), but can be bypassed by API Conversion (see above)
  
  
• Is it possible to add a Snapchat pixel or a Tiktok pixel?
  No, but you can encapsulate them in a GTM. Here is a tutorial for Snapchat. And here is a tutorial for TikTok