Shopify App Pixel Consent

Setup

In contrast with setting up consent categories in Google Tag Manager, our Consent Management Platform (CMP) automatically communicates with your Shopify storefront to convey a consumer's consent signals to Shopify. These consent signals flow down to any installed Shopify App Pixels and Custom Pixels.

According to the Shopify documentation, these consent signals control whether App Pixels are allowed to load, depending on how the App developer has classified their application. The App developer controls which consent signals are required for their Pixel.

Testing

In our experience with Shopify App Pixels, the most reliable way to determine if they are following consumer consent signals is to use the Shopify Pixel Helper (instead of using an external tool like the Tag Explorer browser extension).

We've noticed that Shopify "sandboxes" App Pixels on the storefront: they will seemingly load (e.g., be shown on the network tab or in a 3rd party inspection tool), but their data-gathering will be suppressed, until consent is given.

You can access the Pixel Helper by using the "Test" option for any of your App Pixels from the Shopify "Consumer events" settings, as shown in the video below or by following these steps:

  • From your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Customer events
  • Click the custom pixel that you want to test.
  • Click Test to open the custom pixel on your website for testing.
  • Depending on your store's consent settings and the custom pixel's customer privacy settings, the Pixel helper dialog might display Pixel is awaiting consent. Do either of the following to continue testing:
    • Accept tracking on your store's cookie banner or preferences.
    • Click Accept All on the banner to give consent. Some pixels may require the page to be reloaded before they show as "Loaded."
    • If your pixel still doesn't load, then review your customer privacy settings.

If the appropriate consent is not given, the Pixel should indicate "Waiting to load." Once a consumer has updated their consent settings, the Pixel should indicate "Loaded."

App Embeds

Shopify App Embeds work similarly to the Shopify Pixels but there is no way to verify that they are respecting consent through the Shopify platform or ours. If you look at the "Customer Events" page in your Shopify store then click the [...] to the right of one of the App Embeds you will notice that "Test" is greyed out.

However they do have a "View customer privacy" link which you can click to see the permissions that the app developer has indicated are required for the App Embed to run. This takes you to a modal which shows you the permissions for the App Embed

You should review each of your App Embeds and confirm the permissions in customer privacy align with how you expect them to require consent.