How do you track Microsoft Ads purchases on a Shopify store?

By the HonestTag team · Published October 26, 2026

What UET does

Microsoft calls UET "a prerequisite for conversion tracking, remarketing in paid search, and automated bidding bid strategies" (Microsoft Learn). You create a UET tag in Microsoft Advertising and add it "to every page of your website" (Microsoft Learn).

The problem: the old Shopify setup stopped firing

Microsoft's own Shopify page for Smart campaigns still says to "Paste the tracking tag in Additional scripts" (Microsoft Learn). Shopify says "checkout.liquid and additional scripts were sunset for the Thank you and Order status pages on August 28, 2025" (shopify.dev). A purchase tag pasted in Additional scripts no longer runs on those pages.

The two ways to send purchases today

• UET in a custom pixel. Microsoft's Shopify steps now go through Customer events: "Select the Add custom pixel button," and Microsoft lists the purchase it sends as "Purchase (incl. Product ID, revenue, currency)." Microsoft adds that its code uses "the Shopify web pixel API which utilizes an iframe solution" (Microsoft Learn).
• The Microsoft Advertising app. The same page says that with the Microsoft Advertising app for Shopify, "UET tags are automatically created and added to every page of your website" (Microsoft Learn).
• An offline conversion upload. Microsoft says you can "upload a file once, create a schedule to upload a file regularly, or upload conversions through APIs" (Microsoft Learn). Microsoft says "All you need are the time, date, Microsoft Click ID, and conversion goal name to get started." The click ID "is only available on the landing page URL," so it has to be caught when the shopper lands. Microsoft adds that the MSCLKID "is optional when you provide a hashed email address or phone number for enhanced conversions" (Microsoft Learn).

Microsoft's rules for offline uploads

• Wait after a new goal. "After you create a new conversion goal, you must wait 2 hours before uploading conversions for that conversion goal" (Microsoft Learn).
• 90 days at most. "If a conversion is uploaded more than 90 days after the last click, it will not be imported" (Microsoft Learn). The API reference adds that the conversion time "must be set later than the date and time of the recorded click" (Microsoft Learn).
• An upload can show success and still not match. "Click IDs that are too old or not associated with your account will still appear as having been uploaded successfully because the format is valid" (Microsoft Learn).
• Allow time. "It can take up to six hours to view uploaded conversion data" (Microsoft Learn).
• Corrections. Restate "lets you update the revenue value associated with the conversion"; Retract "lets you delete the conversion from the conversion count, changing the conversion value to 0" (Microsoft Learn).
• Hashing is on you. For the email and phone used by enhanced conversions, "For offline conversions, both formatting and hashing the data is mandatory and you must do so manually," and "Microsoft will discard and delete any unmatched data" (Microsoft Learn).

Counting each purchase once

A store can end up with a UET purchase goal and an offline purchase goal for the same orders. Microsoft's shared event ID rule, for its Conversions API (CAPI), is for the case where "UET JavaScript and CAPI send the same conversion event" (Microsoft Learn), so do not count on it across two goals. The control you have is the goal's Include in "Conversions" box. Microsoft says: "If you clear the Include in 'Conversions' checkbox for a conversion goal, you can still track it using the 'All conversions' columns" (Microsoft Advertising Help). Keep it checked on one purchase goal.

Consent in Europe

Microsoft says that in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland it "is enforcing Consent Mode," which "will lead to conversion loss if the granted signal is not passed to UET when a user accepts consent," and that where it is enforced, "the default value is denied" (Microsoft Advertising Help). Offline uploads need consent too: "You must also obtain user consent for data collection as required by law and in accordance with applicable terms and Microsoft Advertising policies" (Microsoft Learn).

A setup checklist

1. Remove any UET purchase code left in Additional scripts or theme files.
2. Pick one browser route: the Microsoft Advertising app or a custom pixel, not both.
3. Check that your consent banner passes the granted signal to UET for visitors in the EEA, the UK and Switzerland.
4. If you add an offline upload, keep Include in "Conversions" on for one purchase goal only.
5. Compare Microsoft's purchases with your Shopify orders for the same days before you change bidding.

What HonestTag does

• The free Mirror plan sends no purchases or conversions to Microsoft. You can connect and HonestTag reads your spend and Microsoft's claimed conversions, so you see them beside the new customers whose first recorded ad click or ad-tagged link was Microsoft's, from your own orders. Microsoft's claims follow Microsoft's own rules and are not limited to new customers or first clicks.
• On a paid plan, eligible online store orders placed after you connect go to Microsoft as offline conversions through Microsoft's API. An order from a Microsoft ad goes on its click ID. Any other order goes only to goals with enhanced conversions on, matched on the buyer's email and phone, hashed with SHA-256. An order with no click ID, no email and no phone is not sent, and for EU, EEA, UK and Swiss orders a conversion with no visitor record is not sent.
• Four purchase goals, created on a paid plan: HonestTag_Purchase, HonestTag_Purchase_NC (new customers), HonestTag_Purchase_RC (returning) and HonestTag_Purchase_FCNC (new customers whose first recorded ad click or ad-tagged link was Microsoft's). The goals HonestTag creates have a 30-day conversion window and start with Include in "Conversions" off, so your bidding does not change unless you turn it on. HonestTag turns enhanced conversions on for them; if Microsoft refuses, the card asks you to turn it on once yourself.
• Refunds and cancellations. A full refund or a cancellation retracts the conversion and a partial refund restates it to the remaining value. An order sent without a click ID is adjusted on the same hashed email and phone, only when its delivery record shows it reached Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot match the adjustment if the email or phone changed in between.
• Limits stated plainly. Orders in the first two hours after a goal is created are held and sent once the wait is over, as Microsoft asks. Point of sale orders, subscription renewals and orders older than Microsoft's 90-day limit are not sent. HonestTag never touches your campaigns, budgets or UET tags.

Details are in Connect Microsoft Advertising.

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