Creating and managing Shop Campaigns with Campaign Autopilot

You can use Campaign Autopilot to create and manage Shop Campaigns for customer acquisition on the Shop app and website.

When Autopilot recommends a Shop Campaigns tactic, you can review the audience, budget, offer, and schedule in Growth > Autopilot before anything goes live.

After you approve a tactic, Autopilot creates and launches the live campaign on the Shop channel. You review and approve each Shop Campaigns tactic before it runs.

Requirements for Autopilot Shop Campaigns

Store-wide rules for plans, Shopify Payments, Marketing staff permission, billing, and data use are on Requirements and considerations for using Campaign Autopilot. For Shop Campaigns tactics, verify these additional items:

Your store meets Shop Campaigns eligibility (regions and channel requirements).
Autopilot is set up with Shop Campaigns connected in Growth > Autopilot.

Considerations for creating Shop Campaigns with Autopilot

Review the following considerations before you approve tactics and manage campaigns:

You can edit the tactic name, daily budget, and end date before approving.
You can't change the audience. Autopilot selects the segment and objective based on your store data and the tactic goal.
If a recommendation doesn't fit, dismiss the tactic or tighten guardrails.
Approved Autopilot campaigns appear alongside your manual campaigns in the Shop channel, with an Autopilot label.
Autopilot only manages the campaigns it creates from approved tactics. Manual campaigns you configure yourself aren't modified.

Shop Campaigns tactics in Autopilot

Autopilot proposes Shop Campaigns tactics as part of your growth strategy. Each recommendation targets new or lapsed customers on the Shop app and website.

When you open a pending tactic, the preview includes the following information:

Target audience: A segment that Autopilot selects, such as new or lapsed, per campaign objectives.
Budget: Acquisition cost and daily budget within your guardrails and spending limits.
Offer details: Special pricing or Shop Cash. Learn more about Ads on Shop.

Shop Cash rewards in Autopilot campaigns

Shop Campaigns offers can include Shop Cash so customers earn rewards on purchases through your campaign. Manual and Autopilot-created campaigns use the same offer behavior. Refer to Understanding Shop Campaigns and Paying for Shop Campaigns.

Campaign duration and lifecycle

Each tactic includes schedule details, such as a start time and an optional end date, that you need to confirm before you approve it.

After you approve a tactic, the live campaign follows the standard Shop Campaigns lifecycle from the Shop channel until the schedule ends or you end it manually. For details about the campaign lifecycle, refer to Understanding Shop Campaigns. For Autopilot tactic states and refreshed recommendations, refer to Managing Campaign Autopilot tactics and campaigns.

Review Autopilot Shop Campaigns tactics

Before Autopilot creates a Shop Campaign, review the details and decide whether to approve or dismiss the tactic.

Steps:

From your Shopify admin, go to Growth > Autopilot.
In the Pending actions section, click the Shop Campaigns tactic that you want to review.
Review the campaign details, including the target audience, budget, offer, and schedule.
Approve or dismiss a campaign:
- To approve the campaign, click Approve. Autopilot creates and launches the campaign.
- To dismiss the campaign, click Dismiss. The tactic is removed from your pending actions.

After a campaign is live, manage budgets, end dates, pause, and end from the Shop channel. Refer to Creating and managing Shop Campaigns.

Monitor Autopilot Shop Campaigns performance

Track performance from Growth > Autopilot in your Shopify admin. You can review these metrics:

Customer acquisition cost: The cost per new customer acquired through the campaign.
Orders: The number of orders attributed to the campaign.
Sales: The revenue generated from the campaign.

For detailed analytics, use your Shop Campaigns dashboard and View Shop Campaigns metrics.

Troubleshooting Autopilot Shop Campaigns

If a Shop Campaigns tactic or live campaign doesn't behave as you expect, then start with these checks:

Campaign not appearing in Shop app

Check these possible causes:

The tactic is approved, the campaign is active in the Shop channel, and pending tactics aren't displayed to customers until you approve.
Eligibility and regions: Confirm Shop Campaigns eligibility and country targets match your test.
Learning and delivery: Ramping can take time. Review Understanding Shop Campaigns.
Channel and guardrails: Confirm Shop Campaigns is connected as a channel in Growth > Autopilot. Review guardrails.

Tactic stuck in pending or not creating a campaign