Migration guide from Elevar to Aimerce. Prevent double counting, maintain attribution, and improve tracking accuracy on Shopify.
Switching tracking systems on Shopify isn't just about installing a new app. It's about managing signal continuity. The biggest migration risks are double counting, event mismatches, and identity gaps that can disrupt your marketing performance for weeks.
In this article, we’ll walk you through a practical, step-by-step process to move from Elevar to Aimerce while keeping your attribution tracking, ecommerce conversion tracking, and reporting intact. You'll learn how to audit your existing setup, prevent duplicate purchase events, and validate that your server-side tracking Shopify implementation is working correctly.
Whether you're migrating to improve your attribution tracking, reduce costs, or leverage better bot filtering and identity resolution, following this checklist will help you avoid the most common pitfalls.
Understanding the Migration Risks
Before you touch any code or install anything new, you need to understand what can go wrong.
1. Double Counting
This is the number one migration failure. It happens when both your old Elevar setup and new Aimerce installation send the same purchase event to Meta Conversion API, Shopify, Google Ads, or Klaviyo server-side tracking setup. Your ad platforms count it twice, inflating your ROAS and breaking your bidding algorithms.
2. Event Mismatches
Your email flows and ad campaigns expect specific ecommerce events with specific parameters. If the event names change or required fields are missing, your abandoned cart flows might stop triggering, or your Meta campaigns might stop optimizing properly.
3. Identity Gaps
When events don't tie back to a customer profile consistently, you lose the ability to build audiences, track customer journeys, and measure lifetime value. This breaks your klaviyo conversion tracking and weakens your retargeting.
Pre-Migration Audit (Document Everything First)
Create a migration spreadsheet with these columns:
- Event name (Page View, View Content, Add to Cart, Initiate Checkout, Purchase)
- Source (theme code, checkout scripts, tag manager, app)
- Destinations (Meta, Google Ads, GA4, Klaviyo)
- Deduplication method (event ID, order ID, or none)
- Key parameters (currency, value, items, email, phone)
What to Inventory
- Pixels and Tags
- Check your theme.liquid file for pixel snippets
- Review all Google Tag Manager containers (web and server-side if applicable)
- List any app-injected scripts in your Shopify admin
- Server-Side Endpoints
If you're using Elevar's server side tracking Shopify setup, document:
- Which events are being forwarded server-side
- What deduplication IDs are used
- Which destinations receive server-side events
- Checkout and Post-Purchase
- Confirm what fires on checkout completion
- Check order status page scripts
- Note any post-purchase upsell tracking
- Email Automations
Document which flows depend on tracking events:
- Abandoned cart
- Browse abandonment
- Post-purchase flows
- Win-back campaigns
This audit is tedious but critical. It's the difference between a clean migration and weeks of troubleshooting broken tracking.
Comparison Table: Elevar vs Aimerce Migration Approaches
| Aspect | Elevar Setup | Aimerce Setup | Migration Consideration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Installation | Manual GTM container setup, Google Cloud provisioning, DNS configuration | One-click Shopify app install | Aimerce simplifies initial setup significantly |
| Server-Side Infrastructure | Self-managed Google Cloud server, requires technical maintenance | Fully managed infrastructure | No server maintenance needed with Aimerce |
| Bot Filtering | Basic filtering through GTM settings | Advanced AI-powered bot filtering built-in | Improved data quality with Aimerce |
| Identity Resolution | Manual configuration in GTM | Automatic first-party data enrichment | Better tracking and attribution tracking continuity |
| Deduplication | Manual event_id implementation required | Built-in deduplication across all destinations | Reduces double counting risk |
| Setup Time | 2-4 hours for technical users | 15 minutes | Faster deployment |
| Supported Destinations | Manual tag setup for each channel | Pre-built integrations for Meta, Google, Klaviyo, TikTok | Streamlined multi-channel tracking |
| Maintenance | Ongoing monitoring and updates required | Zero maintenance | Reduces operational burden |
Choosing Your Cutover Strategy
You have two main options for the actual migration.
Option A: Parallel Run (Safer, More Complex)
Run both Aimerce and your legacy Elevar tracking simultaneously, but disable purchase events from one side to prevent duplicates.
Pros:
- Easier to compare event volume and parameters
- Lower risk if something breaks
- More time to validate
Cons:
- Higher risk of accidental double counting
- More moving parts to manage
- Requires careful coordination
Option B: Hard Switch (Simpler, Higher Stakes)
Turn off Elevar tracking completely, then enable Aimerce.
Pros:
- Cleaner cutover
- Lower duplication risk
- Easier to troubleshoot
Cons:
- If misconfigured, you lose signal immediately
- Less room for comparison
- Higher pressure to get it right
Practical recommendation: If you can confidently identify and disable all legacy purchase tracking sources, a hard switch is cleaner. If you're unsure where all your purchase events originate, do a short parallel run with strict dedupe controls.
Step-by-Step Aimerce Installing
1. Install the Aimerce App
Go to the Shopify App Store and install Aimerce. The setup takes approximately 15 minutes, compared to the 2-4 hours typically required for manual server side tagging Shopify implementations.
2. Connect Your Destinations
Work through the Aimerce onboarding flow and connect:
- Meta Conversion API Shopify
- Google Ads (including offline conversions API if needed)
- GA4
- Klaviyo server side tracking setup
- Any other platforms you use
As you configure each destination, reference your audit document to ensure:
- The same ecommerce events are captured (minimum: page view, add to cart, checkout started, purchase)
- Identity fields match (email, phone, customer ID)
- Currency and value parameters are formatted correctly
3. Configure Event Parameters
Aimerce automatically enriches events with first-party data, but verify that critical parameters are included:
- Purchase events: order ID, revenue, currency, tax, shipping, items array
- Cart events: cart value, item details, SKUs
- Identity data: email, phone (hashed for privacy compliance)
4. Set Up Bot Filtering
One advantage of migrating to Aimerce is the built-in bot filtering. Unlike Elevar, where you need to manually configure filters, Aimerce automatically:
- Identifies and blocks bot traffic
- Filters out invalid events
- Improves your ecommerce conversion tracking accuracy
This improves your Meta Event Match Quality (EMQ) scores and reduces wasted ad spend on fake traffic.
Preventing Double Counting: The Critical Step
Double counting destroys attribution. Here's how to prevent it.
Identify All Purchase Sources
Using your audit document, list every place a purchase event can fire:
- Theme snippets (manual pixel code)
- GTM purchase tags
- Checkout/order status scripts
- Elevar's server-side forwarding
- Third-party apps (review integrations)
The Clean Migration Rule
For each destination, ensure only ONE purchase source is active:
Either legacy Elevar sends purchase
Or Aimerce sends purchase
Not both
Managing Deduplication
If you absolutely must run both systems temporarily (during a parallel run), confirm:
- Both systems use the same deduplication key (typically order ID or event ID)
- The key is consistently formatted across both systems
- Your ad platforms are configured to deduplicate based on this key
For Meta Conversion API Shopify, the event_id parameter handles deduplication. For Klaviyo conversion tracking, the order ID serves this purpose.
If you cannot confirm proper deduplication, do not run both systems simultaneously.
Safe Deactivation of Legacy Elevar Tracking
Don't just uninstall Elevar and hope for the best. Use a phased approach.
Phase 1: Disable Purchase Events First
This immediately reduces damage if duplicates were happening.
Where to look:
- GTM purchase tags (disable or delete)
- Elevar's server-side purchase forwarding (turn off in Elevar dashboard)
- Theme snippets that fire on order confirmation
Phase 2: Disable Checkout Completion Scripts
Check:
- Shopify Settings > Checkout > Additional Scripts
- Order status page scripts
- Post-purchase page tracking
These are frequent sources of "mystery purchases" that inflate your numbers.
Phase 3: Disable GTM Conversion Tags
If you were using GTM with Elevar, disable tags triggered on:
- Order confirmation
- Purchase events
- Transaction completion
Phase 4: Remove Theme Snippets Last
Theme code is easier to verify visually but harder to trace if multiple snippets exist.
Search your theme.liquid for:
- Facebook pixel code
- Google Ads conversion tracking
- Any manual event tracking scripts
Comment out or remove these sections.
Best Practice
Make one change, validate (see next section), then make the next change. Don't rip everything out at once.
Final Validation: Confirming Your Migration Worked
Validation isn't just "did the pixel fire." You need to check four things:
1. Event Coverage
Are all required ecommerce events arriving at each destination?
- Page views
- Product views
- Add to cart
- Checkout initiated
- Purchase
2. Event Quality
Do events include all necessary parameters?
- Value and currency
- Item arrays (SKU, quantity, price)
- Order details (order ID, customer ID)
- Identity data (email, phone when available)
3. Identity Continuity
Are events properly tied to customer profiles?
- Check that returning customers are recognized
- Verify email matching is working for Klaviyo conversion tracking
- Confirm Meta Event Match Quality scores haven't dropped
4. Deduplication Accuracy
Are purchases counted exactly once per order?
Compare:
- Shopify order count vs. reported purchases in each platform
- Revenue totals (accounting for differences in tax/shipping handling)
A Simple 30-Minute Test Plan
Run these actions in both an incognito window and a logged-in window:
- View a product page
- Add item to cart
- Start checkout
- Complete a test purchase (use a low-cost product or Shopify's test orders feature)
Record what you observe:
- Did each step create exactly one corresponding event?
- Does the purchase event include correct order value and currency?
- Do item arrays look reasonable (SKU/variant ID, quantity, price)?
- Is the customer email captured and sent properly?
What "Good" Looks Like
- Purchase events match Shopify order totals (note: tax/shipping handling may differ by configuration)
- Checkout-started events are consistent with historical patterns
- No sudden drop in events that trigger email flows
- Meta EMQ scores remain stable or improve
- Klaviyo audience sizes don't suddenly drop
Post-Migration Monitoring (First 7-14 Days)
After cutover, don't obsess over single-day fluctuations. Watch for trends.
Daily Checks
Purchase tracking:
- Event count vs. Shopify order count
- Revenue totals (should match within expected variance)
- Any sudden spikes or drops
Behavioral events:
- Add-to-cart volume (should be directionally consistent)
- Checkout-started events
- Page view patterns
Platform-specific:
- Meta EMQ scores
- Google Ads conversion counts
- Klaviyo profile updates
Weekly Checks
Ad platforms:
- Are campaigns still optimizing properly?
- Any sudden ROAS changes?
- Audience sizes building normally?
Email marketing:
- Abandoned cart flows triggering correctly?
- Browse abandonment working?
- Profile enrichment happening?
Attribution tracking:
- Customer journey data intact?
- Multi-touch attribution still functioning?
- Conversion paths making sense?
Migration Stabilization Tip
Avoid making major campaign changes during the first 3-5 days. Let the server side tracking Shopify setup stabilize before optimizing. Ad algorithms need time to adjust to new signal patterns.
Troubleshooting Common Migration Issues
Conversions Doubled Overnight
Likely cause: Purchase firing from both browser and server.
What to do:
- Check if Elevar is still forwarding purchases
- Verify only one purchase tag is active in GTM
- Confirm Aimerce deduplication is working
- Disable the duplicate source immediately
Revenue Numbers Are Off
Likely causes:
- Value includes/excludes shipping or tax differently
- Discount handling changed
- Multi-currency formatting differences
What to do:
- Compare a single order's numbers across Shopify, Meta, and GA4
- Standardize what "value" represents
- Document the difference for reporting purposes
- Adjust as needed in Aimerce settings
Abandoned Cart Flow Stopped Triggering
Likely cause: The event name or structure changed.
What to do:
- Check Klaviyo Activity Feed to see if events are arriving
- Verify the flow trigger matches the event name Aimerce sends
- Confirm required cart/product fields are present
- Test with a real cart abandonment
Meta Event Match Quality Dropped
Likely causes:
- Email hashing format changed
- Phone number format inconsistent
- Missing user data parameters
What to do:
- Check that Aimerce is capturing and sending email/phone
- Verify hashing is SHA-256 (Aimerce handles this automatically)
- Ensure external_id is being passed when available
- Give it 48-72 hours to stabilize (Meta needs time to process)
Google Ads Conversions Not Showing
Likely causes:
- Conversion action not properly linked
- Gclid not being captured
- Conversion value formatting issue
What to do:
- Verify the conversion action ID is correct in Aimerce
- Check that gclid is being captured in the URL
- Test with a new test conversion
- Confirm Google Ads conversion tracking tag is working in Tag Assistant
Your Step-by-Step Migration Action Plan
Use this checklist to track your migration progress:
Pre-Migration
- Document all existing tracking (pixels, tags, scripts, apps)
- Identify all purchase event sources
- List all destinations receiving events
- Note deduplication methods currently used
- Document email flows that depend on events
- Choose cutover strategy (parallel run or hard switch)
Installation
- Install Aimerce from Shopify App Store
- Connect Meta Conversion API Shopify
- Connect Google Ads (including offline conversions API)
- Connect GA4
- Set up klaviyo server side tracking setup
- Configure any additional destinations
- Verify bot filtering is enabled
Preventing Double Counting
- Disable Elevar purchase event forwarding
- Turn off GTM purchase tags
- Remove/disable checkout completion scripts
- Comment out theme pixel snippets
- Confirm only one purchase source per destination
Validation
- Run test purchase in incognito window
- Verify all ecommerce events fire correctly
- Check event parameters are complete
- Confirm purchase revenue matches
- Test abandoned cart flow triggers
- Verify Meta EMQ scores
- Check Google Ads conversion tracking
Post-Migration
- Monitor daily for 7 days (purchases, revenue, events)
- Compare event volume to historical patterns
- Check email flow triggers weekly
- Monitor ad platform optimization
- Verify audience building
- Review attribution tracking accuracy
- Document any issues and resolutions
FAQ
Should I migrate during peak season?
No. Migrate during a calmer window when order volume is stable. It's much easier to validate and troubleshoot when traffic is predictable. Avoid migrating during Black Friday, holiday season, or major sales events.
Do I need to keep my GTM container after migrating?
Only if it powers non-tracking functionality. For e-commerce conversion tracking, the safest approach is to disable overlapping tags to reduce duplication risk. You can keep the container for other uses (form tracking, scroll tracking, etc.).
What's the most important success metric during migration?
Purchase events counted once with correct value, currency, and items. Everything else is secondary. If purchases are accurate, you can troubleshoot other events without losing revenue data.
Will my historical data be affected?
No. Historical data in your ad platforms and analytics stays intact. The migration only affects new events going forward. However, be aware that year-over-year comparisons may show differences due to improved tracking accuracy.
How do I handle multi-currency stores?
Aimerce automatically handles multi-currency conversion. Ensure your Shopify currency settings are correct, and Aimerce will pass the appropriate currency code with each event. Test purchases in different currencies to verify.
What about bot filtering and data quality?
Aimerce includes advanced bot filtering by default, which often improves data quality compared to manual Elevar setups. You may notice slightly lower event volumes but higher quality data and better attribution tracking accuracy.
Can I migrate if I use checkout extensibility?
Yes. Aimerce works with Shopify's checkout extensibility. The app automatically adapts to your checkout configuration without additional setup.
Final Thoughts
Migrating from Elevar to Aimerce isn't just about switching tools. It's about improving your server side tracking Shopify setup, strengthening your attribution tracking, and gaining access to better bot filtering and identity resolution.
The key to success is methodical preparation. Document your existing setup, disable legacy tracking sources carefully, validate thoroughly, and monitor consistently.
Most Shopify brands see improved Meta EMQ scores, more accurate ecommerce conversion tracking, and higher klaviyo conversion tracking performance within the first two weeks after migration. The combination of server side tagging Shopify and first-party data enrichment unlocks retargeting audiences you were previously missing.
Remember: the worst migration mistakes happen when you rush. Take the time to audit, plan, and validate. Your attribution data is too valuable to risk.
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