Connecting ad platforms

Connect ad platforms from the Stores page (in the menu under Settings). On your store's card, click the Settings button, then open the Marketing connections section — every ad platform (Meta, Google, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat) has a green Connect button right there, alongside Klaviyo. Four of the five are one-click OAuth (Google, TikTok, Pinterest, Snapchat — click Connect, approve on the platform, done). Metais a short guided paste-token flow, because Meta doesn't offer one-click connection for tools like ours yet.

Meta Ads (Facebook + Instagram) · Guided paste-token

Meta connects with a long-lived token you generate on a System User. The in-app wizard walks you through it step by step; the short version:

1. On the Meta card, follow the wizard. It has you create your own free Meta app (developers.facebook.com → Create app → Other → Business). Meta forces every token to belong to an app, and Ecom Forward isn't in that list, so you make your own. The app itself doesn't matter to us.
2. Create a System User and, via Add Assets, give it both: your app (with the “Develop app” role) and your ad account (with “View Performance”). Skipping the ad-account asset is the #1 cause of “connects but shows no data.”
3. Generate a token for that System User, pick your app, tick the ads_read permission, and choose the longest expiration.
4. Copy the Ad Account ID (it starts with act_).
5. Paste the token + ad account ID into the wizard and save. Ecom Forward tests the connection live before saving, if anything's missing, you get a clear message on the spot instead of an empty Marketing tab days later.

Google Ads · OAuth

Fully platform-level OAuth. No token to paste.

1. In Marketing connections, click Connect on the Google row.
2. You're redirected to Google's consent screen.
3. Sign in with the Google account that has ad access.
4. Click Allow.
5. If your Google login has access to multiple Google Ads accounts (common for agencies), you'll be redirected to an account-picker page. Pick one. Click Save.
6. You land back on the Stores page with Google connected.

TikTok Ads · OAuth

TikTok is now one-click, just like Google.

1. On the store's TikTok card, click Connect with TikTok.
2. Approve on TikTok's screen.
3. If your login can reach more than one advertiser account, pick the one to sync. Save.

Pinterest Ads · OAuth

1. In Marketing connections, click Connect on the Pinterest row.
2. You're redirected to Pinterest's consent screen.
3. Click Allow.
4. If your Pinterest login has access to multiple ad accounts, pick one on the redirect page. Save.

Snapchat Ads · OAuth

1. In Marketing connections, click Connect on the Snapchat row.
2. Redirected to Snapchat's consent screen.
3. Click Allow.
4. If multiple ad accounts, pick one (org name + currency + timezone shown per option). Save.

Sync cadence

All five platforms sync automatically every night (around 1:30 AM UTC), refreshing the last several days so late refunds and attribution adjustments are captured. You can also force a sync any time by clicking Refresh on the platform's sub-tab. For more history (e.g. when you first connect), use the Backfill button on the store card.

When a connection breaks

Tokens expire eventually. When they do, the platform's sub-tab shows a Reconnect required banner instead of charts. Click the CTA and walk through OAuth (or paste a new token) again. Data is preserved; only the sync restarts.

FAQs