DiscoAds puts your brand in front of verified shoppers at the moment they've just bought something from another store — when the card is still warm and attention is high. This guide walks Shopify brands through creating your account and getting your first offer live.
Not on Shopify? Follow Getting started with DiscoAds on other platforms instead.
How DiscoAds works
- A shopper checks out from one of the stores in the Disco network.
- Disco's matching engine decides, in that moment, whether your brand is a strong fit for that shopper based on what they actually buy.
- If it is, your offer is shown — as a recommendation, not an interruption.
- The shopper clicks through to your site. You pay only for performance, based on your bid model.
You're reaching people who just demonstrated they buy in your category — not browsers.
Creating your account
- Sign up. From the login page, choose Get started, pick the Shopify path, and enter your store URL — you'll hop into your Shopify admin to install the Disco Post Purchase Ads app, which connects your store and auto-syncs your brand details and product catalog.
- Choose DiscoAds. On the "Where would you like to go?" screen, pick DiscoAds (advertise across the network). You can enable DiscoOffers — earn as a publisher — later too; start with one, add the other anytime. Many brands do both.
- Confirm your brand details. Disco scans your site to auto-build your brand profile — name, logo, colors, tagline, and a short description.
- Review your Brand Profile. Check what the scan pulled and fix anything that's off — replace the logo, tighten the tagline. Your description also gives the matching model context, so keep it clear.
- Select your categories. Choose the categories that describe your company, set a primary category, and pick at least one subcategory. Verify these carefully — they're the basis for where our recommendation model shows your offers.
- Set up your first offer. See Setting up your offer.
- Review and go live. The last onboarding step shows your Brand Profile and offer for a final check — agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, then hit Go Live.
Set up your Products tab
As a Shopify brand, your Products tab controls which of your products appear in the Gallery and Featured Product ad formats. The Disco app syncs your catalog from Shopify automatically — your job is to pick your top four products, best first, and set their order (your first product may be featured on its own).
For how to edit product titles and images, add products manually, and control which format renders where, see the full guide: Setting up your Products tab (Shopify).
Finish setup to go live
Your first offer won't go live until setup is complete. Alongside your offer, you'll:
- Confirm your brand visual assets. Go to your brand section to verify your logo was captured correctly and add a 16:9 banner image. This is requested from every advertiser — nice to have, not required to launch. See Ad specs and creative guidelines.
- Set your bid — most Shopify brands run on the CPA/CPO model: you pay for conversions, not clicks. See Setting your bid for how the models work.
- Confirm conversion tracking — the Disco app handles tracking for you with minimal setup. Run a test conversion to confirm it's firing — see Setting up conversion tracking.
- Add billing details — DiscoAds bills through Stripe. Add your payment method in the Stripe billing portal, or see Managing your account, team, and billing.
- Get the official OK — the final step. Once everything above is done, our support team reviews your account before your offers go live. Every advertiser goes through this review, and you'll see a banner in the platform letting you know while it's underway.
What to expect once you're live
Once you're approved, your offer shows as active in your Offers list:
- Your campaign enters a ramping period while the model calibrates — expect early numbers to move around over the first few weeks, with full optimization typically taking 1–3 months.
- Reporting is under the Reporting tab. See Reading your DiscoAds reporting.
- Copy is the fastest lever on performance. If results are soft early, refresh your heading and creative first. See Improving creative performance.