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Signal Sparrow Documentation

website·Indexed 30 days ago

https://docs.signalsparrow.com

Guides for setting up and using Signal Sparrow to track paying-customer conversions and ad attribution. Includes documentation for the Web SDK (@signal-sparrow/sdk), Next.js SDK (@signal-sparrow/next), Stripe integration, and destination connections for Google Ads, LinkedIn CAPI, and TikTok Events.

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What's inside Signal Sparrow

  1. Overview of Signal Sparrow revenue attribution

    Signal Sparrow is a marketing attribution tool for subscription businesses (SaaS) that bill through Stripe. Unlike standard analytics that track clicks or signups, Signal Sparrow tracks 'real paying customers' by starting with actual revenue in Stripe and working backwards to the originating ad campaign. This prevents over-spending on campaigns that generate high signup volumes but low conversion to paid plans.

  2. Understand Signal Sparrow workspaces

    A workspace represents a single business entity within Signal Sparrow. Each workspace maintains its own isolated tracking, Stripe connection, ad destinations, and data. This allows a single account to manage multiple products, brands, or clients without mixing data. A single subscription covers all workspaces in an account.

  3. Understand the Signal Sparrow attribution workflow

    Signal Sparrow connects the initial discovery of a visitor to their eventual payment through a four-step process:

    1. Track the visit: A lightweight snippet on the website records the source of each visitor (e.g., Facebook ads, Google search).
    2. Connect Stripe: The user connects their Stripe account in read-only mode, allowing Signal Sparrow to see subscriptions and revenue without the ability to modify funds.
    3. Match the two together: When a payment occurs, Signal Sparrow matches the Stripe transaction back to the original ad or campaign that brought the visitor to the site.
    4. Act on what you learn: Users analyze which channels generate revenue and can optionally send this conversion data back to ad platforms (like Meta and Google) to optimize targeting.

    This process ensures that revenue is reconciled directly with Stripe data, providing an accurate 'match rate' of traced revenue.

  4. Track net revenue using Stripe refunds and churn

    Signal Sparrow automatically tracks negative revenue events from Stripe to ensure attribution reflects the true net value of acquisition channels.

    • Refunded: When a refund is issued in Stripe, Signal Sparrow subtracts that amount from the revenue credited to the original source.
    • Churned: When a subscription is cancelled, it is recorded as lost monthly revenue for that customer's channel.

    These events are read automatically from Stripe and require no manual configuration.

  5. Understand Signal Sparrow SDK tracking architecture

    The Signal Sparrow SDK uses a first-party tracking approach to avoid the data loss common with third-party pixels (which are often blocked by browsers and ad blockers). Key architectural benefits include:

    • First-party loading: The SDK loads from the user's own domain, making it less likely to be blocked.
    • Server-side processing: Data processing occurs on Signal Sparrow's servers to ensure accuracy even if a user closes a tab quickly.
    • Cookieless compatibility: It functions when third-party cookies are blocked by using a single first-party value to identify visitors.

  6. Understand how Signal Sparrow attribution works

    Signal Sparrow attributes sales by joining three distinct data points into a single customer journey:

    1. The Click: The SDK records the source of the visit (ad, campaign, or link) using click IDs and UTM tags.
    2. The Identity: The anonymous visit is tied to a real person when the user is identified via their email address.
    3. The Conversion: When a payment occurs in Stripe, Signal Sparrow matches that payment back to the original click via the identified user.

    If any of these pieces are missing (e.g., the user was never identified, arrived offline, or blocked tracking), the sale is labeled as direct/unknown.

  7. Understand and use Cohorts for retention analysis

    A cohort in Signal Sparrow is a group of customers who started in the same period (e.g., all customers who subscribed in March). By tracking these groups over time, you can analyze how much revenue is retained, expanded, or churned based on real Stripe data. This allows you to identify which acquisition channels bring customers with the highest long-term retention.

  8. Understand Signal Sparrow pricing plans and tiers

    Signal Sparrow offers four plans. The Free plan is a permanent tier with no expiration, though it has the lowest monthly event allowance and shortest data retention. Paid tiers (Starter, Growth, and Scale) increase the allowance for events, seats, and workspaces. All attribution models are available on all plans; however, 'Cohorts & LTV' is a paid-only feature. New users can start with a 14-day trial of a paid plan without a credit card; if no subscription is started after 14 days, the workspace reverts to the Free plan without data loss.

  9. Understand Signal Sparrow's Stripe synchronization behavior

    Signal Sparrow uses a read-only connection to Stripe. It can view subscriptions and payments to track conversion events and revenue, but it cannot perform any write actions such as charging customers, issuing refunds, or modifying Stripe account settings.

  10. Compare single-touch vs multi-touch attribution

    Signal Sparrow categorizes its attribution models into two types:

    • Single-touch: (First-click, Last-click) One ad receives 100% of the credit. These are simple and easy to reason about.
    • Multi-touch: (Last non-direct click, Linear, Time-decay, U-shaped) Credit is shared across the customer journey, providing a more comprehensive view of how multiple ads contribute to a sale.

    Recommendation: Start with Last non-direct click as a sensible default. As the account grows, transition to a multi-touch model like Time-decay to analyze the contribution of earlier ads.

  11. Understand Signal Sparrow revenue reconciliation

    Signal Sparrow ensures that reported revenue always matches the actual net Stripe MRR. Revenue is split into two mutually exclusive buckets: 'Attributed' (revenue traced to a specific marketing source) and 'Direct/Unknown' (revenue that could not be traced). The sum of these two buckets always equals the total net Stripe MRR.

  12. Understand Signal Sparrow's personal data protection measures

    Signal Sparrow implements several security measures to protect customer privacy and ensure compliance with laws like GDPR and CCPA:

    • Email Hashing: Email addresses are hashed into unreadable code before being shared with ad platforms; raw emails are never exposed.
    • IP Minimization: IP addresses are used briefly for visit processing and then removed.
    • Read-Only Stripe Integration: The platform can read revenue data but cannot modify it.
    • Role-Based Access Control: Read-only teammates are restricted from viewing personal details or exporting data.