Short answer: there are three ways to give ad traffic a landing page on Shopify. Build a page in your theme (free, limited design), use a page-builder app (full design, monthly fee), or skip the page and send the click to a link that shows the offer in a popup and then opens checkout with the cart filled. Which one fits depends on how much the product needs explaining.
Do you need a landing page at all?
A landing page exists to answer the questions an ad cannot. So start with how many questions are left after the ad.
| After the ad, the shopper | Send them to |
|---|---|
| Knows the product and wants the offer | Checkout with the product in the cart |
| Needs to pick a size, shade or bundle | A short offer step, then checkout |
| Has never heard of the product | A landing page that explains it |
| Is comparing you with alternatives | A landing page with proof and detail |
Retargeting, email to past customers and creator content usually sit in the first two rows. Cold traffic for a new product sits in the last two.
Route 1: a page in your Shopify theme
Shopify’s own steps, from its documentation on pages:
- In your admin, go to Online Store > Pages and click Add page.
- Enter a title and the content.
- Set Visibility to Visible, or keep it Hidden and set a publish date.
- Click Save.
A page is not in your menus until you add a link to it, which is what you want for an ad destination.
To make it look like a landing page and not a plain text page, create a separate page template in the theme editor with the sections you need (hero, product, reviews, FAQ) and assign it to the page.
Good for: a store with one or two long-running campaigns and a theme with flexible sections. Limits: design is bounded by your theme, and every new campaign means another page and template to maintain.
Route 2: a page-builder app
Page-builder apps in the Shopify App Store add drag-and-drop layouts and landing page templates. They are the right tool when the page itself is the persuasion: a new product, a higher price, a long story to tell.
Good for: cold traffic and considered purchases. Limits: a monthly fee, more to build and keep fast, and the shopper still has to get from the page through the cart to checkout.
Route 3: a link with an offer popup
A checkout link builds the cart before the shopper sees it. With Checkout Links, a Shopify app we make, the click from the ad can open a popup over a blurred view of your store. It shows the products and the offer, lets the shopper change a variant or quantity or add an upsell, and then opens Shopify checkout with everything in place.
To be clear about what it is: the popup is a short step in front of checkout, not a full landing page. It has no long-form sections. Use it when the ad has already done the explaining.
Setting one up:
- Create a link and add the products from the ad.
- Turn on Promotions and add the offer, so it applies without a code.
- Turn on Popup and click Edit. Add the blocks you need: the cart items, an upsell, a short message.
- Save and use the link as the ad’s destination.
Once one is right, save the link as a template. Each new campaign then starts from it with the cart, offer and popup already built.
Good for: retargeting, offers to people who know the product, creator and email traffic, and testing several offers quickly. Limits: it will not explain an unfamiliar product, and it applies only to shoppers who arrive through the link.
Matching the destination to the channel
- Facebook and Instagram ads. People tap from a feed on a phone. Keep the step after the click short and identical to the ad: same product image, same price. See the guides for Facebook ads and Instagram ads.
- TikTok ads. The video is the pitch. Send the click to the exact product shown, with the offer applied. See the TikTok ads guide.
- Google ads. Searchers arrive with a question. Match the page to the search term, and give comparison shoppers detail. See the Google ads guide.
- Email. Subscribers already know you. A link to a filled cart is usually enough. See the email campaigns guide.
One destination per ad
If three ads point at the same page, you can see that the page sold, not which ad did. Give each creative, or at least each audience, its own destination.
With links this takes a minute: duplicate the link, change the offer or the UTM values, and use the copy for the second ad. Each link then reports its own clicks, orders and revenue.
This is a comparison you read yourself, not an automatic split test. Shopify does not divide traffic between two pages, and neither does Checkout Links. If you need traffic split evenly and a winner declared, that is a job for a testing app.
What every ad destination needs
- The ad’s promise, repeated. Same product, same price, same offer, in the first screen.
- One action. A single button. No menu that leads elsewhere.
- The price and what it includes. Shipping cost and delivery time before checkout, not after.
- Proof. Reviews or a guarantee next to the button.
- Speed. Heavy pages lose phone traffic before they load.
- An end. When the campaign stops, the offer should stop with it.
Mistakes worth avoiding
- Sending every ad to the homepage or a collection. The shopper has to find the product again.
- A discount code in the ad. People forget it or mistype it. Put the offer on the destination.
- A long page for a product people already know. Every extra screen loses some of them.
- One page for all ads. You lose the ability to compare.
- Leaving old offers live. Give links and pages an end date.
Further reading
- Ecommerce landing pages: the general guide to what a landing page should contain.
- How to build a Shopify landing page in 30 seconds with templates
- Popups: every block and setting.
- The Shopify discount codes playbook, for the offer itself.
