subscription_initial_purchase Event

Automatically generated for Shopify — Upstack creates this event from Shopify subscription orders, so Shopify stores don’t fire it manually. On other platforms, fire it yourself.

Overview

The subscription_initial_purchase event is generated when a customer signs up for a new subscription — the first order in a subscription sequence.

How It Works

Upstack checks every purchase event it processes. It generates subscription_initial_purchase as a copy of the purchase when either of these is true:

The order has one of these tags: Subscription First Order, Subscription First Order Loop, First Subscription, subscription_start or subscription checkout. Case doesn’t matter, but the tag must match exactly.
At least one line item has a Shopify selling plan, and the order isn’t a recurring subscription order.

The original purchase event is still sent as usual.

Properties

This event includes all properties from the original purchase event:

Property	Type	Description
orderId	string	Shopify order ID
value	number	Order total value
currency	string	ISO 4217 currency code (e.g., `USD`)
items	array	Products purchased
email	string	Customer email (hashed for destinations)
phone	string	Customer phone (hashed for destinations)

Destination Mapping

Destination	Event name	Sent by default
Meta	`subscriptionInitialPurchase` (custom event)	Yes
TikTok	`SubscriptionInitialPurchase`	Yes
Klaviyo	`Subscription Initial Order - Upstack`	Yes
Microsoft Ads	`subscription_initial_purchase` (custom event)	Yes
Google Ads	The conversion action you map it to	No. Map it to a conversion action
GA4, Pinterest, Reddit	Your choice	No. Add a destination event mapping
Snapchat, LinkedIn, AppLovin	Not sent	No

Meta needs each custom event approved before you can optimize on it. See How to approve Meta custom events.

Fire it manually (non-Shopify)

On platforms other than Shopify — for example a SaaS app billing through Stripe — Upstack can’t detect subscription orders, so fire this event yourself. Shopify stores shouldn’t fire it manually, or it will be counted twice.

window._upstack('track', 'subscription_initial_purchase', {
  subscriptionId: 'sub_def456',
  accountId: 'acct_abc123',
  planId: 'plan_pro_monthly',
  planName: 'Pro Plan',
  value: 99.00,
  currency: 'USD',
  billingInterval: 'month'
});

Property	Type	Required	Description
subscriptionId	string	No	Subscription identifier
accountId	string	No	Account identifier
planId	string	No	Plan identifier
planName	string	No	Plan display name
value	number	No	Payment amount in currency units (`99.00`, not `9900`)
currency	string	No	ISO 4217 currency code
billingInterval	string	No	`month` or `year`

Fire it when:

The first subscription charge succeeds
A trial converts to its first paid billing period

Metrics Available

Metric	Description
Subscription Initial Purchases	New subscription sign-ups
Cost per Subscription Initial Purchase	CAC for new subscribers
Subscription Initial Purchase Value	Revenue from new subscriptions

For other subscription lifecycle events (trials, plan changes, cancellations), see SaaS Events.

purchase — The base purchase event
subscription_recurring_purchase — Recurring subscription renewals
nc_purchase — New customer purchases

​Overview

​How It Works

​Properties

​Destination Mapping

​Fire it manually (non-Shopify)

​Metrics Available

​Related Events

Overview

How It Works

Properties

Destination Mapping

Fire it manually (non-Shopify)

Metrics Available

Related Events