Skip to main content

Advanced Matching

Advanced matching allows TikTok to match events to users more accurately by sending hashed user identifiers.

Requirements

  1. Enable Advanced Matching:

    <script>
    window.handl_advanced_matching = 1;
    window.handl_tiktok_pixel_id = 'YOUR_PIXEL_ID';
</script>

  2. Collect User Data: The HandL library automatically collects user data from forms when advanced matching is enabled. It looks for:

    • Email fields (email, email_address, e-mail, mail)
    • Phone fields (phone, telephone, mobile, cell, phone-number, tel)

How It Works

  1. Data Collection:

    • When users fill out forms, HandL automatically captures email and phone number
    • Data is stored in localStorage with keys: em (email) and ph (phone)

  2. Automatic Hashing:

    • All identifiers are automatically hashed using SHA-256 before sending to TikTok
    • Email is normalized (lowercase, trimmed)
    • Phone numbers are cleaned (digits only)

  3. External ID:

    • Uses the first_handlID cookie as external_id
    • This is automatically generated on first visit

  4. Automatic Identification:

    • When TikTok Pixel loads and advanced matching is enabled, ttq.identify() is called automatically
    • Identification is updated whenever new email/phone data is saved

Manual Data Collection

You can manually save user data for advanced matching:

HandL.saveAdvancedMatchingParams({
    em: 'user@example.com',  // Email (will be hashed)
    ph: '+1-555-123-4567'     // Phone (will be cleaned and hashed)
});

Note: The data will be automatically hashed when sent to TikTok.

Advanced Matching Parameters

TikTok supports the following identifiers (all SHA-256 hashed):

Parameter Description Source
email User's email address localStorage.getItem('em')
phone_number User's phone number localStorage.getItem('ph')
external_id Unique identifier Cookies.get('first_handlID')

Verification

To verify advanced matching is working:

  1. Open browser DevTools (F12)
  2. Go to Console tab
  3. Look for: UTMSimple: TikTok advanced matching parameters sent
  4. Check Network tab for requests containing hashed identifiers
Back to top