1. Install. Get CollectionsIQ from the Shopify App Store (apps.shopify.com/collectionsiq). Installation uses Shopify's standard flow — no separate account or password.
2. Explore with demo data (optional). If you want to see the app working before connecting ad accounts, use Load demo data on the home screen. It seeds realistic synthetic ad metrics and sales for your store's actual products, so rules, previews, and Insights all work immediately. Demo data is completely separate from live data — it's marked as demo everywhere, rules evaluate on live data by default, and Delete demo data removes it cleanly at any time.
3. Connect your ad platforms. Go to Integrations and connect Google Ads and/or Meta. Access is read-only; see the dedicated connection articles for platform-specific details (account selection, Meta catalog setting).
4. First fetch. After connecting, pick the ad account to use and press Fetch now. CollectionsIQ pulls your recent per-product performance, matches ad products to your Shopify catalog automatically, and shows anything it couldn't match so you can map it manually (see Unmatched products).
5. Build a rule. Head to Rules — start from a built-in template like "Bestsellers" or "High ROAS", or create a custom rule. Preview shows exactly which products match before anything touches your store. When you enable a rule, CollectionsIQ creates and maintains the corresponding Shopify collection.
From then on, everything runs itself: metrics refresh daily, rules re-evaluate, collections and feeds update. You can trigger a manual sync anytime with Run sync now.
Optional but recommended: on Integrations, press Backfill history to pull up to 24 months of past performance — it unlocks long windows and seasonal rules (see Time windows, history and seasonal periods).