Chapter 1
Setup Facebook Pixel & Conversion API on Shopify
Setup Facebook Pixel & Conversion API on Shopify
Facebook Conversion API on Shopify
Shopify - Facebook Integration Troubleshooting
Facebook Ads Data in Google Analytics (UTM)
Common Problems
& FAQ
Here we are – on a very hot topic for you as a Shopify merchant: Facebook Pixel and Conversion API. We know that iOS 14.5 and all other changes that focused on user privacy were nowhere near helpful for you.
At the end of the day, these changes caused a big disappointment because you saw a dramatic drop in your FB & Instagram Ads performances.
On the other hand, Facebook Conversion API improved, and it works much better – but ONLY IF you complete all the settings correctly.
In this well-crafted guide, you are going to discover the ideal way to set up your Facebook Pixel and Conversion API correctly, applying best practices. We are not going to use any paid apps, instead opting for Shopify’s native Facebook connection. We’ll also double-check your data and configuration in Facebook Business Manager.
In this page, we will focus on Facebook Pixel integration with Shopify. If you are here for Shopify’s new feature Shopify Customer Events; please visit our related guide: Shopify Pixels
Let’s get started, shall we?!
Achieve Data Confidence and Get the Help You Need When It Matters.
Key Takeaways
- The improvements in iOS 14.5 had a big impact on tracking and reporting. However, this should not stop your efforts in advertising. Thousands of Shopify merchants are running profitable advertisements successfully. You can simply use this guide to make sure that you have a proper setup.
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The native Facebook integration stands out as the best choice for you as a Shopify merchant. Follow our settings & validation steps to secure a decent setup for yourself.
- Only use third-party apps if you're on a Shopify Plus subscription. If not, the native solution works best for you due to checkout.liquid limitations.
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Make sure to have a proper UTM setup so that you can see your data in Google Analytics.
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Check out our Common Problems & FAQ section in case you have some issues with your FB Business Manager.
Even though there are several setup options including the paid apps; we recommend that you use the native integration. Take what we say with a pinch of salt and have a look at the reasons and details below: There’s only one exception for Shopify Plus stores.
Why Shopify – Facebook Native integration
We do recommend Facebook’s Shopify native integration because;
- It is the native integration and it has access to checkout steps, unlike 3rd party apps.
- It has the conversion API setup out of the box. You just need to enable the correct settings.
- It is integrated with your product feed directly.
- It is getting better day by day. Shopify & Facebook is investing a lot of dollars into this integration.
We would ONLY recommend not using the native integration if you are a Shopify Plus client because only that will allow you to have access to checkout.liquid file, and so you will be able to track checkout steps with your Facebook Pixel.
In that case, make sure to have a full server-side tracking integration which should cover the Facebook Conversion API completely. Check out more details in the section below.
Sources:
How to set up Facebook Pixel on Shopify (Native Integration)
You can find an actionable, step-by-step tutorial that we created to help you integrate and complete the advanced settings on your Facebook Pixel & Shopify.
An important reminder before you start: You should have a FB Business Manager account and admin privileges there to continue.
Download and install the FB Sales Channel app on your Shopify store.
Go to Shopify Admin > Online Store > Preferences > Setup Facebook
Authorize your FB Business Manager account and choose the Pixel.
Make sure you choose MAXIMUM so that all the possible data can be shared. Then, confirm, and you are all set.
These are all you need to do through the Facebook app on Shopify. Now we need to make several import settings on your Facebook Business Manager > Events Manager > Pixel Settings.
Navigate to FB Pixel Settings > Automated Advanced Matching. Re-adjust the settings that are already in use. Make sure you set all the fields (from Email to External ID) ON.
Your setup should be perfectly done by now. Make sure to check out validation & troubleshooting and common problems sections as well.
Facebook Pixel Setup Through Analyzify
Analyzify provides you with all the tags for Facebook Pixel on Google Tag Manager. Also, you can get your Facebook Conversion API up and running with our server-side integration. Yet, we recommend the native integration unless you are on the Shopify Plus plan. You can still benefit from Analyzify’s FB Pixel integration if:- You have problems with the native integration and our troubleshooting guides don’t help.
- You want to use a second pixel.
Chapter 2
Facebook Conversion API on Shopify
Facebook Conversion API (aka CAPI) is Facebook’s technical answer to tracking difficulties that come with iOS 14.5 and other privacy-focused changes.
Having been released last year, it is a relatively new technology. As a result, Shopify businesses experienced many issues.
The good news is that it’s been performing better and better in time. So it’s now safe to say that those hard times you had with Facebook Conversion API integration on Shopify are now a thing of the past.
How does it work?
As the classic Facebook Pixel tracking works on the browser-side, the privacy updates caused it to become quite limited. It means that we can no longer track the visitors’ activities with Facebook pixel-like we did in the past.
When Facebook Pixel doesn’t work properly, you can never know which Facebook ad clicks bring the sales.
Facebook Conversion API, on the other hand, works on the server-side and it gets all your purchase data in the back end. Facebook tries to match this user data (that purchase) with the users that clicked or saw the ads.
That’s the new way of attribution and how it works. Check out the following sources for more information on Facebook Conversion API:
How to Setup Facebook Conversion API on Shopify
The setup guide that we provided for Facebook Pixel above also includes the Facebook Conversion API for your Shopify store.
Chapter 3
Shopify - Facebook Integration Troubleshooting
Thousands of Shopify merchants have problems with their Facebook integration. More often than not, the problem is down to their setup.
We have made a streamlined troubleshooting process and we are happy to share it with you. Here is our troubleshooting guide to help you detect your Shopify – Facebook integration problems. Our extensive guide covers:
- Common setup issues
- Advanced settings in Facebook Sales Channel – Shopify
- Advanced settings in Facebook Pixel Settings on FB Events Manage
- UTM parameters on your ads
- And many other minor topics.
Make sure to follow the steps carefully and troubleshoot your Shopify & Facebook integration.
Chapter 4
Facebook Ads Data in Google Analytics (UTM)
You can get Google Analytics help to analyze and optimize your Facebook Ads efforts. Google Analytics 4, in particular, provides a fantastic attribution framework that you should take advantage of.
However, you need to have proper UTM settings on your Facebook & Instagram Ads in order to pass the Facebook Ads campaign-level data into Google Analytics.
You can use our dynamic UTM template on all of your ads and it will work just great:
utm_source={{placement}}&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign={{campaign.name}}&utm_id={{campaign.id}}&utm_term={{ad.id}}&utm_content={{adset.name}}
Make sure to:
- Add this UTM into all of your ads not only on a few,
- Use the same structure on all of your ads so that the reports are consistent,
- Place these parameters into the URL Parameters section, not the URL itself.
Chapter 5
Common Problems & FAQ
We strongly recommend using the official Facebook App for your product feed, Facebook Pixel, and Facebook Conversion API setup. The native integration works quite well when the setup is done properly.
For Shopify Plus stores, we additionally recommend Analyzify’s Facebook Conversion API connection, as we are able to send more data compared to the native integration.
For regular Shopify stores, the native connection is the best solution at the moment.
Analyzify’s standard version uses the classic (web) Google Tag Manager which doesn’t include the Conversion API.
We strongly recommend using the official Facebook App for your product feed, Facebook Pixel, and Facebook Conversion API setup. The native integration works quite well when the setup is done properly.
For Shopify Plus stores, we additionally recommend Analyzify’s Facebook Conversion API connection (included on our server-side add-on), as we are able to send more data compared to the native integration.
For regular Shopify stores, the native connection is the best solution at the moment.
Normally, Shopify’s native Facebook Pixel integration should be working fine. More often than not, the reason for Facebook Pixel to not work is about your setup, so here is the roadmap we suggest:
Delete the Facebook app and re-do your setup using our Facebook Pixel Setup on Shopify guide.
Validate your setup using our FB Pixel – Shopify Validation guide.
Make sure to use only one solution (only 1 Facebook Pixel app), because they might interfere with each other.
This usually happens due to one of these reasons:
You are using multipe solutions (a few apps) for Facebook Pixel and they interfere with each other.
Facebook Pixel is activated from the native app and is also triggered through Google Tag Manager.
You have extra Facebook Pixel codes on your theme files (the codes might sometimes stay even when you delete the apps).
To avoid double-counting, just make sure to only use one solution. We recommend the native Facebook integration, and a clean up on your theme files. Delete all the Facebook Pixel codes you see because the native app already has those. You should also pause the related tags on Google Tag Manager.
It is basically an optional setting that allows Facebook to match your visitor data with their own database, which enables you to attribute more conversions to the visitors.