Shopify Facebook Pixel Purchase Event Setup - How Not To Lose Money

Yep, that is correct. The Facebook Pixel purchase event either helps you get rich or throws your money out of the window. The outcome depends on you. 

And so, we are here to ensure that you are always on the right track. Keep reading to know how a successful Facebook Pixel purchase event looks like.

Understanding Facebook Pixel Purchase Event Tracking

What is Facebook Pixel Purchase Event?

First of all, why don’t we take a look back at what the Facebook Pixel purchase event really is.

We think that the name has already said everything about it. The Facebook Pixel purchase event is used to track when a customer completes a purchase on your website after heading to the store via Facebook ads. 

However, keep in mind that this event is only taken into account when the Facebook purchase event code is placed in pages or buttons signalling the finalization of the purchases, for example, order confirmation or thank you page. 

Now, before talking about why the Shopify Facebook Pixel purchase event is important. Let’s see how to add a purchase event on Facebook Pixel. 

How to set up Facebook Pixel purchase event?

From the name, it is sure that you must have had the Facebook Pixel installed first. In case you have not done it or forget the steps, check our guide to add Shopify Meta Pixel successfully.

This event falls into the category of standard conversion event Facebook ad. So, it will be quite similar to other guides on how to set up conversion tracking in Facebook ads. Piece of cake.

And, here we come. 

• Step 1: Head to Facebook Events Manager and open the Overview tab.
• Step 2: Select the pixel which you are using and press on Add Events.
• Step 3: Hit From the Pixel and then Open Event Setup Tool.
• Step 4: Type in the full website URL of your store then click on Open Website.
• Step 5: Go to the suitable page or button for the Facebook purchase event Pixel then choose either adding button or URL based on what you want. 
• Step 6: Pick the Purchase event, obviously and when the purchase event appears on Events on This Page, hit Finish Setup.
• Step 7: Test and see if things work as you wish.

If you are into programming, then it is possible to add the Facebook purchase event Pixel using the code: fbq('track', 'Purchase', {value: 0.00, currency: 'USD'}); 

Just go to where the Facebook Pixel code is located then paste that snippet right above the </script> tag. This must be done on every page needed tracking, though. 

Also, change the number 0.00 to the price of the corresponding product and pick a suitable currency. Otherwise, the Facebook Pixel purchase event value will send back false data.

But apparently, this approach is called hardcode (yes, hard and code) and intended for developers since the values and parameters linked to the purchases must be dynamic (depending on the order). Besides event parameters, customer parameters also play a crucial part, making it more complex.

Also, code integration is not the best way. Sometimes the customers exit the website too quickly after their purchases for the Facebook Pixel purchase event to capture. Our advice: integrate directly with Shopify’s order to not let that situation occur (Two Owls Facebook Pixel App can do this). 

So, hopefully, you will be able to set up purchase event Facebook Pixel, because we will come to the part why you need it. 

The Consequences of Accurate Tracking

Let’s say that you are operating as a small dropshipping business using Shopify. So, every penny must be spent wisely, especially for advertising. 

How can Facebook Pixel purchase event Shopify help then? A lot. 

As mentioned above, if you want precise tracking, implement the event at the right places. Always remember this, okay? 

Now, the buying action of customers is a conversion. An accurate tracking of purchase events tells you if your website really converts. 

Regardless of which stage you are currently in, testing, scaling, stabilizing, etc. This is something worth looking at everytime. 

Okay, here is an example because theories might not help us much. 

You are selling clothes and your ads work flawlessly. People love them and the click-through rates are unbelievable. The customers even decide to add a product to cart then they are even ready to check out. Wow, awesome, fantastic, spectacular! 

But, the purchase events do not fire or the amount is too little compared to the people adding products to their carts. A big, huge, large question will come up at this point. And this is the chance to go through and optimize the conversion.

You can simplify the checkout process, clear possible bugs, or provide a little boost for the final clicks. Well, that is up to you to test which works best, but in any ways, you know there is something wrong. 

Anything else? Yes, with the purchase events being fired, you now know which group of audiences will likely be your next customers. Boom, your Facebook ads targeting has levelled up.

Here is another thing. Having the purchase event equals more detailed reporting, thus leading to better decisions. Who in this world does not love quality data? Not us and you, for sure.

You know what is even better? Use the Facebook Pixel and Facebook CAPI combination to measure purchases. Trust us, you will be surprised. 

Alright, we think that it is time for you to learn about a perfect Facebook Pixel purchase event.

Awesome Facebook Purchase Event Example

In this section, we will tap into the event parameters, customer info parameters and event match quality. You do not know what it is? No shame because we have got you covered right here. 

So, what will an all-around Facebook Pixel purchase event look like? 

Let’s examine all the aspects. 

Firstly, and again, the Facebook Pixel purchase event must appear in the correct positions. 

Secondly, the Facebook Pixel purchase event parameters must be aligned with what you are selling. For example, you have a t-shirt at the price of 10 euros, then the value must be 10.00 and the currency must be EUR. For that case, the code snippet of the Facebook Pixel purchase event should be like this: fbq('track', 'Purchase', {value: 10.00, currency: 'EUR'});

Thirdly, Facebook loves matching customer data parameters because it will then know who to show the ads. Basically, when the purchase event is fired, the data package sent back to Facebook must contain these parameters: hashed email, customer’s IP address, hashed phone number, Facebook login ID, external ID and other hashed info (gender, name, birthday, location). 

There are still some other data parameters but they are not as crucial as those listed above. At least, Facebook should receive the hashed email, IP address and hashed phone number. 

We have also prepared for you an article about this topic. Get to know more about customer data parameters. 

The last but not least thing, the event match quality. Since the purchasing action is probably the last action in the sales funnel, a score higher than 6 is perfect. 

These things sound quite overwhelming, right? There are too many sides to consider and control. They surely take much effort to be able to perform at their best. 

We truly understand that and it is the reason why you will need an assistant like Two Owls. Never worry about getting bad Facebook Pixel purchase event tracking again.

So, we have gone through the good Facebook Pixel purchase event, let’s look a little bit into the “naughty” one.

Consequence of Inaccurate Facebook Pixel Purchase Event

The “naughty” Facebook Pixel purchase event can be referred to as bad tracking.

It happens when the event is situated at the wrong place and has low event match quality. Basically, all the opposite things to what we have talked about in the previous part.

The results will then be really bad for a person trying to track conversion Facebook Ads like you. 

If placed incorrectly, false, bad data will be sent to Facebook, leading to worse decisions, then wrong ads optimization and then reduced revenues. This will become a never-ending cycle capable of breaking your business. 

If the event match quality is low, false, bad data will be sent to Facebook, leading to misunderstanding, then inaccurate target audiences, optimization, then bad traffic and eventually you will waste money on the Facebook ads. You do not want this to repeat over and over again, believe us. 

By all means, please never leave the Facebook Pixel purchase event inaccurate.

Common Tracking Errors to Avoid

The first easily seen tracking error is the lack of Facebook Pixel purchase event parameters. This will adversely affect the event match quality and Facebook optimization. 

The next one is the appearance of invalid data, something that cannot be recognized. It can be an invalid mail address or invalid phone number, for example.

Another one and this might not apply for you, but it is actually quite common. Pixel not found or did not load. Yup, installing the Facebook Pixel correctly is an art and we also wrote about that here. 

The two other common problems worth mentioning are the firing of multiple events at once and name mismatching. If you fall into the first case, check and see if the page contains more than one Pixel or not. If you are in the second case, correct the code snippet. 

Listing all the errors will take a full day, so the ones above are the most notable. If you want to learn more about the other errors, visit this article.

Wrap Up

In general, the advantages of the Facebook Pixel purchase event are numerous. So, always make sure that it is correctly used and the tracking is flawless. 

If you are able to leverage the Facebook Pixel purchase event, money rain is coming soon, we know that. This applies for all businesses in all phases.

A little recommendation for you here. Just Facebook Pixel is not enough. Want to be successful? Combine it with Facebook Conversion API. 

And in case you are not so confident in this, Two Owls are happy to help and serve.

FAQs about Facebook Pixel Purchase Event

How to set up custom conversion tracking in Facebook ads?

• Step 1: Go to the Facebook Ad Manager, Events Manager and then Custom Conversions.
• Step 2: Click on Create Custom Conversion, name that conversion and put on a description. 
• Step 3: Set Conversion Event to All URL Traffic then select the desired standard event for optimization.
• Step 4: Choose URL and either contains, equals, or doesn’t contain based on what you want under the Rules section.
• Step 5: Type in the URL, enter a conversion value if needed and hit Create. 

Why is my Facebook Pixel purchase event not working?

Some reasons were stated by us above. Maybe you have placed it in the wrong place or your Pixel does not work. Check again and see. 

Or if what you mean is that the redundant purchase events error happens, then you should take a look at the Facebook Pixel purchase event code placement. It is possible that the code appears on pages before the successful purchase confirmation. 

Is the base pixel different from the event pixel?

Yes, certainly. With the base pixel code, the data you get is only page views. On the other hand, the even pixel sends data of actions taken on the website like purchase.

Learn More: What are Facebook Pixel Events? What to Track with Them?