What Is Aggregated Events Measurement And Why Should You Care

It’s been 2 years since Apple's privacy ax turned Facebook’s advertisers world upside down. There will be less and less data for Facebook to work with, but there is a workaround that’s easily missed by busy merchants. In this article, we’ll discuss the one thing (beside Conversion API) that can make a long lasting effect on your ads performance - Aggregated Events Measurement protocol (AEM).

What is Aggregated Events Measurement?

If there’s one thing you should remember about the IOS 14 updates, it’s that users can ask Facebook not to track them.

Simple for users, traumatized for Facebook (and advertisers).

Aggregated Events Measurement (AEM) is Facebook's tactic to navigate this storm. It’s the way Facebook receives, processes and utilizes the data it still tracks from opted-out users.

Wonder how to track them? (You can check out a detailed guidance on Conversion API here)

And with that, you’ll be helping Facebook understand more about your audience. 

Is AEM really necessary after IOS updates?

To draw an analogy: AEM is the limited freedom you have in this post IOS 14 world. 

Why aggregated? Because even if you track and send events from an opted-out user, Facebook can’t (aren’t allowed) to target or target them as individuals. 

But:

The good news is that you can still help Facebook to learn from your opted-out audience so it can optimize your ads to the right people. Better spending.

Bottom line: You can’t have tracking perfection, but you can have the best-in-towns.

The caveats here is that if you don’t turn this machine on, Conversion API data would all go to waste. Data from opted-out users won’t apply if you don’t tell Facebook how to prioritize them.

And it happens to be the case that folks forget to turn this on or are unaware of it. Huge intel loss in this privacy-conscious world. Additionally, staying updated with the latest operating system can help mitigate some of these issues. For example, knowing what's new in Sequoia can provide insights into improvements and features that might enhance your tracking and overall experience.

How Aggregated Events Measurement works

You’re allowed to optimize your ads for a max of 8 conversion events only. Opt-outs or opt-ins are the same

A value optimization costs 4 out of 8 slots per domain. Think optimize your ads to people who are likely to buy above 100$. 

For opted-out users, only the highest-priority events will be reported back in the Ads Manager. That means the further down the list, the more data loss you’ll see. 

What Conversion API and AEM can’t help you with

Since your domain is limited to 8 optimization events, it’s hard to catch them all when you need more than 8 (e.g. you have 5 sub domains, each serves a country, and each needs to optimize for at least 3 unique events). 

If you’re looking for the perfect dashboard in Ads Manager, then stop. Even though top-level Conversion API tools can capture and send almost 100% of conversions, less-prioritized events are bound to be hidden from the AM reporting. Luckily, there is a solution for this attribution headaches, as people are looking for an alternative Ads Manager using UTM.

Again, not a perfect fix, but a perfect fit.

Why do you need to send Facebook more data

Imagine this: 

You are optimizing your ads for add to cart events, because you’re just in the prospecting, audience building phase. 

If AEM is off, Conversion API (CAPI) is on:

- Facebook will receive almost 100% of server-side data, but only be able to take the data from the opted-in users for its learning, optimization and delivery process. 

This means you’re just half way through the battle. CAPI events are meaningless if you don’t put them to use. 

If AEM and CAPI are both on, problem solved!

As a small business owner, time is your greatest asset that you can’t afford to lose in vain. This is a must-do to get yourself off the hamster wheel of bad data, bad traffic and start taking off.

Setting up Aggregated Events Measurement on Facebook

Step 1: Verify your domain, so Facebook understands you own the business

Step 2: In Events Manager, go to Aggregated Event Measurement. Hit Configure events

Step 3: Select the domain and the pixel events and sort their priority as you wish

Need some help? This app offers the best CAPI and personal guidance to onboard you with the whole process.

Conclusion

First, let’s remind ourselves that you have to have CAPI before you have AEM. They’re nothing without one another. There is no perfect fix, no perfect tracking. But this pack is an absolute must. 

The faster you get your tracking right, the more efficient you spend, the faster you can scale. Tracking is never the whole story to ad performance, nor does ROAS, AOV, creative, audience or budget. But each is a building block to great media buying ROI. If you haven't already, it's time to get your data in order.