Track Your Facebook Ad Conversions

Facebook ad conversions, contrary to popular belief can be tracked. This process is slightly more nuanced than mere insight analysis and costs more than your average spends too. But this exercise will give your efforts a dimension and does not leave you simply guessing. Here is how –

Conversion Tracking

Conversions on your website went up 20% after your latest campaign. But how many of those conversions were caused by your ads? Could they have been driven by something else?

With conversion tracking, you can be sure that the traffic on your site was derived from your Facebook ad. And with the help of an offsite pixel, you can know it for a fact that the user has actually performed the action you desired.

Offsite Pixel

An offsite pixel is a code provided by Facebook that can be placed within the < HEAD > tags of a specific page of your site to alert Facebook that a conversion is complete.

For example, if you are running an ad to drive the sales on your e-commerce site, then, Facebook tracks that impression, all the way from the click to the actual page where the purchase was made.

The offsite pixel may be added to the success page as well. So once a user buys something on your e-commerce site, they will be directed to a success page that holds your offsite pixel. Facebook then knows that your ad resulted in a successful conversion.

Conversion Types and Optimized CPM

One of the most important things about conversion tracking is that Facebook utilizes Optimized CPM (oCPM) to determine the audience for your ads.

oCPM allows advertisers to prioritize their marketing goals, and then automatically delivers ads against those goals in the most effective way possible. This allows advertisers to maximize the value they get from their budgets.

Your ad is optimized to be surfaced to people who are most likely to perform your desired action. When you set up your offsite pixel, you can optimize for the following conversion types:

• Checkouts
•  Registrations
• Leads
•   Key page views
• Adds to cart
• Other website conversions

In addition, Facebook pieces together a database of users who perform these desired actions through its advertisers who are using conversion tracking. This intelligence helps Facebook target your ad at people most likely to convert.

So here is a 6-step guide to use this tracking mechanism –

1. Use Power Editor

It is recommended that you switch to a simple and free tool called the Power Editor, a Chrome plug-in instead of the self-serve ad tool to create and edit your Facebook ads.

2. Create an Offsite Pixel

Within Power Editor, click on ‘Conversion Tracking’ at the top right. Then click ‘Create Conversion Pixel.

Simply name your pixel (make it  relevant to what you’re tracking) and then select one of the following categories:

•         Checkouts
•         Registrations
•         Leads
•         Key Page Views
•         Adds to Cart
•         Other Website Conversions

After selecting a category, click the “Create Pixel” button.

3. Select the Code

You will now see a message indicating that your Conversion Pixel has been cre­ated.

Click the “View Pixel Code” button. You will then be presented with some code-

Select all of the code within the box and Copy it.

4. Paste the Code and Verify It

After copying and closing the code box from the step above, the pixel status will read ‘Unverified’. That’s because the code needs to be placed on the page of your website that would indicate a conversion.

Once you’ve added the pixel, refresh the page that has the Facebook code in it. Then go back to the Conversion Tracking area of Power Editor to confirm that your pixel is now Active. You may need to refresh Power Editor.

5. Create Your Ad 

You can now create a regular ad either with the Power Editor or the self-serve ad tool. From the Creative tab of the ad create flow; the final option will be to select an Offsite Pixel. Simply check the box and select the appropriate pixel for this ad.

6. Monitor the Results

Now when you view the performance of your ad within the self-serve ad tool, the “Actions” will actually represent conversions, giving you a much clearer picture of the success of your campaign.

This exercise will help you understand user behaviour and make your ad campaign worth the effort. However, the offsite pixel has to be bought.

Wish you success in your campaign.