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You are here: Home / Blog / How to Master the Facebook Pixel Like a Pro (in 2020 and beyond)

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How to Master the Facebook Pixel Like a Pro (in 2020 and beyond)

December 12, 2019 26 Comments AdEspresso Ads Specialists

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Out of all of the incredible tools Facebook has created for marketers, perhaps the most useful is Facebook Pixel.

The pixel allows you to monitor how successful your Facebook Ads actually were—giving you more accurate conversion stats—and create custom audiences based on site traffic.

These are huge, exceptionally valuable benefits.

Anyone running Facebook Ads should absolutely, without a doubt have the pixel installed.

In this post, we’re going to go over everything you need to know about the Facebook Pixel, including what you can do with it, how to install it, and tools that can make the process a little easier!

And if you want to take the next step, we’ll also give you an exclusive chance to learn How to master the Facebook Pixel like a pro for FREE!

9 Reasons Why You Need the Facebook Pixel

Simply put if you’re sending traffic to your website the Facebook pixel is the difference between success and failure.

The Facebook pixel gives you powerful audience building and tracking options plus a few more perks including:

  1. Track the number of conversions e.g. newsletter signups or purchases, the cost per conversion (CPA) and the conversion rate (CVR).
  2. Revenue reporting: most e-commerce carts can pass the actual order value back to Facebook. This allows you to measure return on ad spend (ROAS) which is often more important than the cost per sale.
  3. Analyze your sales funnel. For example, at AdEspresso we might analyze Leads > Trials > Purchases as our customer journey. In e-commerce you would look at the number of products viewed and compare to the number of add to carts, the number of checkouts initiated and the number of purchases. If the conversion rate is lower than expected at any stage that’s where you can focus your efforts when refining the sales funnel.
  4. Build website custom audiences (WCAs) of all website visitors for retargeting.
  5. Create audiences of people that have taken the desired action (leads, purchases etc) to exclude from retargeting. This saves you money and stops leads and customers from getting annoyed by seeing ads asking them to take an action that they’ve already performed.
  6. Create lookalike audiences in seconds, these are groups of people with very similar characteristics to the seed audience the pixel creates. These pixel based lookalikes will dynamically update over time so they will always be relevant when using them in cold traffic campaigns.
  7. You can optimize for conversions. A recent AdEspresso $1,000 experiment showed that optimizing for link clicks cost 3.4 times more per conversion than when optimizing for conversions. Simply put the pixel allows you to get the same results for $1,000 that you’d get by spending $3,400 on ads when not using the pixel.
  8. Dynamic product ads can be created, allowing you to retarget recent website visitors with the exact products they viewed.
  9. The pixel is completely free!

via GIPHY

Keep in mind that the pixel can’t work retrospectively, it can only create audiences and track conversions going forward once it has been installed. Therefore even if you don’t need pixel tracking yet, install it as soon as possible.

The website custom audiences are valid for up to 180 days so if you install the pixel now it could still be helping your Facebook advertising six months down the line.

How to Create Your Facebook Pixel

Each pixel has its own unique 15 digit ID, which you’ll install on every page you want to track on your site.

There’s two way to generate your unique code: Through Ads manager and through Business Manager.

Method 1: Through the Ads Manager

Click on the drop-down menu in the top left corner once you’ve navigated to the Ads Manager, and click on “All Tools” at the very bottom of the options.

Then select “Pixels.”

Facebook's tracking pixel

This is what you’ll see when you land on the pixel page:

When you hit “Create a Pixel,” all you’ll have to do is name the pixel in order to create it.

Method 2: Through your Business Manager

Within Business Manager navigate to the pixel section on the left-hand menu and create a new pixel.

Facebook pixel installation

Just as with the ads manager option, give your pixel a name.

You can create up to 100 pixels, but only if you have Business Manager.

Finally, you’ll want to assign the pixel to certain ad accounts so that it can be used in your ad campaigns.

facebook pixel assign to ad account

Once you’ve done either of these methods, you just have to decide how you want to install it.

Which brings us to our next section…

How to Install the Facebook Pixel

When you create your pixel and once it’s time to set it up, Facebook will automatically present you with several different ways to install your pixel.

For this guide, we’re going to show you:

  • how to install the tracking pixel manually,
  • the simpler way to do it with AdEspresso’s own Pixel Caffeine,
  • and how to easily install the pixel on Shopify stores.

If you’ve found us because you’re actively searching for how to install the pixel, read through this post in its entirety before starting to add it to your website.

We’re also going to show you how to install specific events into the code, so wait to read that before clicking away and starting the installation process!

Traditional Manual Installation

Manual installation is the traditional and most common way to install Facebook’s tracking pixel. When you’re on the Pixel page in the Ads Manager, you’ll see the option to “Finish Setting Up Pixel” if it’s not installed yet. Click this.

When you see this, you’ll be shown three different options. Go ahead and choose “Install Manually”.

On the next screen, you’ll see an enormous box of text code in step 2.

That’s your pixel. Copy it.

You’ll install it into the header of every individual page on your site that you want to track.

Facebook tracking pixel installation

When you click to your site get behind the scenes and, go to each page’s code.

You’ll then install the pixel in the header:

how to install Facebook's tracking pixel

The Pro Secret: Use Pixel Caffeine

Pixel Caffeine is an incredible WordPress plugin created by AdEspresso to manage Facebook Pixel and Facebook Product Catalog.

In just a few simple clicks, you can have Facebook pixel live on your website, track conversions and begin creating custom audiences for almost any parameter you want – whether its web pages visited, products & content viewed, or custom & dynamic events.

Unlike all the other professional plugins available, Pixel Caffeine has no limitations and no hidden costs or fees, that’s probably why it has over 50,000 (and counting) active installs, and we recommend that all our clients use it on their sites if they’re using WordPress.

pixel caffeine

gs

The biggest advantage of Pixel Caffeine is easily its custom audience features.

This tool will help you to create laser-focused custom audiences like you wouldn’t even believe.

You can read more about that here or click on the image below and watch a video.

The reason we’re talking about Pixel Caffeine specifically in this post, however, is because it makes the whole Facebook pixel set up hurdle a heck of a lot easier.

Before using any of the features, you’ll connect through your Facebook account. This is a one-step process giving Pixel Caffeine access to your Facebook Ads accounts.

Back on the Pixel Caffeine dashboard (located within your WordPress plugins), you’ll choose which Ad account you want to connect for this particular site and which pixel ID you want to use.

Pixel Caffeine will automatically pull up the pixel IDs you can select based on the ad account you choose.

That’s it! Once you hit ok, your pixel is installed.

As you can see in the screenshot below, you can also set advanced options (like custom events) and choosing to delay pixel firing by a custom number of seconds.

Here’re a few examples of what you can do with Pixel caffeine:

  • Create “category” audiences for your blog or website and then re-target these visitors with lead generation or direct sale campaigns
  • Create audiences of people that viewed specific products and dynamically target them with specific incentives or coupons for exactly the products they viewed
  • Create audiences of those that submit particular forms, click on certain buttons, or take certain actions while navigating or searching your website.
  • Create a product catalog with only products in specific categories (e.g. final sale, in stock, special offer, and so on).

Need more help? Watch this tutorial then:

Installing the Facebook Pixel in Shopify

Have a Shopify store you want to install the tracking pixel on? This is actually pretty easy.

First, find your pixel ID.

This can be found on the main Pixel Page, under the pixel’s name.

Copy the pixel ID, and then head to your Shopify Store.

Once there, navigate to Preferences, located towards the very bottom of “Sales Channels”.

Once there, scroll down until you see “Facebook Pixel.”

All you have to do now is paste the pixel ID that you’ve already copied from Facebook right into this box:

facebook pixel for shopify

Aaaaand you’re set!

How to Add Events to Your Facebook Pixel

After installing the Facebook pixel, you’ll want to add “events” to it in order to determine what you’re actually tracking.

You would, for example, place an extra snippet of code to the end of the pixel when someone adds an item to their cart.

add events to facebook pixel

The event options that you have available now include:

  • Add to basket
  • Add payment info
  • Add to wishlist
  • Complete registration
  • Contact
  • Customize product
  • Donate
  • Find location
  • Initiate checkout
  • Lead
  • Purchase
  • Schedule
  • Search
  • Start trial
  • Submit application
  • Subscribe
  • View content

And Now, Become a Facebook Pixel Master

Did you know that there’s a range of tools to help you check that your pixels are set up correctly including Facebook Pixel Helper and the Pixel section in Business Manager?

Do you have advanced matching turned on for your pixel? It’s turned off by default so most advertisers aren’t using it… but you can activate it in under 60 seconds.

Advanced matching allows Facebook to take user-submitted data from your website (such as email addresses and phone numbers) to give more accurate matches and larger custom audiences for retargeting.

facebook pixel advanced matching

Did you know that anyone can grab your pixel ID and install it anywhere?

A few days ago we discovered the AdEspresso Facebook pixel had been installed on a website for people looking for “clubs, bars, sex” in Tokyo. That means we were retargeting people not interested in our product and wasting our money. A simple, quick audit of our Pixel fixed the problem.

This could be happening to your business too, right now. But do you know how to stop this?

With Facebook advertising starting to be around for a few years it’s important to audit your assets every so often.
Pixel auditing should be part of your routine Business Manager auditing. Every time I take on a new client I generally find old employees still with admin access, old pixels on their website and all sorts of junk that need tidying up.

For example, maybe you had your pixel on a client website and no longer have access to that website, as you can’t remove the pixel you can block it instead.
Especially when starting out businesses and particularly agencies don’t always follow best practice and so you might end up with pixels in the wrong places a few years down the line.

What else would you like to know about the Facebook Pixel?

Ask your question to our Facebook Ad expert during the How to Master the Facebook Pixel like a Pro webinar!

Our Head of Education, Paul Fairbrother, has covered in depth all the options available that help you set up, debug and then utilize the Facebook pixel in your marketing.

Click to register for the webinar!

Are you a Pixel rookie? Click the image above and register now. Paul has simplified the whole installation/monitoring process so that you can be up and running in minutes!

If you already have your pixel installed, in the webinar we’ll be covering some powerful advanced strategies for you too. Simply click here (or on the image) and register.

Conclusion

Why did digital advertising spend overtake TV advertising in 2019? It’s largely down to pixels, including the Facebook pixel which can be used for:

  • tracking how many leads, registrations, and sales you got from your ads
  • knowing how much revenue those sales generated
  • creating audiences for retargeting campaigns
  • generating Lookalike audiences in seconds
  • getting Facebook to optimize for conversions instead of just traffic or reach
  • running Dynamic Product Ads

If you want to be able to accurately monitor your campaigns’ ROI and utilize website visitor retargeting (and you should absolutely want to do both), you don’t have much choice: you need to install the Facebook Pixel a must-use tool for all Facebook marketers.

At face value, the pixel looks complex, and Facebook doesn’t make using their pixel easy. But now you’re all set, with the info in this blog and the priceless tricks you’ll learn during our webinar How to master the Facebook Pixel like a pro.

What do you think? How much do you benefit from Facebook’s tracking pixel? Have you tried out Pixel Caffeine? Leave us a comment and let us know what you think!

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Comments

  1. Imran Nazish says

    September 27, 2017 at 1:36 pm

    Thank you sharing such a nice article about FB Pixels, I was skeptical about it and now understand its benefits. Actually, I have added it a year ago but never used for marketing purposes or anything else but will utilize it for next campaign.

    Reply
    • Rome Ali says

      January 21, 2018 at 6:57 pm

      I have an FB PIXEL installed in my website. But I do not know how it is doing or to read it.

      Reply
  2. Prashant says

    September 28, 2017 at 11:27 pm

    Hi,

    I have a concern that, if a payment method is not added in Facebook ad account then the Facebook lead event will be tracked or not?

    Awaiting your response.

    Thanks,

    Reply
  3. Natalia says

    October 9, 2017 at 12:26 pm

    Hi Ana! Another incredible article 🙂

    Question: how many “events” does the Facebook pixel need to register before it’s considered statistically useful? E.g. if I install the pixel and get 10 subscriptions, should I wait until I’ve gotten 100 before I build audiences based off the event? 1000? 500?

    Reply
    • Gil says

      October 18, 2017 at 9:11 am

      Hi Natalia,

      The minimum size to build a lookalike audience is 100; however, you really want at least 500-1000 to give FB better data to work with.

      Another great article, Ana, I need to give Pixel Caffeine a try next time I’m working with a client with a WP site!

      Reply
  4. Sanju Joseph says

    October 17, 2017 at 8:58 am

    Great content & Great Plugin! Will surely give it a try. Thank you

    Reply
  5. bill says

    November 2, 2017 at 10:13 am

    Very helpful article, and I’ll have to check out the plugin.

    What about having more than one pixel on a site? Does that cause problems?

    Reply
  6. Karol says

    January 5, 2018 at 5:17 am

    wonderfull article! thanks! I’ve installed Pixel yesterday but i still do not understand 3 things about it.
    1. I assume that it tracks only logged in facebook users, right?
    2. I understand that i cannot simply tell from it that particular ppl who for example used contact form were brought to my site with a particular ad? Please, correct me if I’m wrong 🙂
    3. If I used the Pixel’s collected data to create custom ad audiences – will facebook use these data as representation of target audience OR ppl who visited and performed actions will be used as the target?

    Thanks in advance! Best wishes!

    Reply
    • Rome Ali says

      January 22, 2018 at 7:52 pm

      Karol, I do not know anything about FB PIXEL, but I do have one installed on my website. HOW DO I COLLECT PIXEL DATA?

      Reply
  7. K Prakash says

    January 8, 2018 at 2:16 am

    A great thank’s for share such a helpful post. I am beginner in Facebook marketing, I am running a Facebook campaign but unable to track it like web tracking through analytic. Your post relay help me to track visitor..

    Reply
  8. Rachael says

    April 29, 2018 at 1:52 am

    Thank you so much for your article! It’s really helped me a lot thus far.

    I sell event tickets through Resident Advisor, they state they can currently only install the pageview and purchase events on our pages. We currently have 3 different event pages that register pageviews. However, when a purchase is completed, it always ends on the same purchase page and is only tracked there. How do I track which purchase event is which?

    Additionally, how do I add a purchase value? We have 3 tiers of purchasing (earlybird, first release and final release). Is this possible?

    Thank you so much for your help!

    Reply
  9. PurchaseTheme says

    May 6, 2018 at 8:43 am

    It helps me lot. Thanks for the same.

    Reply
  10. Gazzaly says

    June 12, 2018 at 5:04 am

    Do you think Facebook pixel capture conversion # pages? Example –> book-a-room#/confirmation

    Reply
  11. Milan says

    July 25, 2018 at 12:43 am

    How can I track people who visited a certain page but haven’t clicked the sign up button?

    Reply
  12. Subhash says

    September 3, 2018 at 3:36 am

    Hi Guys, I am using a Signup form on my website. So there are 2 pages, one page includes the “Form” Second page is “Thank you” page. But I got confused about “Pixel Standard Events” on Both pages. What “Standard Event” should I use for the page(with form) and for “thank you” page. I found Facebook instruction is confusing

    https://www.facebook.com/business/help/community/question/?id=10212934455707679&rdrhc

    Reply
  13. Amy says

    October 3, 2018 at 2:33 am

    ***HELP*** I can’t connect my Facebook manually or via the connect Facebook button, I get this error message:

    “Cannot save on facebook account because of something gone wrong during facebook connection”

    WHYYYYYYY? I have tried on Safari and Chrome, I have downloaded the latest version of the plug-in & have tried over & over again.

    Reply
  14. micari says

    October 7, 2018 at 6:56 am

    I have 4 products that i sell in my womens boutique, so do i need a pixel for each product???

    Reply
  15. Mike Thomas says

    October 15, 2018 at 1:12 am

    I’m going to start FB ads campaign for a new Shopify store. Is facebook pixel app is a good option to start with?

    Reply
  16. art says

    October 16, 2018 at 10:08 am

    how do you read the results after the pixel is installed?

    Reply
  17. Michael Lewis says

    January 3, 2019 at 5:48 am

    Good Content
    I totally agree with post’s content.
    It is really helpful to facebook users.
    Thank you for sharing your great knowledge with us.
    Looking forward to your further tips on similar topics Thanks for sharing these wonderful tips

    Reply
  18. Dewan Rakib says

    January 5, 2019 at 11:24 am

    Thanks for the great article. I have a question. As I can create up to 10 pixels from business account, how should I implement this pixels when I have more than 10 different websites in different niche to manage? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

    Reply
  19. Santhosh M M says

    February 9, 2019 at 3:59 am

    great post on managing Facebook pixel track.

    Reply
  20. viks says

    February 28, 2019 at 4:16 am

    i was wondering how the facebook pixel work and i just came across this article which clearly explain everything. thank you so much for this article.

    Reply
  21. Rich says

    March 21, 2019 at 5:15 pm

    Do you know what Facebook’s data collection and storage policies are? Does Facebook own this data?

    Reply
  22. Abdullah Prem says

    August 31, 2019 at 11:55 pm

    I would like to know, whether pixel start to record immediately or it will take time?
    I’ve installed pixel yesterday where my blogs gets 300+ traffic per day. But today i went and checked custom conversion it shows “Zero”.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Facebook Pixel going AUTOMATIC! – Sam's Digital Marketing Adventure: an MKF 3881 Blog says:
    August 13, 2018 at 1:14 am

    […] quote from a blog post on adespresso.com says it all: “Facebook’s tracking pixel has two major capabilities: tracking users who took […]

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