Why Meta and your online shop show different numbers
Meta says 12 sales, your online shop says 9. Or the other way round. That is normal: Meta counts a sale up to 7 days after a click or 1 day after someone saw your ad, and misses sales from people who refuse cookies. Your online shop simply counts every order.
The AdSweet teamFor online shops and service providersMeta counts differently
By default Meta counts a sale if someone bought up to 7 days after a click, or up to 1 day after seeing your ad. Your online shop doesn’t know that. It simply counts every order.
Not everyone is measured
People who refuse your cookies, use an ad blocker or have certain settings on an iPhone are seen less well by the pixel. Meta then misses sales that did happen.
What you can do
- 1Check in Meta’s Events Manager whether your pixel passes on the right events, such as a purchase.
- 2Also switch on tracking through your server, the Conversions API. It passes on sales without the browser.
- 3Compare trends instead of exact numbers: do both go up or down together?
Look at the whole picture too
Divide your total revenue by what you spent on ads in total. That number, sometimes called MER, honestly tells you whether your ads pay off together, whatever Meta or your online shop count.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Conversions API?
A way to pass sales directly from your online shop to Meta, through the server. That way you also measure sales that the pixel in the browser misses. Many online shop platforms have an integration for it.
Which number is right?
Both, in their own way. Use your online shop for your real revenue and Meta to see which ad works best.