This document explains the factors that influence event match quality when using FunnelKit and offers guidance on how to improve it. The primary focus is on Facebook's event matching system, how cookies and other parameters play a role, and what steps can be taken to enhance tracking accuracy.
Why Event Match Quality is Low
Event match quality refers to how accurately Facebook can associate the events tracked on your site with the correct user. Several factors can impact this quality.
Reason 1: Cookies (FBC and FBQ)
Event matching quality depends heavily on the fbq and fbc parameters sent to Facebook when a user lands on your site from a Facebook ad.
- Facebook drops fbq and fbc cookies when a user lands on your page from a Facebook Ad.
- If these cookies are present, they are sent to Facebook for event tracking.
- If the cookies are blocked by the user's browser, the event data won't be sent to Facebook.
- Common reasons for cookie blocking include ad blockers, GDPR consent plugins, or other cookie management tools installed in the browser.
- Any tool or setting that blocks cookies will prevent the parameters from being sent to Facebook.
- One sign that cookies are being blocked is when more events are processed by the server (CAPI). Normally, events are processed by the browser, but if that fails, the server takes over.
- If the server is processing more events than usual, this is an indicator that cookie-based tracking has been blocked.
Reason 2: IP Address Issues
Another important parameter for event matching is the user’s IP address.
- You might see an error in the Facebook dashboard, such as "Invalid IP address value for event".
- This error can appear even if your code is correctly implemented.
- This issue often occurs when users are using VPNs or cloud services that mask or change their IP address.
How to Improve Event Match Quality
There are a few steps you can take to improve event match quality, especially for events like purchases.
1. Encourage Early User Login
- When users log in to the site, you can capture their email address, which can be sent to Facebook for better event matching.
- Benefit: By capturing the user’s email early, it allows Facebook to match the event with a real user, improving event accuracy.
2. Send Complete User Details with Purchase Event
- Once a user places an order, you can send complete user details (from the checkout process) to Facebook.
- Benefit: When all user data is provided at checkout, it helps Facebook accurately match the purchase event to the correct user.
3. Improve Tracking for Non-Purchase Events
- Note: Event match quality is often lower for non-purchase events. This is normal, as more detailed user data is available during the purchase process.
- Tip: Focus on improving event matching for purchase events, where user data is more complete.
4. Enable Cookies and Automatic Advanced Matching
- Make sure cookies are enabled on your site, and enable Automatic Advanced Matching in your Facebook dashboard. This feature helps improve the match quality by allowing Facebook to use more data for event matching.
Conclusion
To sum up:
- Event match quality can be low due to blocked cookies, IP address changes (from VPNs or cloud services), or incomplete user data for non-purchase events.
- To improve event match quality:
- Encourage users to log in early to capture their email address.
- Send complete user details after a purchase to Facebook.
- Enable cookies and use Automatic Advanced Matching in Facebook’s settings.
- Encourage users to log in early to capture their email address.
Beyond these steps, no further improvements can be made from the Funnel Builder code perspective.
