I've worked with more than 750+ eComm brands on their data connection between Shopify and Meta/Facebook. There's tons of problems I've found, but these are the top 5 data & tracking issues brands have (and don't even realize).
❌ Landing Pages drop tracking code - there's a ton of excellent third-party landing page platforms out there. Most people don't realize that they drop tracking code and lead to data gaps.
(You need custom code that properly passes tracking code from the Landing page to the Shopify Checkout)
❌ Click data missing from Checkout - lots of customers need multiple web sessions to go from ad click to product purchases. Most people don't realize this leads to dropped click data and purchases that look like direct traffic (but should be attributed to ad clicks).
(You need code that matches sessions and stitches the data together to ensure click data is included with all Purchase events, when available)
❌ Over-counting from non-web orders - A lot of brands have Shop orders, subscription renewals, and offline/draft orders get processed through the Shopify checkout. A basic CAPI connection will send Purchase events for these orders, which leads to misattribution and over-counting.
(You need code that is smart enough to see the order source and re-route non-web orders to separate events)
❌ Light payloads with low EMQ - Most brands and most developers don't realize just how much data you can send in any given payload. If your data payloads are missing external id, FBP, and phone info, it leads to low EMQ scores and limits the performance of your ads.
(You need an advanced CAPI connection that sends the upper limit of all data, ensuring maximum data coverage)
❌ Data volume too low - Many brands fail to hit the minimum volume of 50 conversions per ad set per week. Under this threshold, Meta simply isn't getting enough data to exit the learning phase and will optimize to clicks instead of conversions.
(You need to either increase spend or consolidate your campaigns to ensure you have 50+ weekly conversions)
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If you're using the free/native Shopify CAPI connection, you likely have 3 or more of these issues. Even brands using paid CAPI solutions usually have 1 or more of these issues.