Here’s the thing. You can run a Facebook website traffic ad that drives people to your site. But you’ll never really know if they are buying your products, signing up to your mailing list or downloading as a result of your ad unless you use the Facebook pixel.
By adding this little bit of code to your site you can see when someone takes action as a result of your ad. You’ll know if your ads are really working.
I know it seems like a lot of hassle but once you’ve installed it you’ll be annoyed you didn’t do it earlier.
Here’s why
A few weeks ago we looked at the advantages and disadvantages of website conversion ads over lead generation ads. Last week we looked at Lead gen ads in more detail, but there’s a part of me that will always believe that conversion ads are the real deal. The proper way to manage lead collection.
Website conversion ads?
Facebook website conversion ads work by tracking visitors to your website. Facebook will give you a bit of code that you add to your site called a pixel. This lets Facebook see who visits and which pages they look at.
In my case, I’m trying to gain new email subscribers. I’ve created a ‘Thank you’ page on my site that people are directed to once they subscribe. If I want to see if my ads are working, I add a bit of extra code to that thank you page. Facebook will log a conversion each time someone visits that page as a result of clicking on my ad.
What can you measure?
They’re handy for me but they’re vital if you are running an eCommerce site. You’re going to want to measure the monetary effect of your Facebook ads. The Pixel and conversion ads are the perfect fit.
Facebook gives you conversion code for:
- Search
- View Content
- Add to Cart
- Add to Wishlist
- Initiate Checkout
- Add Payment Info
- Purchase
- Lead
- Complete Registration
- Custom Event (you define its name)
Setting up conversion ads
Setting up a conversion ad is as straightforward as setting up any other ad type in Ads Manager or Power Editor. The hard bit is setting up the pixel. But it’s not actually as complicated as you might think, it’s something you’ll regret putting off.
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Here are the basics:
1. Go to ads manager and get the pixel
From ads manager click the three lines at the top of the screen. Expand the menu click ‘All Tools’ at the bottom of the dropdown.
Select ‘Pixels’ under the ‘Assets’ menu
If you’ve never set up a pixel, Facebook will help you get started.
If you have created your pixel click ‘Actions’ and ‘View Pixel Code’
Copy the base code and install it in the head section of your website. You may need your website developer to assist here.
Once this is installed Facebook should recognise it.
Now you just need to add the ‘Event code’ that measures conversions to your individual pages. These could be payment confirmation pages for eCommerce or thank-you pages for email signups or lead magnet downloads.
You’ll find the code below your base code.
Argh, can I do that on WordPress?
If you are a fellow WordPress user you’ll run into a problem at this stage. You can edit your head code but when you do, it edits the head section on every page, not just the one you want to manage conversions on.
The solution is to use a plugin. There are lots available but if you want to make pixel installation really simple you can’t beat Pixel Caffeine from Ad Espresso. It’s free to use and it will handle not just your conversions but the entire pixel.
I managed to have it up and running in a couple of minutes.
Is this thing on? How to find out if the pixel is working?
If you’ve set up everything correctly you’ll get a big tick on your Pixels page in ads manager
If you are a Google Chrome user you can also check individual pages on your site using the FB Pixel helper for Chrome. Once installed you can check the pixel status on any page on your site.
As you can see mine is registering as it should on my thank you page.
Setting up a website conversions ad
Your pixel is in place all that remains is to set up an ad. The process is the same as setting up any ad.
Start by selecting the ‘Conversions’ objective.
Click inside the ‘Website or Messenger’ box to find your event. Select it from the drop-down menu.
Continue to create your ads as normal.
Tip – You can measure conversions from any ad type
Website conversion ads are optimised to be targeted at people within your audience that are most likely to take the action you have specified. So, as I’m collecting leads, Facebook will choose the people from my audience who are most likely to fill in a lead form.
However, you can measure conversions from any ad your run. For example. I have a pop-up on my site directing people to my lead incentive. If I’m running a website traffic ad there’s a chance that some of those people will also end up on the thank you page I’m measuring.
To measure these conversions create your ad as usual. Right at the bottom left of the ad creation interface, just before you purchase your ad you have the option to track all conversions from your pixel.
That’s it, now you’ll know if you got any conversions as a result of your ad even if that wasn’t what you optimised for.
What’s stopping you?
If you haven’t tried website conversions ad now give them a try. It’s really not as hard to set up as you think and you can measure conversions and results to know you are getting return on investment.
Have you tried conversion ads? How did you get on with the code? Did you see good results? I’d love to hear about your experiences.
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