Facebook event parameters allow you to track user actions and customize the user experience on your website. By implementing Facebook pixel and using event parameters, you can gain valuable insights into how users interact with your site and retarget them with relevant Facebook ads.
What is the Facebook pixel?
The Facebook pixel is a snippet of code you place on your website that enables Facebook to track visits and interactions. The pixel collects data that Facebook uses to deliver targeted, optimized ads to your audience and measure ad performance.
With the Facebook pixel implemented, you can fire custom events that correspond to meaningful actions users take on your site, such as viewing a product, adding to cart, initiating checkout, and completing a purchase.
Why use Facebook event parameters?
Here are some of the key benefits of using Facebook event parameters:
- Gain insights into how users interact with your website – See what content they view, products they add to cart, and actions they take.
- Retarget users based on their site behavior – Create custom audiences and target users who have taken specific actions.
- Optimize ads based on conversions – Use parameters to optimize for actions that matter to your business, like registrations or purchases.
- Attribution – Attribute conversions from Facebook ads back to the specific events.
- Automate reporting – Pull conversion event data into business intelligence tools.
Without Facebook event tracking, you only get data on website visits and basic interactions. Event parameters enable much deeper tracking and targeting capabilities.
Overview of Facebook event parameters
Facebook offers a set of standard event parameters you can use to track interactions on your site. Parameters can be specified when the event fires on the page.
Here are some of the most common default parameters:
- fbp – Facebook Click ID used for attribution
- fb_content_type – Type of content being viewed, e.g. “product”
- fb_content_id – Unique ID for the content, like a product SKU
- fb_num_items – Number of items added to cart or purchased
- fb_value – Total value of items added to cart or purchased
- fb_currency – Currency code, e.g. “USD”
You can also create custom parameters to capture any additional data that is meaningful for your business.
How to implement event tracking
To implement Facebook event tracking, follow these steps:
- Add the Facebook pixel base code on every page of your website.
- Identify the meaningful actions and pages on your site.
- Decide which standard and custom parameters you want to track for each action.
- Add the
fbq('track', 'EventName', {parameters});JavaScript function on pages with the relevant actions, specifying the event name and parameters. - Test event tracking by taking actions on your site and checking if they show up in Facebook Analytics.
- Use Facebook’s Ads Manager to create custom audiences and ads based on your conversion events.
Properly executed event tracking provides you with the data needed for audience insights and targeted advertising.
Examples of Facebook event tracking
Here are some examples of implementing Facebook event tracking for common ecommerce actions:
ViewContent event
Fires when user views a product page:
“`js
fbq(‘track’, ‘ViewContent’, {
content_name: ‘Unisex Sunglasses’,
content_category: ‘Apparel & Accessories > Eyewear > Sunglasses’,
content_ids: [‘SKU_12345’],
content_type: ‘product’
});
“`
AddToCart event
Fires when user adds product to cart:
“`js
fbq(‘track’, ‘AddToCart’, {
content_name: ‘Unisex Sunglasses’,
content_category: ‘Apparel & Accessories > Eyewear > Sunglasses’,
content_ids: [‘SKU_12345’],
content_type: ‘product’,
value: 99.00,
currency: ‘USD’
});
“`
InitiateCheckout event
Fires when user proceeds to checkout page:
“`js
fbq(‘track’, ‘InitiateCheckout’, {
num_items: 1,
value: 99.00,
currency: ‘USD’
});
“`
You would define similar events for registrations, lead generation, and other conversions.
Using parameters for custom audiences
One of the best uses of event tracking is building custom audiences based on site behavior.
For example, you can create an audience of all users who viewed a certain product category over the past 30 days:
Or target users who added a specific high-value product to their cart:
The audiences can then be targeted with tailored ads driving them back to your website.
Tips for effective event tracking
Here are some tips to ensure you implement Facebook event tracking effectively:
- Identify your most important conversion funnels.
- Avoid tracking too many unnecessary events that create noise.
- Standardize content IDs across your website and ads.
- Include detailed product attributes in ViewContent events.
- Set values and currencies for all AddToCart and purchase events.
- Test your tracking implementation thoroughly.
- Document your events in a spec for your team.
- Review events and audiences regularly in Ads Manager.
With the right event tracking strategy, you can turn insights into results with targeted advertising.
Advanced event tracking
In addition to standard events, the Facebook pixel offers advanced features for deeper analytics:
Parameter-based attribution
Lets you analyze which events contribute to a conversion and attribute value accordingly. For example, you may find 30% of revenue comes from site visitors who previously viewed a product.
First- and multi-touch attribution
Attributes conversion to both the first event as well as multiple events that preceded the conversion. Provides a more complete picture of the user journey.
Conversion value optimization
Uses machine learning to optimize ads to users most likely to have high-value conversions, based on historical conversion data.
Lifetime value attribution
Attributes a share of conversions to events beyond the initial conversion window, up to 7 days. Accounts for delayed conversions.
Cross-device tracking
Connects user activity across devices for cross-device measurement and attribution. Requires enabling the Facebook graph API and business integration.
Implementing these advanced features involves additional coding and setup beyond standard event tracking. But the expanded data can take your Facebook ads and analytics to the next level.
Conclusion
Facebook event parameters enable detailed tracking of user interactions on your website. By tagging meaningful actions with events and associated parameters, you gain insights that can be used to target customized audiences and optimize ads for conversions.
Standard events for ecommerce include ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, and Purchase. Custom parameters allow capturing important product, cart, and transaction attributes. Setting up effective tracking requires identifying key funnels, implementing events consistently, and testing the data captured.
Advanced features like attribution, lifetime value and cross-device tracking enable even more powerful analysis and targeting. By leveraging Facebook’s event tracking capabilities, you can gain actionable data to retarget high-intent users and maximize advertising ROI.