The Facebook pixel is a piece of code that you place on your website to track visits, conversions, and other analytics. The pixel allows you to understand how people are using your website and optimize your Facebook ad campaigns. One key feature of the Facebook pixel is the ability to track custom conversions.
What is a custom conversion?
A custom conversion is an action you want to track that is unique to your business. For example, you might want to track when someone signs up for a trial, makes a phone call, or downloads your app. These are actions that may indicate someone is moving down your sales funnel, but are not standard ecommerce transactions like add to cart or purchase.
With custom conversions, you place extra code on the page where this action happens. This allows the pixel to record when this event occurs, just like it would for a standard conversion event like a purchase. You can then optimize your Facebook ads to get more of the custom conversions that are important to your business.
Why use custom conversions?
Here are some of the key reasons to use custom conversions with Facebook pixel:
- Track important funnel steps beyond purchases – Understand how people interact with your site beyond basic ecommerce events.
- Optimize campaigns for your unique goals – Set up campaigns to maximize the custom events that indicate quality leads or customers.
- Identify new optimization opportunities – See where you may be losing customers in your funnel based on drop off before custom events.
- Enhanced remarketing – Remarket to people who have hit custom conversions but not purchased yet.
- Better measurement of ROI – Calculate ROI based on the value of different custom conversions like trials or phone calls.
How to set up a custom conversion
Here are the basic steps to create a custom conversion in Facebook pixel:
- Log in to Facebook Ads Manager and go to the Events Manager.
- Click +Create Event and select Custom Conversion as the event type.
- Give your conversion a name like “Started Trial” or “Downloaded App”.
- Enter the value of this conversion to you in your chosen currency.
- Get the pixel code to place on your site where this conversion occurs.
- Insert the code on your site page – for example the Thank You page after signing up.
- Test the tracking by completing the conversion action yourself.
- Start optimizing campaigns to get more of this custom conversion!
It only takes a few minutes to set up a custom conversion once you know where you want to track it on your site. Make sure to test it thoroughly to ensure proper tracking.
Best practices for custom conversions
Here are some best practices to follow when setting up and using custom conversions:
- Give conversions clear, specific names that map to business goals.
- Focus on 3-5 high-value custom conversions – don’t track too many events.
- Assign an accurate conversion value for each event type.
- Place the tracking code on relevant post-action pages like Thank You or confirmation pages.
- Test tracking frequently by completing the actions yourself.
- Compare performance to other conversion events and optimize over time.
- Review custom conversion performance and tweak values or events as needed.
Examples of custom conversions
Here are some examples of custom conversions businesses use along with where you would place the tracking code:
| Custom Conversion | Tracking Code Placement |
|---|---|
| Signed Up for Trial | Thank You page after signing up for trial |
| Downloaded Ebook | Thank You page after downloading ebook |
| Played Video | On page with video player, after user plays video |
| Filled Out Contact Form | Thank You page after submitting form |
| Added Product to Cart | Cart page after user adds product |
Get creative with custom conversions relevant to your business! Any important user action can likely be turned into a conversion event.
Troubleshooting custom conversions
Here are some common issues that may come up with custom conversions and how to solve them:
- Conversion not tracking – Double check tracking code is on correct page, test it yourself, and check Facebook pixel helper browser extension.
- No data in Ads Manager – Can take 24-48 hours for data to show up for new events. Let it run.
- Multiple conversions recorded – Make sure code only fires once on page. Use JavaScript or CSS to prevent duplicate fires.
- Conversion value seems off – Review your assigned conversion values. Make sure they align with event values.
- Poor conversion optimization – Give the campaign time to optimize for the new conversion event, and create separate campaigns focused only on that custom event.
Conclusion
Custom conversions are a powerful Facebook pixel feature that lets you track important actions unique to your business. By setting them up, you can better understand your sales funnel, identify optimization opportunities, remarket better, and calculate ROI more accurately. Follow Facebook’s setup guides, stick to best practices, validate tracking, and give your campaigns time to optimize around your custom conversions.