Facebook onsite checkout allows people to purchase products directly within Facebook without leaving the app. It streamlines the shopping experience by enabling purchases with just a few taps, right from the Facebook news feed, ads, Marketplace listings or Shop tabs.
How does Facebook onsite checkout work?
When a business enables onsite checkout on Facebook, a “Checkout on Facebook” button appears on their product listings and ads. When a user taps this button, a checkout window opens within the Facebook app where they can select shipping, enter payment information and complete the purchase without leaving Facebook.
To use Facebook onsite checkout, users must save their payment information to their Facebook account. This can be done through Facebook Pay, which allows secure storage of payment details like credit/debit cards, PayPal accounts, etc. Once payment information is saved, checking out takes just a few taps.
For businesses, integrating onsite checkout involves adding Facebook Pixel, Product Catalog, and enabling checkout in Commerce Manager. This allows product information to be synced to Facebook and checkout to be activated. When users make a purchase, information flows seamlessly between the business’s site and Facebook to complete the order.
What are the benefits of Facebook onsite checkout?
Facebook onsite checkout offers various benefits for both shoppers and businesses:
- Simplified purchasing – Users can buy directly within the Facebook app in a few clicks, without navigating to external sites.
- Faster transactions – With payment information saved, checkout involves minimal data entry compared to traditional flows.
- Higher conversion rates – Onsite checkout removes friction from the purchase process, leading to higher sales conversion.
- Persistence of intent – Keeping users in-app prevents purchase intent from dropping off due to external distractions.
- Valuable user data – Businesses get granular data on ad performance, audience engagement and more through the commerce tools.
- Lower abandonment – Streamlined checkout means fewer abandoned carts and lost sales opportunities.
- New sales channel – The massive Facebook audience becomes a selling channel for product discovery and direct purchases.
Overall, the seamless user experience and expanded ecommerce capabilities make onsite checkout highly appealing for retailers on Facebook.
What types of businesses use Facebook onsite checkout?
Facebook onsite checkout can benefit a wide variety of businesses across categories:
- Ecommerce brands – Apparel, accessories, beauty, footwear, eyewear, jewelry & watch brands use it to enable direct buying from their Facebook Shops.
- Consumer goods – CPG companies allow onsite checkout for products like packaged foods, beverages, home and health products.
- Restaurants – QSR chains, cafes and restaurants can have users order delivery/pickup right on Facebook.
- Entertainment – Event promoters, streaming services and more can sell tickets, subscriptions, etc. onsite.
- Travel – Airlines, hotels, cruise lines and tourism brands can offer bookings without leaving Facebook.
- Non-profits – Charities, political groups and crowdfunding campaigns can accept onsite donations.
Essentially any business with an online buying journey can benefit from enabling onsite checkout on Facebook. It aligns perfectly with existing ad campaigns and social media engagement.
What steps are required to activate onsite checkout?
To get Facebook onsite checkout set up, businesses need to take the following steps:
- Integrate Facebook Pixel on your website to enable event tracking and optimization.
- Create and sync a Product Catalog in Commerce Manager containing item IDs, prices, inventory and other data.
- Confirm your commerce eligibility and get approved for checkout functionality.
- Enable the Checkout on Facebook feature in Commerce Manager and connect your payment provider.
- Add the Facebook Pay payment gateway to your website to manage transaction processing.
- Implement Facebook SDK for JavaScript to coordinate site and app interactions.
- Generate a Checkout on Facebook button to trigger the onsite buying flow.
- Link your Instagram profile and activate Instagram checkout as well (optional).
- Monitor performance in Commerce Manager and Ads Manager to optimize funnel.
With this setup completed, your products will have seamless onsite checkout enabled on Facebook and Instagram!
What payment methods are supported?
Facebook onsite checkout supports a wide range of popular payment methods:
- Credit cards – Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Discover
- Debit cards
- PayPal
- Facebook Pay – stored cards, PayPal, etc.
- Apple Pay
- Google Pay
- Shopify Payments (for Shopify merchants)
- PayBright
- Amazon Pay
- And more…
Users can safely store and use their preferred payment method for Facebook checkout thanks to secure encryption and storage of data.
How do shipping, taxes and discounts work?
During onsite checkout, users can select shipping options and delivery speeds as configured by the merchant. Real-time calculated shipping rates are shown at checkout.
Applicable taxes are also calculated and shown based on the shipping address and other order details. Businesses can set up automated sales tax management through partners like TaxJar.
Discount codes and saved offer redemptions also work seamlessly, with discounts applied to the order total before the final checkout.
All these components are handled through the integration between the business’s systems and Facebook via Pixel, SDK, webhooks, and graph APIs.
How are refunds handled for Facebook checkout purchases?
For refunds on Facebook checkout orders, businesses can programmatically process refunds through the Graph API. This automatically communicates the refund to the customer and syncs it across Facebook’s systems.
Alternatively, manual refunds can also be issued from the merchant’s payment provider dashboard like Shopify, Stripe, etc. The customer will receive a payment notification, and order data is updated on Facebook as applicable.
Return management for physical products works as per standard business policies. However, the payment refund component is facilitated digitally for smooth processing.
Is Facebook checkout available globally?
As of late 2022, Facebook onsite checkout is available in the following countries:
- United States
- Canada
- Brazil
- United Kingdom
- Ireland
- France
- Germany
- Spain
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Australia
The list continues to expand over time. Businesses should check their commerce manager account for eligibility in specific countries.
Does Facebook checkout work on mobile apps?
Yes, Facebook’s onsite checkout is fully optimized for mobile apps. Users of the Facebook iOS and Android apps can checkout within the native app itself.
The checkout flow adapts smoothly across device sizes while retaining user payment information, reducing data entry and streamlining purchases.
Facebook also provides a range of SDKs and APIs for integrating checkout functionality into company-owned iOS, Android, React Native, Unity, C++ and HTML5 mobile apps.
How does Facebook checkout impact SEO?
Facebook onsite checkout has minimal impact on SEO since purchases occur directly within the Facebook app, not on a retailer’s site. No traffic is redirected away from the business’s site.
However, integrating Facebook commerce features like Pixel and product catalogs can enhance SEO in other ways like:
- Providing structured data about products for better indexing
- Driving more external traffic with re-marketing ads
- Offering insight for better content optimization
- Building brand authority and engagement
Overall the impact is neutral or positive. Facebook checkout does not divert traffic but can complement SEO through credited conversions and retargeting.
How does onsite checkout benefit Facebook?
Facebook benefits in the following ways from enabling onsite checkout:
- Increased engagement – More transactional activity keeps users active on Facebook.
- Valuable data – Enhanced data from Pixel and conversions inform ad targeting.
- Commerce revenues – Facebook may charge merchants fees on checkout transactions.
- Retail partnerships – Strategic commerce partnerships can be formed with major brands.
- Competitive edge – Checkout differentiation fends off rivals like Instagram and TikTok.
Essentially, seamless on-platform transactions provide a lucrative ecommerce flywheel. This incentivizes Facebook to invest in building increasingly advanced checkout capabilities.
Does Facebook checkout work for services and digital goods?
Facebook checkout is optimized for physical product sales, but can also facilitate buying services, events tickets, digital subscriptions and more.
For services like appointments, Facebook integrates with scheduling platforms like Setmore, Vagaro and more to enable bookings.
For digital goods, inventory sync ensures accurate availability. Access keys or downloads are enabled after transaction confirmation.
Facebook checkout universally captures user and payment details for easy purchasing across categories.
How does Facebook checkout usage impact advertising costs?
Enabling Facebook checkout does not directly impact ad costs on Facebook. However, it can lead to lower cost per purchase over time in the following ways:
- Higher conversions from reduced friction mean better ad performance.
- Retargeting users who have checked out allows more relevant, effective ads.
- Lower acquisition costs come from optimizing top/middle-funnel actions.
- Automated reporting provides data to optimize for conversion value.
- High intent users from checkout retargeting convert better.
Essentially, the streamlined experience and rich analytics improve the ROI of ads by driving more on-platform transactions.
How does Facebook checkout compare to Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, etc?
| Feature | Facebook Checkout | Shopify | WooCommerce | Magento |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onsite checkout | Yes | Via Shopify Pay | Through plugin | Via integration |
| Native mobile checkout | Yes | Shopify app | Limited | Magento app |
| Social integration | Seamless | Basic social plugins | Can embed feed | Some APIs available |
| Advertising platform | Integrated Facebook ads | Third party only | Third party only | Third party only |
| Transaction fees | Yes | Yes | Payment provider fees only | Payment provider fees only |
In summary, Facebook checkout is directly optimized for in-app social commerce while the others are broader ecommerce platforms requiring custom integration.
What risks or disadvantages does Facebook checkout have?
Some potential downsides for businesses to consider with Facebook checkout include:
- Transaction fees – Facebook may charge a percentage of purchases made.
- Data dependence – Heavy reliance on Facebook for sales channels.
- Platform changes – Checkout functionality can change with little notice.
- Inventory issues – Stock-outs if catalog sync fails.
- Loss of branding – Less branding than on the merchant’s own site.
- Single point of failure – Facebook outages can disrupt transactions.
- Compliance uncertainty – Unclear how regulations like GDPR apply.
However, Facebook provides a major new ecommerce avenue that may outweigh these factors for many businesses. Proper planning and integration can mitigate the potential risks.
Conclusion
Facebook onsite checkout eliminates the need to exit Facebook when making purchases, resulting in higher conversion rates and greater customer satisfaction. It offers tremendous advantages for retailers in terms of convenience and sales growth. Integrating commerce capabilities like Pixel, Catalogs and Facebook Pay enables businesses to sell products directly within Facebook and Instagram.
Despite minor risks like transaction fees and platform dependency, Facebook checkout presents a huge new ecommerce opportunity. Payments and logistics coordation via APIs enable virtually frictionless transactions. For most businesses, the benefits clearly justify adopting onsite checkout to unlock the full potential of social commerce.