Meta is retiring the pixel in September 2023 😱
Meta is retiring the pixel... but what does that mean and what can you do about it?
Yesterday I had a call from Meta's Tech Pro team about a client account who have both the browser code pixel (the long form code you paste into the tracking box) and also Conversion API (affectionately known as CAPI) installed on some of their platforms.
I asked a few questions around why they wanted to get into the back end and what the purpose was, and the rep told me that they've now had it confirmed that the browser based pixel code will be retired around September time this year...
That's HUGE for a lot of reasons:
The browser based code can be used pretty much anywhere
Which means we can track all the pages, whether they have a CTA or not.
We can write our own events in the browser code with (relative!) ease
Want to see how long someone spent on a page? there's a short code for that....
It's been the set up for as long as anyone remembers and so it's the most familiar
It's easy to find someone who knows how this works, even if you have no interest in learning it!
What replaces the pixel code?
Conversion API. Now, CAPI isn't new. It rose in fame after iOS14 but has always been the 'best practice' set up. In fact, the Meta Tech pro told me that in the tests they've run over all accounts there was an average of 13% uplift in positive results for accounts running CAPI instead of the browser code pixel.
The difference is that the browser code is 3rd party cookie (on the browser) and CAPI is 1st party cookie (server side). Apple's iOS14 update prevented 3rd party cookie tracking in apps, but this was also followed up on browsers such as Safari, Firefox and Brave. Chrome is going to be blocking 3rd party cookies from this summer, too. That means that there will be even less data available to the browser based pixel, so Meta is going all-in on their server-side solution, CAPI.
How do you set up CAPI?
Most of you will be on platforms that have already developed native integrations with CAPI and so can roll through that set up to take advantage of better match-rates on your data and greater optimization on your ads. If there isn't a native integration and you're reliant on browser based code, you have three options:
Move to a system that does have an integration
DropFunnels has a very comprehensive one (and we have a special offer you can take up) Clickfunnels is also pretty decent but broken at the time of writing this!!, Kajabi has it but at a super-basic level, Wordpress has a plugin to do this...). If you're not sure - feel free to ask - we've got a decent knowledge of most platform integrations!
Set up CAPI using Google Analytics 4 & Google Tag Manager
This takes a lot to do (or you outsource to our wonderful tech team to do it for you!) but it is super-robust and easy to manage yourself after the initial set up (eg. needs you to do very little - if anything!).
Use a 3rd party service to set up and run your Conversion API.
There are a number of these around and I'm 100% certain more will spring up! expect to pay around $2500 for a full set up with services such as Stape.io (not affiliated but hear good things!)
The key thing for any of these solutions is that you need all of your tech to be on a domain you can verify. If you can't do that, you can't track the data.
Lastly, don't panic! Whenever there are changes coming there's a lot of noise, hype and clickbait-y headlines designed to whip up excitement and confusion. BUT what we do know is that Meta is heavily invested in making ads work for the masses - that is, after all, how they fund their ventures!
Feel free to reply with any questions!