FB Conversions Being Counted Mutiple Times!

[gavseim]

I have a FB tracking pixel for conversions that I input the code for in general Preferences for the common thank you page. It works, but the problem is it's being counted too many times, sometimes.



I can't always tell when it's firing more than once, it is sometimes, but not always. For example I may have a FB add running and get 5 conversions in a day but I go to sales and I've only made 3 sales that day, confirming that extra conversations are being triggered.



So the question is why would the pixel be firing more than once with that given sale and result in extra conversion reporting. Accurate conversion tracking is a big deal so we know what ads are making money and which are now.



Any idea on how to fix this?

[E-junkie_Guru]

I wonder if the FB tracking code counts a conversion every time a visitor loads that page, so multiple visits by the same person (e.g. to try downloading again) would track as multiple conversions? If so, you might investigate whether there's any way to specify only one conversion should be tracked per unique visitor.

[gavseim]

I think if it did that I would get way more conversion reporting. Sometimes it's accurate. Tracking pixels are tried to the users account, so it should not count it more than once only because they visit the page.

[E-junkie_Guru]

I don't know whether having multiple copies of the tracking code in the page could trigger multiple conversion hits, but just in case so, make sure you only put the tracking code either in your Account Preference > Common Thank-you Page HTML (if you want it inserted for every sale) -or- in the product's "Mesaage (HTML)" field (if you only want it inserted when that specific product is purchased), not both.



Also, if you happen to be using the EJEJC_BEACON parameter in our cart customization code, you'd use that instead of putting tracking code in your thank-you pages, rather than doing both.



Aside from those possible factors, I think this is more a question for Facebook's support team or help forum, rather than anything we'd have any control or influence over.

[gavseim]

Yea I have it in the common thank you page only.



Not familer with EJEJC_BEACON. Could that help here?

[E-junkie_Guru]

Possibly so, if you're using our standard overlay-style cart that displays "inside" your own page; you'd use this instead of any tracking code from FB:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/help.tracking.htm#beacon



Although the example there is for Google AdWords, the basic approach would be the same if the FB code provides an IMG tag with a tracking pixel URL.

[gavseim]

Bringing this back up because it's still a huge issue. However EJ is implementing Facebook seems to be causing the counting way too many conversions. Unless Facebook is doing it on purpose.



Yesterday FB reported conversions 300% more than actual sales. I also sent an update newsletter yesterday and I notice EJ is inserting pixel codes into the update email. It EJ sending the exact same thank you page for update as they are at checkout. This could account for part of the problem. The pixel should not be in an update email.



Facebook claims it won't double count the pixel from the same page for the same user, but it seems it's not quite that simple.



It's been well over a year and it seems that EJ implementation for conversion tracking is still causing problems. I've been with EJ for year, but this is not 2005. We MUST be able to track conversions accurately. Unless you;ve added new info recently none of your docs address this problem with any solutions.

[E-junkie_Guru]

Cookie-based browser tracking can never be completely accurate for a variety of reasons, most notably browser settings or extensions that block or delete cookies, that disable or interfere with javascript, or that block social-media or tracking scripts/cookies in particular. Most often this would result in under-reported conversions, but it can also result in over-reporting -- e.g., if a user deletes their cookies, or switches to a different browser or computer, and then visits your FB page and subsequently reloads any thank-you page of yours to try downloading again, that could track a duplicate conversion.



Our only involvement in FB tracking is inserting the tracking code you provide into the thank-you pages we generate for you; our servers don't actually run that code or contact FB's servers or do anything else behind the scenes for that at all. Rather, the buyer's browser runs the tracking code when they load the page, so it's their browser that contacts FB's servers and transmits their FB tracking-cookie ID to FB at that time.



Our thank-you page generation script has no way to distinguish paid downloads from free downloads issued individually or en masse via Updates. The page is generated the same way regardless of how the link(s) were issued, so it's conceivable that users who visited your FB page before claiming their free download would have tracked that visit as a conversion. To prevent free links tracking as conversions, you might consider putting your FB tracking code in the Product Thank-you Page HTML field, then create a separate product for free links and Updates that doesn't have that tracking code and uses "Bundle other products" to issue the original product's file.



Just to speculate out loud here: I wonder if FB has any way to specify what part(s) of the conversion page URL should either matter or be ignored -- e.g., Google Analytics has a type of conversion goal they call "head match", where they only pay attention to the first portion of the URL and ignore the rest; if FB tracking supports something similar, you could specify "https://www.fatfreecartpro.com/ecom/rp.php" as the base URL, or tell FB to ignore the query string of order-specific parameters we always append after that, so the same visitor using the same browser with the same FB tracking cookie might track as only one conversion no matter how many links you've issued them or how they were issued. Or, if you can tell FB to ignore visits to any URL containing a certain string, you could have them ignore "jg-" (for Free Checkout orders), "j-" (for free links issued individually) and/or "u-" (for links issued in an Update), which might still allow each paid order by the same buyer to still track as a separate conversion.