I can't recall a single instance where Meta's data and its analytics aligned perfectly. Each time, it brought both headaches and nerves. So why does Facebook often overvalue campaign performance, and what should you pay attention to for an accurate picture?
Reason 1: Facebook Pixel Issues*
The main problem lies in events duplication and insufficient data transfer from CRM to Facebook Ads analytics. This occurs for several reasons:
- order duplication: If a user clicks the button or visits the page multiple times but only makes one purchase, Facebook may duplicate the data;
- event triggering differences: events may function differently in various browsers and on different devices, introducing discrepancies into the data.
Reason 2: Attribution Logic Differences
Facebook and your analytics environment may employ different approaches to attributing orders to campaigns, leading to data disparities.
Reason 3: Time Attribution discrepancies
Facebook attributes payment to the click or ad view date, while in CRM, the order date is recorded at the time of creation or payment. This creates discrepancies between real payments in CRM and Facebook statistics.
Reason 4: Lack of Event Sending Monitoring
Facebook doesn't provide tools for regular monitoring of event sending accuracy, which can result in data errors due to code changes or malfunction on specific devices.
In summary, despite the extensive capabilities of Facebook Ads for promoting products and services, relying solely on its analytics is not advisable.
If you work with GA4 to BigQuery exports, be sure to check out my SQL cheat sheet.