How to Get (Almost) 100% Accurate Facebook Ads Data

In this video I’m going to show you two different ways to get 100% accurate Facebook ads data. It really is still possible after the iOS 14 update that happened early this year.

You may know that when Apple released the iOS 14 update, Facebook stopped being able to track data on most sites that are on the Safari browser. It’s been happening for about 12 months now and if you are still running your campaigns the old way it’s made your data less accurate. You’ll only get about 70% accuracy unless you change the way you are handling your campaigns.

Unfortunately, because Facebook is getting far less data, it also means that Facebook’s learning algorithm is less accurate. This can mean worse results in some campaigns.

In this guide, I’m going to show you a low effort way and a more labor intensive way to get your Facebook data to be 100% accurate. I’m also going to go over a conspiracy theory that might explain why Facebook didn’t put up much of a fuss when the iOS 14 update was rolled out. You can decide for yourself on what you think about this conspiracy theory.

The Low Effort Way to Get 100% Accurate Ads Data

The low effort way to get 100% accurate ads data is to keep your prospects and customers in the Facebook ecosystem. When you keep your potential customers on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, Meta will be able to measure the data 100% accurately.

The low effort way does involve a little bit of upfront setup and work, but once it’s set up the data will come back without any errors. You may also get a lower CPM when you keep people in app. There’s evidence that Facebook ads cost less money when you are entirely in the Meta platform.

There are two main ways to do this.

The first way is to use lead generation campaigns with instant forms. These are forms that people fill out within the Facebook app instead of going to an outside website where the data can get lost.

There are various menus in Facebook right now. To get to instant forms, select leads and then instant forms.

These leads are likely to be much cheaper because there is far less friction and people are more likely to take that action. On the downside, less friction means that the lead quality may not be as good because it won’t filter out as many people who aren’t really interested.

Meta has announced that they are working really hard to bring in new tools to be able to easily filter leads that come through the instant form so that we aren’t wasting time trying to contact leads that we aren’t really interested in.

I recommend that you test instant leads against the form you are currently using to see what the results are.

The second way to get more of your data in app in the Meta system is to set up a Facebook Shop. This works well for ecommerce based businesses. When people shop within the Facebook platform you will get 100% of the data in the Facebook reporting for your ads.

The downside is that currently there are less tools and features on Facebook Shop versus a platform like Shopify. That can be a big issue depending on the type of store that you own. The plus side is that the Facebook Shop can reduce friction and potentially create more conversions for you.

Many customers like the experience of being kept on platform. It makes it nice and easy for them to take an action.

Meta is working very hard to improve the Facebook shop features.

For now, if you own an ecommerce brand then this is worth testing to see how it works for you.

The Facebook Conspiracy Theory

This is where I’m going to transition for a moment into the Facebook conspiracy theory about why Facebook only seemed to put up a token fuss to this tracking change by Apple when they rolled out iOS 14.

Facebook could have told Apple that if they implemented the tracking hole that was created by iOS14 then they would no longer offer Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp on the Apple App Store. This would have created a big drop in iPhone sales.

Meta didn’t do that. All they did was complain a little.

Here’s the conspiracy theory that just might explain why.

Meta WANTS people to stay on their apps as much as possible. The iOS14 update forces that to happen more often. So, the theory goes that Meta benefitted long term from the changes.

I’ll let you make your own decision on this. It’s not something that Meta has publicly announced, but as you can see from the low effort methods above, keeping people in app is one of the better ways to make sure that your data gets tracked properly.

The High Effort Way to get 100% Accurate Data

If you want to keep all of your data on your own website and not bring it into the Meta platform there is a high effort way to do that.

To do this you need to set up unique landing pages for each Facebook campaign that you’re running. This is an old school way to do things, but it works. You can then take your data from each landing page, match it up to the campaign you are running and determine the real conversion rate for each campaign.

This is labor intensive, but it lets you continue to use your own website and track data yourself.

The downside is that you will negatively impact Facebook’s machine learning algorithm, which is something you should consider.

More Free Facebook Ads Training

To help business owners succeed with Facebook ads I’ve created a FREE webinar training that you can register for here.

When you attend this webinar you’ll learn:

• 3 different Facebook ad strategies that we use every day. These strategies have generated millions of dollars in revenue and are tried and proven to work.
• How to customize the Facebook ads strategy to your particular business. There is no such thing as a one size fits all approach to Facebook ads.
• How Facebook and Instagram have changed and how to adjust your ad strategy to what works in 2021.

Video Tutorial of How to Get 100% Accurate Facebook Data

In this video I show you in detail the two main methods we use with our clients to get 100% accurate Facebook data.

What’s Probably Happening Right Now If You Aren’t Using These Methods

If you aren’t using either of these methods, then what you are probably seeing right now is that Facebook is tracking about 70% of your data accurately.

Ultimately, you have to make the decision if having 100% accurate data is worth it to you or if 70% accurate data is good enough.

A lot of the choice hinges on your business model.

One of the things that I recommend is that you run a few experiments to see what gets you better results and then make the decision from there.