How to track offline conversions in Facebook [step by step guide + video]

Tracking offline conversions in Facebook is often overlooked by marketers because the process of uploading offline conversions in Meta Events Manager may sound daunting.

But what happens if your business is solely tracking conversions that occur directly on your website?

Chances are you might not have a complete understanding of how advertisements are impacting your sales!

This is because a potential customer could click on your ad, but instead of converting online, they may decide to place a call or visit one of your physical branches to make a purchase.

While no tracking system is completely perfect, uploading offline conversions in Facebook can help address these scenarios.

In this article, we’ll explore two ways to setup offline conversions in Facebook and also go through how you can create a call ad in Meta Ads Manager.

How to create a Call Ad in Meta Ads Manager

Call ads are designed to help generate more high-quality calls at a lower cost per quality call. With just one click or tap on your ad, potential new customers can connect with your business directly to inquire about your product or services over the phone.

You can use call ads to encourage people to call your business to place an order, receive more information or schedule an appointment. When you use a call ad, your image or video ad appears with a Call now button.

You can create a simple version of a call ad from your Facebook Page.

To create a call ad with full functionality, follow the steps below (as per Meta Business Help Center’s guide):

1. Go to Ads Manager.
2. Click + Create in the top left.
3. Choose the Traffic, Leads or Sales objective and then click Continue.
4. Add your campaign details and A/B test information, if necessary.
5. Click Next.
6. At the ad set level:
   • If you chose the Traffic objective, choose Calls in the Traffic section.
   • If you chose the Leads objective, choose Calls in the Lead method section.
   • If you chose the Sales objective, choose Calls in the Sales section.
7. Choose your audience, placements, and optimization controls, and click Next.
8. In the Identity section, select your Facebook Page and attach your Instagram account, if applicable.
9. In the Ad setup section, select Single Image or video for your format.
10. In the Ad Creative section, choose the image or video that you would like to use for your ad and add your Primary text, Headline, and Description.
11. In the Phone number field, choose the Country code from the dropdown menu and add the full phone number for your business.
12. Add information in the Tracking section, if applicable.
13. When you’re done, click Publish to run your ad.

That’s it! Once your call ad has been approved, the Call Now button shows to everyone who views it. When someone taps on your ad, the call dialer opens on their phone, prefilled with the number you set as the destination. They are then prompted to call the number provided but can exit out of this screen before calling. To be able to track calls from people who tap this button you can use a Nimbata tracking number.

How to track offline conversions in Meta

Facebook offline conversions let businesses leverage their offline events data – such as in-store purchases, over-the-phone bookings, and qualified leads – to help power their digital campaigns.

By uploading customer information, such as names, email addresses, and phone numbers from your company’s CRM, or your call tracking platform to Facebook, you can track conversions offline. Facebook then matches this information with the data of users who engaged with your ads, and if a match is found, Facebook attributes the sale to your ad. This tool enables advertisers to assess the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

There are 2 methods which you can use either as standalone or even better together!

Method 1: Automate Nimbata to send Facebook offline conversions by passing the FBCLID to event manager

Method 2: Manually uploading phone calls with Facebook’s event manager.

We will show how to perform both in the following sections.

Armed with this information, you can improve your ads to increase conversions and see how many offline sales are generated by your Facebook ads.

Why it matters!

The Apple iOS 14.8.1 privacy update has made it compulsory for apps to request users’ permission before tracking their activity on other companies’ websites and apps for ad delivery and data sharing with brokers. Facebook advertisers were negatively impacted by the update, as it limited their ability to track conversions, display targeted ads, and create lookalike and custom audiences.

However, businesses and advertisers can benefit from offline conversions in the post-iOS 14.8 era. Setting up offline conversions enables them to:

View performance breakdowns again: By demographic, location, platform, device, etc.

Moreover, setting up offline conversions alongside other tracking tools like Nimbata enables advertisers to capture all cross-channel conversions and attribute them correctly to their Facebook ads and ad sets.

What you need to set offline conversions on Facebook

1. Offline event datasets and an active Nimbata-Facebook integration

You’ll need to upload information about people’s offline actions to Facebook. You can connect your data to your campaigns in two ways: by using Facebook’s native offline event manager and/or by integrating your Nimbata account with Facebook.

2. A Facebook ad account

You will need to have an active Facebook ad account. If you don’t have one you can create one here.

3. A Facebook Business Manager account

Business Manager lets businesses share and control access to their ad accounts, Pages and other assets on Facebook. You’ll need an account to create offline event sets.

Method 1: Automate Nimbata to send offline conversions on Facebook

First, ensure that you have admin access to a Facebook Business Manager and a Facebook ad account. 

Now let’s see step by step how you integrate Nimbata with Facebook Ads Manager: 

• Head to Integrations – Facebook in your Nimbata account

• Click on the Button labeled “Login with Facebook”. 

• Click on the “Continue” button.

• Click on the Continue button to grant Nimbata access to your Facebook ads. 

• A confirmation message will inform you that your account has been successfully connected.

• To share your Facebook Pixel ID with Nimbata, click on the hyperlink or visit “Facebook Business Manager -> Business Settings -> Data Sources -> Pixels -> Partners”.

• Navigate to “Assign Partners”.

• Enter the Business Partner ID  , enable the switch “Manage Pixel” and click on “Next”. 

• In the Facebook Partners tab, you will see a pending request, sent to Nimbata. 

• Once the partnership request is accepted, you will receive a Facebook notification. 

•  Now, Nimbata is listed as a partner for this specific Pixel ID. 

• Next, go back to the app and select from the drop-down menu the Pixel you shared with Nimbata. 

That’s it! Nimbata will send offline conversions as events in Facebook for each call you receive!

Method 2: Manually upload offline conversions on Facebook with event manager

Go to Events Manager and click on the Green +Connect Data Sources button

Then, you are presented with the “Connect Data Sources” window. Select “Offline” and click “Continue”.

Create an offline event set

Add a “Name” and “Description” for your offline event set. Click “Create”.

Connect your ad account

Configure the “Assign ad accounts and set tracking” section. Turn on auto-tracking to streamline the process. 

Configure user access and permissions

Here, you can select who can access your offline event set, configure the connected accounts, event management, and much more. Once completed, click “Assign”.

That’s it! Your offline event has been configured!

Upload offline event data using a CSV data file

You can now upload offline event data from your phone calls. Create a CSV data file with the phone calls you wish to be uploaded. This file should contain as much information as possible to ensure accurate reporting:

• Timestamps (accurate to the minute)
• Customer details (e.g., customer’s first and last name, email address, phone number)
• Location (e.g., country, city, state/province, zip code)
• Event name (e.g., booking, purchase, lead, other, etc…)
• Transaction value and currency

You can fetch these data from your CRM as Nimbata integrates with any CRM and sends call information, enriching the details you have for each customer.

Note that Facebook recommends uploading offline event data within 48 hours after event occurrence for optimal reporting.

Next, click on Upload Events.

Click on Select CSV file and upload your CSV.

Then click on Next: Map Data

Facebook will review the data you are trying to upload and inform you for any errors that might need fixing.
After fixing the errors, click on Next: Review
You’ll then see how many rows are ready to be uploaded, your estimated match rate, and any additional warnings.

Click on Next: Review

When ready click on Start Upload

Please note that it takes about 15 minutes for Facebook to populate the data. After that, you will see the leads that are attributed to your Facebook ads. 

Go to Ads Manager. Find the Offline Conversions column under Campaigns. There, you will be able to see your data.

Video Tutorial

Takeaway

Tracking offline conversions on Facebook is crucial for businesses that want to gain a comprehensive understanding of the impact of their advertising campaigns. By incorporating offline conversion data into your Facebook Ad account, you can account for scenarios where customers may interact with your business outside of your website or where pixel and cookie-based tracking falls short due to privacy regulations and tracking challenges.

This can help you determine which ad campaigns, targeting methods, and creatives are driving the most conversions and revenue, as well as how to optimize your advertising strategies for maximum ROI. Ultimately, tracking offline conversions on Facebook can help you make data-driven decisions, improve your advertising performance, and drive business growth.

FAQ