Four Common Facebook Pixel Error Messages in Shopify and How to Fix Them

This covers the most common Facebook pixel errors for people who use Shopify. I’ve made this guide because judging by the amount of comments in my earlier post, there seems to be far more problems with using the Facebook Pixel than I previously thought.

So I decided to compile the most common questions I got, with specific solutions. I hope this covers 90%+ of pixel issues!

In general, there are four types of Facebook pixel errors in Shopify:
* Loading Errors
* Product ID Errors
* Installation Errors
* Errors due to Lack of Traffic

Let’s dive into each one of them:

Error Type 1: Loading Errors

How this error can look like:

"Pixel did not load"

OR

"We detected event code but the pixel has not activated for this event,

so no information was sent to Facebook. This could be due to an error in the code,

but could also occur if the pixel fires on a dynamic event such as a button click"

Whenever this happens, this means that you’ve probably pasted the code from another blog post into your website.

You shouldn’t be doing this because there is data inside the pixel that is UNIQUE to your ad account.

For example, someone told me that they pasted the code below. If you look at the highlights that I made, you can see that there are placeholders there that you should have replaced with your own ad account data.

<!-- Facebook Pixel Code -->

<script>

 !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)

 {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?

 n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};

 if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';

 n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;

 t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];

 s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',

 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');

 fbq('init', 'My Pixel ID');

 fbq('track', 'PageView');

</script>

<noscript><img height="1" width="1" style="display:none"

 src="https://www.facebook.com/tr?id={{Pixel ID}}&ev=PageView&noscript=1"

/></noscript>

<!-- End Facebook Pixel Code -->=

The Fix:

The fix here is to NOT copy the pixel from any website. Just go to Business Manager > Measure & Report, Pixels.

Then click on “Add Data Source” > “Facebook Pixel”. If you don’t have this, then it just means that you haven’t created a pixel yet and you need to click on the big green button right at the middle.

Now if you’re using Shopify, you just need to copy the Facebook Pixel ID in the Pixel dashboard (see below):

Then paste it within Shopify > Online Store > Preferences > Facebook Pixel ID.

Error Type 2: Product ID Errors

How this error can look like:

"Products Are Missing From Your Catalogs"

OR

// From a reader:

"There is a yellow warning symbol on the Facebook Pixel Helper with

an error that says 'Can't match products'"

OR

// From a reader:

"There isa yellow warning symbol next to the AddToCart event"

If you’re NOT doing Dynamic Product Ads, you can ignore this. A yellow sign is just an indication that it’s optional: it does not mean that your pixel is not working. It’s only not working if it’s showing up as red. This is only relevant for folks who want to run Dynamic Product Ads.

Now if you ARE interested in running Dynamic Product Ads, then read on and I’ll teach you how to fix this problem.

This is normally caused by uploading the wrong product IDs. Here’s an example from a business’ database:

In this case, the MPN and Content ID is the same. Since the Content ID in the feed doesn’t match the one thrown by Facebook Pixel ID, then you’ll need to fix how you create the Content ID in either GoDataFeed, DataFeedWatch, or Flexify Through this software, you should be able to draw the Product IDs from Shopify.

Do note that you need to know a bit of code to execute this correctly. If you are a developer, what you need to do is that you need to call the Product ID through the Shopify API (resource here), then set a custom field in GoDataFeed to retrieve that data (resource here). Flexify (documentation here) and DataFeedWatch also allows the ability to set custom fields (resource here).

Error 3: Installation Error

How this error can look like:

"Your facebook pixel is not active at this time. please double-check your pixel configuration."

If you get this error, this means that you did not install your pixel properly. Make sure you go through the steps in this 5-Step Pixel Audit Guide.

Error 4: Error due to Lack of Traffic

How this error can look like:

"Your pixel did not receive the test traffic"

This means that your pixel is very new and you need to wait from a few hours to see the pixel data in the Events Manager. If your site is new and there’s no traffic at all, you need to browse through the site yourself to get the pixel to trigger.

If you have the Pixel Helper Chrome Extension installed, seeing a green check like the one below is enough to validate that it’s working.

Filed Under: Analytics, Ecommerce, Facebook Advertising‍

Tagged With: facebook audit, facebook pixel, pixel error, shopify audit, shopify facebook pixel

‍