Using fbp and fbc IDs for Your Facebook Marketing Program

Not all is doom and gloom after the iOS update. Yes, you read that right! We are here to share some good news with you today!

Are you ready? Here goes…

Get more accurate conversion data by using fbp and fbc and external IDs. You read that correctly.

Use the Facebook click id and fbp and fbc id for your Shopify stores backend which helps you to send the most converting IDs through to Facebook over the Server-Side API to get the more accurate conversion data. And the best part is there is no manual work required to get this done if you are using Trackify X.

Okay that all sounds great but what is fbp exactly?

TL: DR fbp is a cookie that is saved by Facebook over the user's browser.

And to expand upon that, fbp is when the Facebook pixel is installed on an eCommerce store, and the pixel uses first-party cookies, the pixel automatically saves a unique identifier to an _fbp cookie for the website domain if one does not already exist.

The fbp event parameter value must be of the form version:

• version is always this prefix.

• subdomainIndex is which domain the cookie is defined on ('com' = 0, 'facebook.com' = 1, 'www.facebook.com' = 2). If you’re generating this field on a server, and not saving an _fbp cookie, use the value 1.

• Creation time is the UNIX time since epoch in milliseconds when the _fbp cookie was saved. If you don't save the _fbp cookie, use the timestamp when you first observed or received this fbp value.

• A random number is generated by the Facebook pixel SDK to ensure every _fbp cookie is unique.

So what exactly does it look like?An example of an fbp cookie is fb.1.1596403881668.1116446470

While we're at it, let’s also discuss what fbc id is.

TL: DR fbc is also a cookie saved by Facebook over the customer’s browser.

And in more detail, fbc is when a user clicks on an ad on Facebook, the link sometimes includes a fbclid query parameter. When the user lands on the target eCommerce store, if the store has a Facebook pixel that uses first-party cookies, the pixel automatically saves the fbclid query parameter to an_fbclid cookie for that website domain.

If the _fbc browser cookie is not available, either because there is no Facebook pixel running on the store or because first-party cookies are turned off, it is still possible to send the fbc event parameter if a fbclid query parameter is in the URL of the current page request.

The fbc event parameter value must be of the form version:

• version is always this prefix: fb

• subdomainIndex is which domain the cookie is defined on ('com' = 0, 'facebook.com' = 1, 'www.facebook.com' = 2). If you’re generating this field on a server, and not saving an _fbc cookie, use the value 1.

• Creation time is the UNIX time since epoch in milliseconds when the _fbc cookie was saved. If you don't save the _fbc cookie, use the timestamp when you first observed or received this fbclid value.

• fbclid is the value for the fbclid query parameter in the page URL.

The fbc value could look like (note that the fbclid portion is invalid): fb.1.1554763741205.AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz1234567890

How can you see this with Trackify X?

Trackify X for Shopify already includes fbp and fbc IDs while firing the events for your pixel. There is no development work needed from the merchant's side to make it work. Trackify X has this covered and this event is fired automatically.  

You can view the details of Trackify's JSON data without encryption that is being sent to the fbc and fbp.

If you are already a Trackify customer, you can see it firing on your Shopify store with the help of Facebook Pixel Helper. It is an advanced matching parameter that is sent by Trackify to Facebook for showing the best-matched customer data to you.

These 2 parameters represent browser cookie values and can be sent with the server events. When Trackify sends these id’s to Facebook, it helps store owners to get an accurate match of the user and improves the customer match score. This will help merchants get a clearer view of conversion data and more accurate campaign targeting.

For better matching, Facebook needs accurate information from the events coming through both pixel and the Server API.

Now we know that this is not an overall perfect fix for your iOS 14 problems! However, to some extent, it gives eCommerce store owners the best conversion data that is needed to make the best decisions on running the most efficient Facebook campaigns.

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