If you want to set up a Facebook pixel (or another one, TikTok for example), here are the different steps of the purchase process and the associated events.
We will first describe the different types of events, and then we will see how they are triggered on the platform.
The different types of events
1. Automatic Event: PageView
The PageView event is triggered automatically each time the page changes, or more specifically each time the route in the browser URL changes. This event is initiated directly in the router of our application.
2. Standard Events
These events are triggered by the user’s actions. Our internal tracker manager is informed of the action and dispatches the event to all trackers initialized on the application (Facebook Pixel, GTag, Google Analytics, TikTok etc)
List of standard events:
- AddPaymentInfo
- AddToCart
- CompleteRegistration
- InitiateCheckout
- Lead
- Purchase
- Subscribe
- ViewContent
To have the description of these events for Facebook pixel: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/facebook-pixel/reference#standard-events
3. Customized events
There is a custom event that does not exist by default in Facebook, the “track_add_gift_to_cart”, which is the ability to track the purchase of a gift by a user.
The triggering of events on the platform
A- View Content
ViewContent corresponds to the moment when the potential customer accesses the page of your offers, it is the first step of the purchase process, and it is generally what most ads are based on. It is triggered as soon as the offers are displayed on the offer page :
B- AddToCart
AddToCart corresponds to the moment when the potential customer clicks on one of your offers (if it’s a subscription offer, it will be when they click on the “Subscribe” button).
C- Lead & CompleteRegistration
When a user arrives on the account creation page, the Lead event is triggered.
Then once the registration is done, CompleteRegistration is sent.
D- AddPaymentInfo & InitiateCheckout
When the customer enters the details of a card that seems valid for our payment provider, the AddPaymentInfo event is sent.
Then when the payment is launched, the InitiateCheckout event is triggered.
E- Purchase & subscription
Once the payment is validated by the payment system (Stripe, or the applications’ integrated purchases) a Subscription (SVOD) or Purchase (TVOD) event is sent.