Tikra help

Connect Meta

Names in bold such as Home, Orders, Platforms, Events, Incidents, Billing and Help are pages and buttons of the Tikra app. You open it from Apps in your Shopify admin.

Tikra sends each paid online order to Meta through the Conversions API, as a Purchase event. To connect Meta Conversions API for Shopify you need two things: your pixel ID and a key from Meta. In most stores Tikra finds the pixel ID for you, so only the key is left to paste.

Two words first

• Pixel: how Meta counts the sales from your store. Meta also calls it a dataset. Its ID is a long number, like 123456789012345.
• Key: Meta calls it a Conversions API access token. In Tikra the field is called Meta key. It lets Tikra send your orders to your pixel. Tikra never sees your Meta password.

Connect Meta in 3 steps

In Tikra, go to Platforms. The Meta card looks for your pixel on your store. When it finds one, the Meta pixel ID is filled in and the note under it starts with "Found on your store". Check that it is the pixel your ads use. Then:

1. Click Get your key in Meta. Meta opens in a new tab, on the settings page of that pixel. Log in to Facebook if Meta asks.
2. In Meta, under Conversions API, click Generate access token. Meta may then open Select datasets to set up direct integration with Quality API, with every dataset of your Meta business ticked. Untick every pixel except this store's, the one whose ID is in Meta pixel ID in Tikra. A pixel left ticked is linked permanently and Meta cannot undo it.
3. Copy the key. Copy all of it: the key is long. In Tikra, paste it into Meta key and click Connect Meta. If the card shows Connect with Meta at the top, the button under the paste form reads Add the key by hand instead.

If you make the key another way, in Meta Business settings > System users > Generate token, choose Never as its expiry. Meta suggests keys that expire after 60 days; such a key stops working after that time, and Meta then refuses your orders until you save a new one.

Connecting Meta sends nothing: the form has no box to tick. Tikra asks you to tick that you understand that Meta then gets only purchases from Tikra on the Go live step, and starts sending only after you tick it. See The check before sending below.

Tikra asks Meta to confirm the pixel and the key before it saves anything. When Meta confirms them, the card says Meta is connected and tells you what Meta confirmed. The badge changes to Check before sending.

Your store has more than one pixel

The card lists them and asks which one your ads use. Choose it. The usual choice is the pixel from the Facebook & Instagram app. To use a pixel that is not in the list, choose Another pixel and type its ID.

Connect a second Meta pixel

A store can send its orders to more than one pixel, for example one for each country's ad account. On Platforms, under the last Meta card, click Add another Meta account. The new card asks for a Name (optional, for example "Germany"), the pixel ID and the key, or you can use Connect with Meta on it. Tikra checks the new pixel like the first one and starts it in the check before sending.

You can connect up to 5 Meta pixels, and the same pixel only once. Each pixel has its own card, its own check before sending and its own line on Home, Orders and the order's proof, under its name. Home and the diagnosis judge each pixel on its own.

Every paid online order that the buyer's consent allows goes to every connected pixel whose rules allow it. Tikra does not split orders between pixels by country.

Connect with Meta on the first card replaces that card's pixel only while it is the only one. With several, use Add another Meta account for a new pixel, or Change details on the card you mean.

Find your pixel ID

In Meta Events Manager, open Data sources and choose your pixel. Meta also calls it a dataset. The pixel ID is the number under its name. Copy the whole number into Meta pixel ID in Tikra.

Tikra did not find your pixel

The Meta pixel ID field is then empty. This happens when your store is password protected, when Tikra could not open your store, or when the pixel is added in a way Tikra cannot see. Type the ID yourself:

1. Click Get your key in Meta. Meta opens Events Manager.
2. Pick your pixel in the list. The pixel ID is the long number under its name. Copy it into Meta pixel ID in Tikra.
3. In Meta, open the pixel's Settings tab and follow steps 2 and 3 above.

No pixel at all yet? Create one in Meta Events Manager first. On Shopify, the Facebook & Instagram app lets you create one while you set it up. Meta explains the steps at https://www.facebook.com/business/help/952192354843755.

How Tikra looks for it: it opens your store's home page once, as any visitor would, and reads the pixel IDs in it (from the Facebook & Instagram app, from another app, or from your theme). It reads nothing about your customers, uses no login, and keeps only the IDs it found, for up to an hour.

No "Generate access token" in Meta

Meta shows Generate access token only to people with enough access to the Meta business that owns the pixel. Sometimes it sits behind Set up manually or Get started: click that first. If you still do not see it, ask the owner of your Meta business account to give you full control of the business, or to do step 2 for you.

What the key is for

Tikra uses the key to send your orders to this pixel and to check the connection when you save. The key from these steps cannot read Meta's own event counts, so during the check before sending our team compares them with you. Tikra stores the key encrypted. Keep it private, like a password. You can make a new one at any time (see Change the key later below).

Connect with Meta

Some stores see a Connect with Meta button at the top of the Meta card, above Or paste a key. Until Meta approves Tikra's app, only the stores our team has enabled see it; every other store connects with the 3 steps above. With the button there is nothing to copy:

1. Click Connect with Meta. Meta opens in a new window.
2. Log in to Facebook, choose your business portfolio and your pixel, and confirm.
3. The window says "Meta is connected" and closes on its own after 5 seconds. If it stays open, click Back to Tikra or close it. The Meta card updates on its own within a few seconds.

Meta gives Tikra a key for the pixel you chose. Tikra checks it with Meta before it saves anything, and a new connection starts in the check before sending (see The check before sending below). When Meta does not let Tikra read the pixel with that key, Tikra sends the pixel one test event named ConnectionTest instead, with a made-up ID and no customer data, and Meta's answer decides (see When Meta refuses below). Meta keeps that event in the pixel's event history. It is not a Purchase, so it does not count as a sale. While Tikra looks for the pixel you picked, each pixel Meta gave access to gets at most one such test event, including a pixel you do not pick from the list below.

When Meta gave access to more than one pixel and Tikra did not find one of them on your store, the card lists them: click the one your ads use.

When Tikra cannot confirm the pixel you picked with the access Meta gave, the Meta window says "Almost done". Go back to Tikra, where the Meta card asks for the Pixel you picked in Meta:

1. Click Open Events Manager on the card. In Meta, find the pixel you picked. Its ID is the long number under its name. Meta may call the pixel a dataset.
2. Paste the ID into Meta pixel ID on the card and click Check and connect.

Tikra checks that pixel with Meta the same way before it saves anything. If Meta does not let Tikra use it, the card says so and you can paste another ID. If the ID is right and Meta still refuses it, click Cancel, then Connect with Meta again and select that pixel in the Meta window. The key Meta gave waits for up to 1 hour. Cancel deletes it at once.

When Meta lets Tikra read the pixel with the key, the card says Connected with your Meta login.

To end a connection made with Connect with Meta, click Disconnect on the Meta card first. Tikra deletes the key it kept. Disconnect does not remove Tikra from your Meta business, so the card then shows Open Connected apps in Meta. It opens your business settings in Meta at Integrations > Connected apps, where you remove Tikra. If you remove Tikra in Meta while the Meta card is still connected, Tikra holds your orders for Meta, as for any key that stops working.

When Meta refuses

Some tokens can send events to the pixel but cannot read its name. The key from Connect Meta in 3 steps is one of them. When Meta does not let the token read the pixel, and does not reject the token itself, Tikra sends Meta one test event named ConnectionTest instead, with a made-up ID and no customer data. Meta's answer to that event decides. Meta keeps this event in the pixel's event history, the same way it keeps the event of Send test (see Send a test event below). It is not a Purchase, so it does not count as a sale. When Meta accepts it, the card says Meta is connected and "Meta accepted a test event for pixel ...".

Tikra then also tries once to read the pixel's purchase count with the token, because the check before sending (see The check before sending below) and the free diagnosis use that count. The card says whether the token can read it. When it cannot, the check before sending does not end on its own and the diagnosis cannot show Meta's count: once the store's own Meta purchase tracking is off, click Go live on the Meta card. To get the count, save a token that can read the pixel; the card then says "Meta confirmed the access token for pixel ...".

If Meta refuses, nothing is saved. The card tells you why:

The check before sending

A new Meta connection starts in the check before sending. During the check Meta gets nothing from Tikra. Every day Tikra compares Meta's own count of Purchase events with your paid orders, to confirm that no other connection sends your purchases to Meta. When the count shows nothing else sends them, Home says that Meta is ready to go live. Tikra sends to Meta only after you click Go live and tick I understand that Meta then gets only purchases from Tikra there. Tikra shows the box above the Go live button, with what Meta stops getting.

When the card said at the connection that the token cannot read the pixel's purchase count, there is no count to compare. The card then says "We cannot read Meta's own count, so sending starts when you go live": turn off the store's own Meta purchase tracking and click Go live yourself. Meta accepts orders up to 7 days old, so the orders held during the check can be sent only while they are younger than that. Up to a day before held orders pass that limit, Home shows a notice that starts with "Meta takes orders held during the check before sending only up to 7 days after payment", whether or not the store's own Meta purchase tracking is off. If it has been off since you connected Meta, click Go live and choose Before I connected Meta here: also send the orders held during the check. If it is still on, Meta already got those orders through it, and you can ignore the notice.

Why the box on the Go live step: the store's own Meta connection (the Facebook & Instagram channel) sends page views, product views, add to cart, checkout started and payment info as well as purchases. Retargeting audiences, catalog ads and Meta's campaign optimisation use these events. Once the channel is off, Meta gets only purchases from Tikra today. Meta goes live only when you click Go live and tick the box there: Home shows a notice that starts with "Meta is ready to go live", and you click Go live yourself.

On the free diagnosis the card says Free diagnosis: no orders sent yet. Meta gets none of your orders from Tikra until you choose a plan. With a plan, this check decides when Meta goes live.

If the store's own Meta purchase tracking is already off, you do not need to wait. Click Go live on the Meta card. See Turn off the store's own tracking for the steps and for what each Go live option does.

Send a test event

1. In Meta Events Manager, open your pixel and go to Test events. Copy the code shown there. It looks like TEST12345.
2. In Tikra, click Send test on the Meta card.
3. Paste the code into Test event code and click Send test event.

The card says "Meta received the test event" and shows a reference. In Events Manager, the event appears under Test events with the name ConnectionTest. It is not a Purchase, so it does not count as a sale.

Order data: value, product ID and customer type

On the Meta card, click Order data to open it (it is closed until you click it, and a line under it shows your current choice). There you choose three things. Click Save order data. New orders use your choice. Orders already sent stay as they were.

• Value. Total is what the buyer paid, with tax and shipping. It is the default. Subtotal is the items after discounts, before shipping. Subtotal without tax is the items after discounts, with no tax and no shipping. A card that was connected before this choice existed keeps sending as it did until you choose. Once you choose, the card cannot go back to "as before". Email support@tikratracking.com if you want that.
• Product ID. Pick the ID your Meta catalog uses, so a purchase matches the product in your ads. Shopify stores use the variant ID by default. SKU uses the SKU and falls back to the variant ID. Google & YouTube ID needs the two-letter country of that feed, like LT. WooCommerce stores also see the IDs of the Google for WooCommerce plugin and of older Meta for WooCommerce catalogs.
• Send customer type (new / returning). Tikra adds whether the buyer is new or returning to each purchase. When Tikra does not know, it sends nothing. It never guesses. On WooCommerce the type is worked out only from orders Tikra has seen since your store connected. A guest checkout without a customer account or email stays unknown. Tick Also send a PurchaseNewCustomer event to get a second event for first orders only, with the same value. It works only while the customer type is on.

With two pixels, each card has its own choices.

What Meta receives

• One Purchase event for each paid online order (placed through your store's checkout) the buyer's consent allows. Meta needs marketing consent. See Consent. Point of sale sales, draft orders marked as paid, subscription renewals and orders other apps or marketplaces create without a checkout are not sent. See Order proof.
• The order total in your store's currency, also when the buyer paid in another currency, the order ID and the products.
• Matching details: each purchase carries what Meta uses to match the buyer to a person, such as the buyer's email, phone and address (hashed), and, only when the buyer allowed marketing, its browser cookie and ad click details. The full list is in our Privacy Policy and Data Processing Agreement.
• The address of the page where the purchase happened, without its query and cut before the part that carries the checkout reference (for example https://your-store.com/checkouts). Without that address, Meta gets the home page of your store's primary domain.

Meta accepts events up to 7 days old. Orders older than that cannot be sent to Meta.

Change the key later

1. Click Change details on the Meta card.
2. Click Get your key in Meta and generate a new key (step 2 above).
3. Paste the new key into Meta key. Leave the field empty to keep the saved one.
4. Click Connect Meta (Add the key by hand if the card shows Connect with Meta).

When Meta stops accepting the key

If Meta rejects the saved key, for example after it was revoked or expired, the badge changes to Action needed because the platform rejected the key. Orders are then put on hold: Tikra keeps them and sends nothing. Tikra checks the key every hour, so an expired key shows up even on a day without orders.

1. On the Meta card, click Get your key in Meta and generate a new key (step 2 above).
2. Paste it into Meta key and click Connect Meta (Add the key by hand if the card shows Connect with Meta).

If you connected Meta with Connect with Meta, click Connect with Meta on the card instead and choose the same pixel in the Meta window. There is nothing to paste then.

When the card says Connected with your Meta login, the hourly check reads the pixel with the key. If the read works again, for example after the access was given back in Meta, the key problem can end on its own. If it does not, click Connect with Meta again. For a pasted key, the hourly check cannot tell whether it works again, so the key problem ends only when a working key is saved.

When the key problem ends, Tikra sends the orders on hold from the last 7 days again on its own. While the key problem lasts, the 12-hour clock of an open incident is stopped, because the fix is on your side. It runs again as soon as the key problem ends.

Pause, resume or disconnect

• Pause: orders paid while Meta is paused are not sent to Meta and do not count toward the match rate. The 12-hour clock of an open incident stops until you resume.
• Resume: Meta gets new paid orders again. Orders paid while it was paused are not sent later.
• Disconnect: Tikra deletes the saved keys and stops sending orders to Meta. Orders paid while it is disconnected are not sent to Meta later. If you connected with Connect with Meta, remove Tikra in Meta too: the card shows how (see Connect with Meta above).

Still stuck? Email support@tikratracking.com with your store address and your pixel ID.