Meta omnichannel ads guide: sync online & offline conversions

Some industries combine online and offline channels; examples of such industries include retail, travel, telecommunications, and restaurants. They run ad campaigns online, but have some users who made a purchase in a brick-and-mortar store.

In such scenarios, tracking and optimizing only website purchases means you’re missing the full value of advertising. When a customer sees the ad, researches online, and then goes into your store to buy, that sale often goes unnoticed in ad campaign optimization. As a result, the strategic decisions are made on online-only data.

It gives a more complete picture of how your customers buy. New Store's global omnichannel report shows that 50% of customers use from three to five channels per journey before buying. In addition, customers expect a smooth omnichannel experience; according to the PYMNTS Global Digital Shopping Index report, 73% of users expect real-time visibility into both online and in-store inventory. These statistics highlight how today’s online and in-store customer journeys have become connected.

To address the need to track and optimize based on omnichannel interactions (not online-only), Meta has launched Omnichannel ads. The solution helps optimize across both website and in-store outcomes in one sales campaign, instead of splitting budgets. It was recently moved out of beta and is now broadly available to advertisers.

To configure this campaign type, you need to meet specific requirements, in particular, using CAPI for tracking offline events, and have an 8.5 offline data quality score. In this article, we will focus on what the Conversions API for offline events is, why it’s required, how to meet the requirements, and configure Omnichannel ads in Meta.

While the Meta Pixel tracks activity on your website, CAPI for offline events is a server-to-server integration that reports conversions that happened outside the website (e.g., in-store purchases). It sends data from your Point of Sale (POS) system or CRM directly to Meta. Using identifiers such as hashed email addresses or phone numbers, CAPI can match in-store transactions with users who previously interacted with your ads on Meta platforms.

Sharing offline data via the Conversions API for offline events is Meta's mandatory requirement to run omnichannel campaigns. Manual uploads of CSV files do not qualify for omnichannel campaigns. Such a requirement reflects Meta’s machine learning needs in a constant stream of data (which is complicated by manual file uploads) to understand which users are worth your budget.

Before configuring the Conversions API for offline events, you need to select the method that works best for your case. There are such options available:

Based on the method that works for your case, configure CAPI offline events tracking. The guidance can be found in the corresponding collapse element:

Connecting the datasets to the ad account is required for Meta to know which ad account can claim an offline sale. By linking the dataset to your ad account, you give Meta permission to match your offline customer data (like hashed emails from your POS/CRM) against the data that the platform has on users' online behaviour.

To add the dataset to an ad account, go to Meta Business Settings → click on "Data Sources" → select "Datasets & pixels" → select the dataset you use for receiving offline CAPI events → click on "Connected assets" tab → Connect assets.

Select the account and click "Add".

To configure a Meta omnichannel campaign, you need to have an offline data quality score of 8.5 or higher.

3.1 Check your offline data quality score to see if you can use the omnichannel ad campaign type. Go to Events Manager → Overview → click on the required dataset → click on the conversion you need → click "View details".

3.2 Navigate to the "Event Quality" tab in a pop-up window. Here you will see the Event Quality Score.

If the score is below 8.5, follow the recommendations from the collapse element to improve it:

4.1 To create an omnichannel campaign, go to Ads Manager → click "Create".

4.2 Choose "Sales" as a campaign objective → click "Next" → on the screen, add the Campaign name.

Meta also provides an option to turn on Advantage+ catalog ads - an automated format that provides personalized product ads from your catalog to users. To do it, Meta uses its machine-learning optimization. If you need to create one image or video ad, don't turn on this option.

4.3 Set the campaign budget, add other configurations that meet your needs, and click "Next".

4.4 On this step, select "Website and in-store" or "Website, app and in-store" as Conversion location.

After choosing the Conversion location, the performance goal will automatically be set to Maximize the number of conversions, and the conversion event will default to Purchase. You won’t be able to select a different performance goal or conversion event.

4.5 In the "Dataset," select the dataset that receives both website and offline events. "Purchase" will be chosen by default as the conversion event.

Configure the ad campaign according to your needs.

4.6 On the next step, select or create a Facebook page that has a store Pages structure. If you've selected Advantage+ catalogue ads, skip this step.

4.7 In the Ad setup, select Manual upload as your media setup and Single image or video as your format. If you've selected Advantage+ catalogue ads, skip this step.

Complete the campaign configuration and publish the campaign.

Once the setup is complete, the next step is to validate that the configuration works properly and sends reliable signals.

Start by checking your offline signal quality (offline data quality score) to ensure attribution/measurement is consistent and signals keep flowing.

Next, check that product and inventory information is up to date. If omnichannel features such as local inventory visibility are enabled, items should appear correctly in real time, so that the customer experience is consistent across channels.

After confirming that the campaign setup is functioning as expected, evaluate its impact on business. A good practice is to run an omnichannel campaign alongside your standard campaigns. Such an approach allows you to compare performance and understand whether omnichannel optimization works for your case. In fact, it is a controlled experiment: you will need to either compare an omni campaign directly against your current ads or set a baseline to see the value of omnichannel for your case.

Finally, use Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) in your measurement framework. It will help you understand how your Meta spend is affecting your business compared to other channels (like physical stores or other digital platforms).

Based on initial tests, businesses that run omnichannel campaigns can expect growth across several performance indicators:

Configuring Conversions API for online events isn’t mandatory to run omnichannel campaigns, but it is highly recommended as a best practice for improved performance. Due to server-side connection, you can track data more precisely and get a clearer picture of the customer journey.

With both online and offline events feeding the algorithm via Conversions API, Meta's algorithms can better identify high-value customers and provide effective results across all touchpoints.

👉 Find out more on Facebook Conversions API in our guide.

Setting up Conversion Location Value Rules helps Meta algorithms optimize campaigns for the outcomes that matter most in each location. You can set values to specific stores or regions, for example, high-margin products or stores with strategic importance.

👉 Meta has a detailed guide on how to configure value rules.

Omnichannel ad campaigns can be highly valuable for businesses that work across both online and offline channels. With CAPI for offline events, these businesses can better understand the full customer journey and optimize campaigns for both web and in-store outcomes.

Initial tests show significant improvements in efficiency and ROI, but it is important to remember that these results are not universal. The impact of omnichannel optimization can vary depending on your specific business model, customer behavior, and industry. Running controlled experiments is highly recommended. Testing is the only way to understand how the campaign performs for your case.