Setting Up Meta Offline Data Reporting

Offline data reporting allows SHOPLINE to send conversion events directly to Meta through the Offline Conversions API. This enables Meta to measure the effectiveness of your advertising campaigns even when purchases occur outside standard browser tracking.

By enabling offline data reporting, conversion events such as orders created through POS purchases, call-in orders, or other non-storefront channels can be reported to Meta. This helps improve campaign performance analysis and ad optimization.

This guide explains how offline data reporting works and how to authorize and enable it in SHOPLINE. 

Understanding Meta Offline Data Reporting

Offline data reporting allows businesses to send conversion data that is not captured through browser tracking to Meta.

Unlike browser-based tracking tools such as Meta Pixel, offline data reporting sends event data directly from your store system to Meta through the Offline Conversions API. This ensures that conversion events can still be reported even when they occur outside standard browser interactions.

Examples of Offline Conversion Events Reported to Meta

Offline data reporting is useful for tracking conversions such as:

• POS purchases or in-store transactions
• Orders created outside the storefront
• Call-in or manually created orders
• Other events that cannot be captured through browser tracking

Benefits of Meta Offline Data Reporting

By reporting offline conversion events to Meta, advertisers can:

• Track how offline transactions are influenced by advertising campaigns
• Measure the return on ad spend (ROAS) for offline conversions
• Improve campaign optimization using more complete conversion data
• Build more accurate audiences based on customer activity
• Create lookalike audiences based on customers who completed offline conversions

Requirements for Setting Up Meta Offline Data Reporting

Ensure you have completed these administrative prerequisites to avoid authorization errors:

• You must have full control of the Meta Business Portfolio and the specific Ad account you intend to use.
• You must have a dataset created in your Meta Business Suite or Meta Events Manager. If you don’t have one yet, create a dataset before proceeding.
• Ensure you have access to the Channels > Facebook menu in your SHOPLINE admin.

Authorizing Meta Offline Data Reporting in SHOPLINE

Follow the steps below to enable offline data reporting:

1. In your SHOPLINE Admin, go to Channels > Facebook.

2. Locate the Data tracking section and click Setup.

   

3. Scroll to the Offline data reporting section, then click Authorize next to Offline Conversions API.

   

4. A Meta login window will appear. Log in with your Facebook account, or click Continue as [your account name] if you are already logged in.
5. On the Connect SHOPLINE to Facebook page, click Next.

6. On the Confirm settings page, review the assets that will be connected to your SHOPLINE store. If necessary, you can adjust the selected assets. These may include:

   

   • Business portfolio
   • Facebook Page
   • Instagram profile
   • Ad account
   • Dataset (Offline dataset)
   • (Optional) Automatic advanced matching

   Click Continue to confirm the selected assets and proceed with the authorization.

7. Review the permissions that SHOPLINE is requesting to access your Meta business assets, then click Next to authorize the connection.

   

8. Click Return to SHOPLINE to go back to the admin panel. 

   

The Offline Conversions API status will change to Authorized, indicating that offline data reporting has been successfully enabled.

How SHOPLINE Reports Offline Conversion Data to Meta

After authorization, SHOPLINE will automatically report offline order events to Meta.

Key behaviors include:

• Offline order data is reported once per day
• Events are sent to the dataset connected to your store
• The selected Pixel ID is used as the dataset ID for reporting

These events allow Meta to attribute conversions to advertising campaigns even when the transaction is not captured through browser tracking.

Verifying Offline Events in Meta Events Manager

To verify that offline events are being received:

1. Go to Meta Events Manager.

2. Select the dataset connected to your store.

   

3. In the Overview tab, review the incoming events under Event activities.

   

Important Notes About Meta Offline Data Reporting

• Offline data reporting works together with Meta Pixel and Conversions API to improve overall tracking accuracy and efficiency.
• Ensure that the dataset connected to your store has the necessary permissions for the selected Ad account.
• If you recently enabled the feature, allow some time for the first batch of events to be reported.