Why Facebook Shows More Conversions Than WooCommerce Orders (And How to Fix It)
"Facebook says I had 150 conversions last week, but WooCommerce only shows 95 orders. What's going on?" This is one of the most common questions we receive in support. If you've ever stared at your Facebook Ads Manager numbers and wondered why they don't match your WooCommerce order count, you're not alone.
Here's the key insight that many advertisers miss: Facebook's conversion count is not designed to mirror your WooCommerce order count. They measure fundamentally different things. Facebook's "conversions" represent the number of conversion events it attributes to your ads, while WooCommerce orders represent actual completed transactions. Understanding why these numbers differ, and when the gap indicates a real problem, is essential for evaluating your ad performance accurately.
In this article, we'll walk through every major cause of these discrepancies, show you how to identify real tracking issues vs. expected platform behavior, and give you a clear action plan to get your numbers as close as possible.
The Two Categories of Discrepancies
Conversion discrepancies between Facebook Ads Manager and WooCommerce are almost always caused by technical tracking issues that can be fixed. Things like duplicate pixel implementations, broken deduplication, or misconfigured automatic events.
Technical Issues: Fix These First
Duplicate Pixel Implementations
The most impactful technical issue is having the Meta pixel fire more than once. This commonly happens when:
- You're running multiple plugins that each inject their own Meta pixel (e.g., Pixel Manager alongside another tracking plugin like PixelYourSite, or a marketing automation plugin that includes its own Meta pixel)
- You have manual pixel code in your theme's header or footer in addition to a plugin
- A page builder or theme includes its own Meta pixel integration
How to diagnose: Open Meta Events Manager and go to Test Events. Browse your store and check if the same event (e.g., PageView, Purchase) appears multiple times for a single page load. If you see duplicate events with different event_id values, or duplicate events where some are missing an event_id entirely, you have duplicate pixel implementations.
How to fix: Choose one single source of truth for your Meta pixel (ideally Pixel Manager) and disable all other pixel implementations. Remove any manual pixel code from your theme.
Facebook Automatic Events Enabled
Meta's Events Manager has a feature called Automatic Events (sometimes called "automatic event configuration" or "codeless events") that fires events on top of whatever your pixel implementation already sends. If this is enabled, Facebook may be counting events twice.
How to fix:
- Go to Meta Events Manager
- Select your Pixel
- Go to Settings
- Find Automatic Events and turn it off
This is one of the most commonly overlooked settings and can significantly inflate your conversion numbers.
Broken CAPI Deduplication
If you're using both the Meta browser pixel and the Conversions API (CAPI), which is the recommended setup, proper deduplication is critical. Here's why: the browser pixel sends a Purchase event from the visitor's browser, and the CAPI sends the same Purchase event from your server. If these two events don't share a matching event_id, Facebook counts them as two separate conversions for the same order.
This one issue alone can double your reported conversion count.
How to diagnose: In Meta Events Manager, look for your Purchase events and check the Deduplication status. If events show as "not deduplicated," there's a problem.
How to fix: Ensure that one plugin handles both the browser pixel and CAPI events. Pixel Manager manages both sides and automatically generates matching event_id values, so deduplication works correctly out of the box without any additional configuration. Problems arise when different tools manage each side (e.g., one plugin for the browser pixel and Stape or another tool for CAPI), because the event_id values generated independently by each tool won't match.
For a deeper dive into how CAPI deduplication works, read our article: Facebook CAPI Deduplication and Match Key Parameters.
Interested to get updates?
Sign up to our monthly newsletter today.Counting Multiple Event Types as Conversions
This might not be a "technical" issue per se, but it trips people up frequently. In Facebook Ads Manager, when you set up a campaign, you choose which events to optimize for. If you configure your campaign to count both AddToCart and Purchase as conversion events, Facebook's "Conversions" column will include both.
A single customer who adds an item to their cart and then purchases generates two "conversions" in that scenario, even though you only have one order.
How to check: In Ads Manager, look at your campaign's conversion settings. Click on the "Columns" dropdown and customize your view to show individual events (e.g., "Purchases" specifically) rather than the aggregate "Conversions" column.
Failed or Cancelled Orders
The Meta browser pixel fires on the order confirmation page. If a customer reaches that page but the payment ultimately fails or the order gets cancelled, the pixel has already fired a Purchase event. WooCommerce may not count this as a completed order, but Facebook already recorded the conversion.
Pixel Manager mitigates this by verifying order payment status before firing conversion events via CAPI, and through its built-in order duplication prevention mechanisms.
Interested to get updates?
Sign up to our monthly newsletter today.How to Diagnose the Gap: A Step-by-Step Checklist
Follow this checklist in order.
-
Check for duplicate pixel implementations. Use Meta Events Manager → Test Events. If you see duplicate events, remove the extra pixel source.
-
Disable Automatic Events. Meta Events Manager → Settings → Automatic Events → Off.
-
Verify CAPI deduplication. In Events Manager, confirm events show as "Deduplicated." If not, ensure one plugin (ideally Pixel Manager) handles both browser pixel and CAPI.
-
Check your campaign conversion events. In Ads Manager, verify which events are being counted as conversions. Customize columns to view "Purchases (conversion)" specifically, rather than the aggregate "Results" column.
What Can You Realistically Expect?
With a properly configured setup (no duplicate pixels, automatic events disabled, CAPI properly deduplicated, and only purchase events counted as conversions) Facebook's reported purchase conversions should be lower than your total WooCommerce order count.
This is because Facebook only attributes conversions to ad interactions (clicks or views). It cannot claim credit for orders that originated from channels unrelated to your Facebook ads, such as organic search, direct traffic, or email campaigns. So the number of Facebook purchase conversions can never be as high as the orders in WooCommerce.
If Facebook is reporting more purchase conversions than your total WooCommerce orders, that's a clear signal that something is wrong on the technical side. Work through the checklist above to identify the cause.
How Pixel Manager Helps
The Pixel Manager for WooCommerce is specifically designed to address the technical causes of conversion discrepancies:
- Built-in deduplication: Pixel Manager handles both the Meta browser pixel and the Conversions API, automatically generating matching
event_idvalues for proper deduplication. No need for separate CAPI tools. - Order duplication prevention: Both cookie-based and advanced server-based mechanisms prevent the same order from being tracked twice.
- Single source of truth: By managing all your tracking pixels from one plugin, you eliminate the risk of overlapping pixel implementations.
- Payment verification: Purchase events sent via CAPI are verified against the actual order payment status, reducing false positive conversions from failed payments.
If you're currently running into conversion discrepancies, check out our troubleshooting guide for a quick-reference checklist, and our Meta configuration guide for setup instructions.
