Kristen 0:00
Have you ever heard other online entrepreneurs talking about pixels and wondered what a pixel actually is and whether or not it’s something you even need? Well, if you have then you are in the right place. Today, we’re breaking down what a pixel is why platforms like Pinterest and Facebook ask you to use one, and most importantly, whether or not you really need one for your website.
Kristen 0:32
Are you a digital product or course creator, selling on platforms like teachers, pay teachers, Etsy or your own website? Ready to grow your business, but not into the kind of constant hustle that leads straight to burnout? Then you’re in the right place. Welcome to The Savvy Seller. I’m Kristen Doyle, and I’m here to give you no fluff, tools and strategies that move the needle for your business without burning you out in the process. Things like SEO, no stress, marketing, email list, building automations and so much more. Let’s get started y’all.
Kristen 1:07
So first things first, what actually is a pixel? It’s really just a little piece of code that you add to your website that tracks what people do when they visit. It’s like having a little data collector that watches visitor behavior and sends that information back to another platform like Facebook or Pinterest.
Kristen 1:37
Businesses use pixels to better understand how their ads are performing or other content. When you run an ad on Facebook, for example, the pixel helps track who clicks on your ad and whether they take a certain action, like buying a product that’s on that page or signing up for a lead magnet. Facebook and Pinterest both use pixels in this way to track how ads are performing, but email providers also use pixels to track open rates on your email.
Kristen 2:11
So if you use a provider like Convert Kit, now known as kit or flow desk, then they add this invisible image in the email, and when that invisible image gets downloaded, it signals to the platform that your email has been opened. Now with Apple’s mail privacy protection that came out in an iOS version about a year or so ago, many users now have the option to block those tracking pixels, which means your open rates and even some of your ad data might not be quite as accurate as they once were.
Kristen 2:49
Because of this, email marketing specifically is starting to shift toward other engagement metrics like click through rates instead of open rates, because that provides a more accurate insight into how people are engaging with your content. But for ads, we’re still using pixels to track those click rates.
Kristen 3:08
Now you might be wondering, Where does Google Analytics fall in here? Technically, Google Analytics isn’t a pixel in the same way that Facebook or Pinterest pixels are. Google Analytics is a snippet of code that tracks more site data, like your traffic bounce rates and the flow a user takes through the pages. It can also track things like where your users are coming from, what devices they are using, lots of information while pixels are specifically about behavior that’s related to a certain thing that is happening, like an ad that’s being sent to people or an email being sent out.
Kristen 3:46
You can think of Google Analytics more as an overall website performance tool, while pixels are ad specific trackers in most cases. Platforms like Facebook and Pinterest use pixels to help you as the advertiser, target people better. So if you have ever felt like you were getting followed around Facebook or Instagram by an ad for a product that you looked at but you didn’t purchase, that’s thanks to a pixel.
Kristen 4:11
See that company had a pixel collecting data that said that someone at your IP address or logged into your account viewed their page but didn’t make a purchase, and that data helps platforms like Facebook or Pinterest know how to show ads to the people who are most likely to take action, whether it’s a purchase or a link click or opting in on a lead magnet.
Kristen 4:35
With a Pinterest pixel for example, you can track who clicked on your pin and whether they completed actions like signing up or buying something, the more data you collect about people who are engaging with your content, the more you can retarget those same users with future ads or promotion.
Kristen 4:53
One thing I like to do is use what’s called look alike audiences, and this is where Facebook creates audiences of people who share similar traits to the people who are interacting with my content, and that helps to make the ads more effective, and it helps to reach a broader audience of new people who might be interested in my content as well.
Kristen 5:16
So you can use those pixels to target people who have engaged with your content, or to target people who look like people who’ve engaged with your content, at least in a digital sense. When you add a pixel to your website, it starts tracking the actions that users take at that point, like clicking buttons or purchasing products or even just viewing one of your blog posts or podcast episode Show Notes.
Kristen 5:41
Behind the scenes, this pixel is firing off little pieces of data every time a user does something that you’re tracking. That data gets sent back to the platform where you set up your ads, like Facebook and Pinterest, and it gives you insights into what’s working and what’s not, and it helps you target the right audiences.
Kristen 5:58
Pixels are a long term tool. So over time, they get better and better, because they are collecting more and more data, and they can help you refine your ad strategy by showing you trends in the way people are behaving and who is responding best to your ads. And that leads to better targeting for your ads, which hopefully leads to more conversions and more sales for you.
Kristen 6:22
So let’s just briefly talk about how to install a pixel. Installing a pixel really is simpler than it sounds, but the process varies depending on what ad platform you’re using, like Facebook or Pinterest, and what platform your website is built on. So whether you are on WordPress or Blogger or Squarespace or Shopify. So depending on your platform, you might have a space built in on the platform where you can paste in your pixel code, and when you create that pixel in Facebook or Pinterest, you’ll get a tag, a code.
Kristen 6:57
They’re usually 16 or 20 digits long. Some of them are all numbers. Some are mixes of numbers and letters, and you just copy that code from the platform and paste it in to a certain field and hit save on WordPress. You don’t have that pixel code field available natively in WordPress, but you can usually install pixels with a plug in, like pixel your site, where you would again, just copy that code, paste it in and hit save.
Kristen 7:24
If that doesn’t work for you, or you just prefer manually installing the code, you can also copy the full pixel code and paste it directly into your site’s header, but if you’re going to do that, make sure you’re following specific instructions from the ad platform or hire someone to help you out make sure it gets done correctly.
Kristen 7:44
Keep in mind, once you have set up your pixel, it is really important to test it after you install to make sure that it is working correctly. I am a Google Chrome user, and on Google Chrome I use a Chrome extension called Tag hound, and that extension will check for Pinterest, Facebook and Google Analytics tracking codes and show me all the ones that are installed on my website.
Kristen 8:10
So now that you know what a pixel is, I want to address a couple of really common questions. And the first one is, are pixels invading our privacy? And I know that we can sometimes feel targeted and like maybe our privacy has been invaded a little bit when we see those ads that are so very perfect for us and are tracking those things that we have done online. But pixels do not track personal information like names or email addresses or anything like that.
Kristen 8:43
They are just tracking actions like clicks and page views, and they use anonymous identifiers to understand trends in your data and to connect people with the data that they’re using about them. So it’s not the invasion of privacy that some people might think that it is.
Kristen 8:59
And the other question I get a lot is, do you actually need a pixel? And the answer is, not everyone does. If you ever plan to run ads on a platform like Facebook or Pinterest, then you need to install those pixels. And the earlier you install them, the better, because you’re going to start gathering that data. But if you don’t ever plan to run ads on those platforms, maybe you don’t even have a business Facebook page, then a pixel really won’t benefit you.
Kristen 9:31
They’re only useful for businesses that want to track user behavior so that they can use it for ad targeting and retargeting. Like I said, though, even if you’re not running ads yet, if you plan to then it’s a good idea to go ahead and install those pixels so you can start collecting data. That way, once you get ready to start running ads, you already have some valuable data in there to work with to create those audiences.
Kristen 9:55
You don’t want to install your pixel a couple of days before you want to launch your first ad. If. You’re just getting started, I would recommend that you just pick one pixel to start with. Go ahead and get it installed, play around with some ads on one platform, and once you feel comfortable, then you can expand into other areas and learn a second platform.
Kristen 10:15
Make sure that when you have installed your pixel, you’re checking that it’s firing correctly and you’re using the right tools like tag hound, or there is also a Facebook pixel helper and a Pinterest Tag Helper that you can use, because you really don’t want to be running ads and not having accurate tracking. So especially once you start running ads, or you’re getting your pages set up to run ads, you want to make sure to dig a little deeper into what events are firing every time that those pages are being loaded.
Kristen 10:44
All right, if you’ve been holding off on setting up pixels because they sound complicated or you’re just a little nervous about how to get it all done, I hope this gave you the confidence to dive in. Today’s episode actually came straight from a listener request. Thank you Andrea for this episode, topic idea, and I hope I have answered all of your questions about pixels.
Kristen 11:06
If you have a burning question or a topic that you would love for me to cover on a future episode. I want to hear from you. Head over to Kristendoyle.co/request and drop your idea in the form. It might just be featured in a future episode. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I’ll catch you next time.
