What’s the rule?

Meta is rolling out a major new push to require all advertisers (in the US) to use Checkout with Facebook. 

Their goal is to get you to stop driving traffic to your ecommerce site, and instead, have all your purchases completed directly in the Facebook and Instagram apps. (yes, this comes with a 2.9% processing fee)

This push is being phased in, and they’re giving you time to adjust. Here are the important dates to know:

By June 5, 2023 - all new shops created via Commerce Manager or Shopify will only be with Checkout with Facebook enabled.

By August 10, 2023 - all new shops via other partners will only be with Checkout with Facebook enabled.

By April 24, 2024 - ALL Shops must have Checkout with Facebook enabled, otherwise your Shop will no longer be accessible (aka, they’ll automatically deactivate your Shop).

If you don’t have FB Checkout enabled by April, here’s the list of consequences;

• You’ll no longer be able to use product tagging in your organic posts.
• You’ll no longer be able to create new custom/lookalike audiences derived from people who visited your shop.
• We predict that those who drive traffic to their site (rather than FB Shops) will see worse ad performance.

Ok, but what does this really mean?

In our opinion, Meta is sending everybody a clear message (without actually saying it) - use Checkout with Facebook ASAP if you want better ad performance.

Ever since Meta’s pixel got cut off from purchase data (remember iOS14?), they’ve been scrambling to find ways to close the loop again between ads and purchases. By controlling the checkout process, the Meta algorithm will once again have crystal clear purchase data to learn from, which means better ad performance for brands.

They’ve even go so far as to say this in their announcement:

“Once you have successfully enabled checkout for your shop, Meta encourages you to continue using a mix of free and paid tools to find customers and drive sales, including;

• Personalized Ads
• Reels
• Messaging Ads”

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For some brands, they’re literally even subsidizing 20% off for your customers if you checkout via Shops:

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No wonder FB Shop ads have been performing better than driving to site! 

In a (not so) roundabout way, they’re hinting that advertisers who lean into these changes will see improved performance. It’s time to lean in.

What should my team do?

We believe the sooner you set up your FB Shop according to best practices, and start driving traffic there, the better you’ll be positioned for top-tier ad performance.

Don’t try to fight these changes. The biggest winners will be the brands who figure out how to crush it with FB Shops. 

But which ad type is going to benefit most? Obviously, your Dynamic Product Ads (DPA).

Since your catalog is what powers both your FB Shops and your DPA, you can fully close the loop between your ad relevance and your product SKUs, giving Meta the biggest possible advantage it can have (all your store data).