Before Facebook ads: why it's worth setting up the Meta Pixel in advance
The Meta Pixel isn't only useful during advertising — it collects data beforehand, builds remarketing lists, and makes campaigns more accurate.
Most business owners add a Meta Pixel to the website when they're about to launch Facebook ads. Yet this is often 3–6 months too late — by the time the campaign starts, the Pixel doesn't yet know your visitors. Whoever adds it in advance can run a more effective campaign from day one.
What is the Meta Pixel?
A small piece of code that Meta (owner of Facebook + Instagram + WhatsApp) gives you. You put it on your website, and from then on it watches who visits you, what they view, and what actions they take (clicks, purchases, bookings).
From this data, Meta on one hand builds remarketing lists (people you can show ads to later), and on the other optimises your existing ads — it knows exactly who bought, who didn't, and who to advertise to among similar people.
Why is it worth adding 3–6 months before the campaign?
Meta needs time to build a quality dataset from your visitors. If you add the Pixel today and launch the campaign tomorrow — you're essentially advertising 'blind'. Meta can't build a lookalike audience, because it doesn't know anyone yet.
If it's been measuring for 3–6 months, then at campaign launch there's 'raw material': it knows who your typical prospect is, who became a buyer, who didn't. From then on it can advertise much more precisely.
What exactly does the Pixel collect?
Standard events: page view, button click, 'Add to Cart', 'Initiate Checkout', 'Complete Purchase', 'Lead', registration. We set these into the website's code, and from then on they automatically signal to Meta.
Custom events: free-format events, e.g. 'Consultation booking', 'Download', 'Video view'. These all help Meta refine who to target.
Remarketing: bringing back the visitor who already came
96–98% of people don't buy on their first visit. Remarketing is for reminding them later (when they browse other sites or scroll Instagram). E.g. 'You left the product in your cart' or 'Liked the quote form? Let's talk.'
A well-configured remarketing list gets 20–30% of the total ad budget — and often brings the best ROI. But for that, the Pixel needs to have been collecting for a long time.
What to do today to be ready tomorrow?
Create a Meta Business Manager account (free). Request a Pixel. Have your developer add it to the website — with a modern solution this is 30–60 minutes of work. Set up 3–5 main standard events (Purchase, Lead, Booking, Add to Cart, Registration).
If you'll ever advertise on Facebook or Instagram — better sooner than later. The months without a Pixel are all 'lost learning'.
Meta Pixel and custom integration setup
As part of our custom integrations, we help install and test the Meta Pixel, Google Tag Manager and any other measurement tool — Consent Mode compatible.