If you’re running a Shopify or e-commerce store, Facebook Ads are likely a key part of your growth strategy. But did you know that your ad performance could be limited by missing customer data? This is where Automatic Advanced Matching (AAM) comes in.

AAM is a powerful feature that allows you to send additional customer information—like email addresses and phone numbers—to Meta. By doing so, your ads become smarter, your Custom Audiences more precise, and your conversion tracking more accurate.

In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about AAM, why it matters, and how to set it up to maximize your store’s ad performance.

Automatic Advanced Matching (AAM): Explained

Automatic Advanced Matching is an optional feature of the Facebook Pixel that allows advertisers to capture and send additional identifiers for each conversion event. These identifiers are then hashed and matched to Facebook user accounts, helping Meta attribute actions to real people rather than anonymous cookies.

Why This Matters

Traditional pixel tracking relies on browser cookies. With increasing privacy measures (like iOS 14+ changes or browser cookie restrictions), some events may not be properly tracked. AAM works around these limitations by sending hashed personal data directly to Meta servers.

Example: If a customer abandons a cart but later converts on a different device, AAM increases the likelihood that Facebook can attribute the conversion correctly. This improves your ad optimization, conversion tracking, and audience creation.

Why Automatic Advanced Matching is Important for Your Store

AAM directly benefits your store in several ways:

• Better Custom Audiences: By sending customer identifiers, you can build highly targeted Custom Audiences, such as repeat buyers or cart abandoners, increasing the effectiveness of your retargeting campaigns.
• More Accurate Reporting: Facebook can more accurately attribute conversions, even when cookies are blocked. This means your reported ROAS (return on ad spend) is closer to reality.
• Improved Lookalike Audiences: With higher quality match data, Facebook can create better lookalike audiences, helping you reach new customers similar to your best buyers.
• Optimized Ad Delivery: Accurate data allows Facebook’s algorithms to optimize for conversions more effectively, ensuring your ad budget is spent on users most likely to purchase.

For e-commerce stores, these improvements can translate to higher sales, lower CAC, and more efficient ad spending. Without AAM, you risk under-reporting sales and wasting ad budget on poorly optimized campaigns.

How AAM is Different From Regular Pixel Event Data

Understanding the difference between regular pixel data and AAM data is key to realizing its value.

Pixel Event Data – Example

The standard Facebook Pixel tracks actions users take on your website, such as:

• PageView
• AddToCart
• Purchase

Trigger Example: A user clicks “Purchase” on your product page.

Data Sent:

{
  "event_name": "Purchase",
  "event_time": 1736112000,
  "event_id": "1234567890",
  "user_data": {},
  "custom_data": {
    "currency": "USD",
    "value": 49.99,
    "content_ids": ["SKU12345"],
    "content_type": "product"
  },
  "action_source": "website"
}

Explanation:

While this data lets Facebook know that an event occurred, it doesn’t identify the user behind the action. If the user clears cookies or browses in private mode, this data may be lost.

AAM Data – Example

With Automatic Advanced Matching enabled, additional customer details are sent alongside standard events.

Trigger Example: A user completes checkout and provides an email address and phone number.

Data Sent:

{
  "event_name": "Purchase",
  "event_time": 1736112000,
  "event_id": "1234567890",
  "user_data": {
    "em": "3c6e0b8a9c15224a8228b9a98ca1531d",   // hashed email
    "ph": "d1d0f4c2f9a2a48a1d4c9e6a1e5e9b2c"    // hashed phone
  },
  "custom_data": {
    "currency": "USD",
    "value": 49.99,
    "content_ids": ["SKU12345"],
    "content_type": "product"
  },
  "action_source": "website"
}

By including this personal information, Facebook can better match the purchase to an actual user, even across devices and browsers. This leads to more accurate reporting, stronger Custom Audiences, and improved ad optimization.

Full List of Customer Data You Can Send with AAM

Facebook supports a wide range of identifiers that improve match rates:

• Email addresses – Often the most reliable identifier for matching.
• Phone numbers – Useful for mobile-centric audiences.
• First and last names – Helps match users who may have multiple accounts.
• City, state, ZIP code, country – Adds geographic specificity.
• Date of birth – Useful for age-targeted campaigns.
• Gender – Allows demographic-specific targeting.
• Facebook App User IDs – If available, allows precise matching for app events.

Sending more of these data points increases the likelihood of accurate matches, resulting in better attribution, retargeting, and lookalike audience creation.

User Data Privacy

When dealing with customer data, privacy is always a top concern. Automatic Advanced Matching (AAM) sends personal information like emails, phone numbers, and names to Facebook, but it’s designed with privacy in mind.

How Facebook Protects Customer Data

• Data Hashing: All information sent through AAM is hashed before leaving your website. Hashing is a one-way encryption process that ensures the raw data—like an email or phone number—is never exposed or stored in plain text. Facebook can match the hashed data with user accounts without ever seeing the actual customer details.
• Limited Use: Facebook only uses the data to improve ad targeting, measure conversions, and optimize campaigns. It is not shared publicly or used for unrelated purposes.
• Compliance with Privacy Laws: AAM is designed to comply with major privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA. This means you must obtain appropriate consent from users when collecting data on your website, but Facebook handles the data responsibly once it’s hashed and transmitted.

Best Practices for Advertisers

To maintain trust and ensure compliance:

1. Obtain Explicit Consent: Make sure your store’s checkout, registration, or newsletter forms include clear language about data collection for advertising purposes.
2. Use Minimal Data: Only send the identifiers necessary for matching (e.g., email, phone, first name) to limit exposure.
3. Secure Your Website: Ensure your website uses HTTPS and follows standard security practices to protect customer data during transmission.
4. Transparency: Update your privacy policy to explain how customer data may be used for advertising and AAM purposes.

By following these best practices, you can leverage Automatic Advanced Matching effectively while protecting your customers’ privacy and maintaining their trust.

How to Enable Automatic Advanced Matching

Enabling AAM is straightforward, and most e-commerce platforms make it easy to activate.

Step-by-Step Setup

1. Go to Facebook Events Manager – Navigate to the Pixel associated with your store.
2. Select Your Pixel – Click on the settings gear icon.
3. Find Automatic Advanced Matching – Scroll to the section labeled AAM.
4. Toggle On – Switch the feature on.
5. Select Data Fields – Choose which customer information to send (email, phone, etc.).
6. Save Changes – Confirm your selections.

After setup, monitor your Event Match Quality in Events Manager to ensure that Facebook is receiving and matching data correctly. Over time, this improves the accuracy of your Custom Audiences and conversion tracking.

Common Troubleshooting Issues

Even though Automatic Advanced Matching (AAM) is easy to enable, there are common issues that can arise during setup or while using it. Understanding these problems and knowing how to fix them ensures your data flows smoothly and your Facebook campaigns perform optimally.

1. Low Event Match Quality

Symptom: You notice that your Event Match Quality score in Facebook Events Manager is low, meaning fewer events are being matched to real Facebook users.

Possible Causes:

• Missing customer information (e.g., email or phone number not collected).
• Form fields not mapped correctly to AAM in your pixel setup.
• Data formatting issues, such as extra spaces or special characters in email addresses.

Solution:

• Verify that all relevant form fields are properly integrated with your Pixel.
• Ensure the data is clean and correctly formatted before sending to Facebook.
• Encourage customers to complete all required fields during checkout.

2. Duplicate Event Tracking

Symptom: Some purchase or lead events appear to be tracked multiple times in Events Manager.

Possible Causes:

• Both standard pixel and server-side events sending the same action without deduplication.
• AAM sending the same customer identifier multiple times for a single event.

Solution:

• Implement event deduplication by using event IDs to prevent double counting.
• Ensure server-side events and pixel events are properly coordinated.
• Test events in Facebook’s Event Manager Test Tool before publishing live campaigns.

3. Mismatched Customer Data

Symptom: Facebook cannot match some customer data, resulting in lower audience size or inaccurate tracking.

Possible Causes:

• Data entered incorrectly by users (typos in email or phone).
• Missing required fields (first name, last name, or email).
• Non-standard characters or formatting issues in addresses or names.

Solution:

• Encourage users to provide accurate and complete information.
• Validate form data before sending it to Facebook.
• Use server-side integrations where possible to ensure consistent formatting.

4. AAM Not Enabled Properly

Symptom: No customer data appears to be sent through AAM.

Possible Causes:

• AAM toggle not activated in Events Manager.
• Pixel not installed correctly on the website.
• Conflicts with other scripts or apps on the site.

Solution:

• Verify that the AAM toggle is turned on for the correct Pixel.
• Use Facebook Pixel Helper or Events Manager to ensure the pixel is firing properly.
• Check for conflicting apps or custom scripts that might prevent AAM from sending data.

5. Data Privacy or Consent Issues

Symptom: Facebook is unable to match events due to privacy restrictions or legal consent issues.

Possible Causes:

• Users opting out of tracking or declining cookies.
• GDPR/CCPA consent banners not properly implemented.

Solution:

• Ensure your website clearly requests consent for data collection.
• Respect user preferences and only send data for those who have opted in.
• Regularly review your privacy policy and consent mechanisms to remain compliant.

By understanding these common issues and proactively addressing them, you can ensure that Automatic Advanced Matching functions smoothly, improving your Custom Audiences, conversion tracking, and overall ad performance.

Tips to Maximize Automatic Advanced Matching (AAM)

Once AAM is enabled, there are several strategies you can use to ensure you’re getting the most out of this feature. These tips will help improve match rates, enhance audience targeting, and boost ad performance.

1. Collect Complete Customer Information

The more data you collect from your customers, the higher your match rate will be. At a minimum, aim to capture:

• Email address
• First and last name
• Phone number
• Postal code

Encourage users to fill out complete forms during checkout or registration. Even small improvements in data collection can significantly increase AAM effectiveness.

2. Use Clean and Consistent Data

Data quality matters. Inconsistent or improperly formatted customer data can reduce match accuracy.

• Remove extra spaces and special characters in emails and phone numbers.
• Standardize formatting for phone numbers, postal codes, and names.
• Consider using server-side validation to ensure correct data before sending to Facebook.

3. Enable Server-Side Events

Combining AAM with server-side events (Conversions API) further improves accuracy, especially for customers who use privacy tools or browse in incognito mode. Server-side events can capture:

• Purchases completed after email receipts
• Offline conversions, such as phone orders
• Events missed due to browser restrictions

4. Monitor Event Match Quality

Facebook provides an Event Match Quality score in Events Manager, which indicates how well your data matches Facebook users.

• Aim for a score above 70% for best results.
• Regularly check for drops in match quality after updates to your website or checkout process.
• Use the score to identify fields that may need better data collection or formatting.

5. Respect User Privacy and Consent

Always ensure compliance with privacy regulations like GDPR and CCPA:

• Display clear consent banners for cookies and data collection.
• Only send data for users who have opted in.
• Update your privacy policy to reflect AAM usage and Facebook data handling.

Maintaining trust with your customers is critical for long-term advertising success.

6. Test and Optimize

• Regularly use Facebook’s Test Events tool to verify that AAM data is being sent correctly.
• Compare matched events with standard pixel events to ensure accurate tracking.
• Continuously experiment with different forms, fields, and checkout processes to improve match rates.

By following these tips, you can maximize the effectiveness of Automatic Advanced Matching, create higher-performing Custom Audiences, and improve conversion tracking for your Facebook Ads campaigns. Proper setup and ongoing optimization ensure that your store is getting the most value from every ad dollar spent.

Conclusion

Automatic Advanced Matching is a crucial tool for e-commerce advertisers who want to make the most of Facebook Ads. By sending additional customer identifiers along with standard pixel events, your store benefits from:

• More accurate conversion tracking
• Better-targeted Custom Audiences
• Higher-performing lookalike audiences
• Improved ad optimization and ROI

While the standard Pixel captures the “what” of user actions, AAM helps capture the “who,” giving your store a significant advantage in the era of privacy restrictions.

If you haven’t enabled AAM yet, it’s a simple step that can lead to measurable improvements in ad performance and more precise audience targeting. Your campaigns—and your bottom line—will thank you.