How to Improve Your Event Match Quality Score

Ever wondered why your Facebook ads don’t always convert? You could craft great copy, pair it with stunning graphics that stop the scroll, and top it up with crisp targeting. But conversions fall short.

Sometimes, it’s not about the ad. Your event match quality (EMQ) score might be the culprit. What is an EMQ score, though, and how can you improve it? Let’s dive in.

Key Takeaways:

• Event match quality is a metric Meta uses to track how well it can link a conversion back to a real user who interacted with your ad.
• High-priority data like email addresses and click IDs have the most impact on your EMQ score.
• Errors like misconfigured pixels, duplicate events, late triggers, and missing server-side tracking can lower your score.
• To improve your ad performance, you need to transmit complete data, hash sensitive identifiers, and implement server-side tracking for full-funnel visibility. This can be achieved by using specialized tools such as RedTrack.

What Is Event Match Quality?

Event match quality is a Meta-specific metric that helps advertisers understand how accurately their conversion data matches real user profiles when sent through the Conversions API protocol or Pixel events to Meta’s platforms. It’s Meta’s way of rewarding data accuracy with better ad performance.

In short, the EMQ score Meta gives can provide insight into how well the system can connect your events to actual users. Hence, this indicator is a key factor in improving your targeting and optimizing your campaign results.

While other platforms like Google and TikTok don’t use the term “EMQ”, they follow a similar concept: accurate data improves ad tracking and attribution. So whichever platform you use, the better the match, the higher your score.

How Do Platforms Measure the EMQ Score?

Essentially, they evaluate the quality of the customer information and its completeness. A such, Meta uses a ranking system from 0 to 10.0 based on how good the data you send for each server event is.

The closer you are to 10, the higher your chances of reaching the right people with your ads. If the score is 0 or low, this means that not enough customer information is provided.

How does it work? Meta measures your event match quality score by looking at how complete and accurate your customer data is. It calculates this score based on a rolling average of your conversion events over time.

It also puts focus on things like your customer’s email address, phone number, full name, country, and even browser type. Some of these parameters carry more weight than others, though. For instance, email addresses are a high priority. Browser IDs? Not so much. But together, they help paint a fuller picture, more on that soon.

Why Does Event Match Quality Matter?

As we’ve mentioned, event match quality is a key metric for ad platforms that use server-side conversion APIs. It connects your ad to a segment of your target audience that is most likely to convert.

Ad engines run on data. The more complete and accurate your customer data is, the easier it is for these platforms to link a conversion back to a real person.

Once that match happens, the algorithm starts looking for patterns:

• Who’s buying?
• Who’s clicking?
• What kind of users tend to sign up?

Over time, it understands the patterns leading to conversions. A higher event match quality score enables algorithms to make delivery, targeting, and attribution more effective. And the more it learns, the smarter your ad delivery becomes.

So, instead of your ads going out to just anyone, they start reaching people who are genuinely interested and with the highest likelihood of converting. This means precise audience targeting, a lower CPA, and a better return on your ad spend.

What Data Influences Event Match Quality Scores?

Ad platforms don’t treat all data equally when measuring EMQ scores. When analyzing conversions, what is EMQ score referring to? Here’s a table with a short overview, and we’ll go over the different identifiers right below, grouping them according to their order of importance.

Priority Level	EMQ Score Identifier Examples	Notes
High Priority	Email address, Click ID	Serve as the primary anchors for accurately linking actions to real user profiles
Medium Priority	Facebook login ID, Browser ID, External ID, Date of birth, Country, Phone number	Useful when combined with high-priority data to improve identification
Low Priority	Lead ID, First and last name, Town or city, Postcode	Help fill gaps, but are weak for standalone identification

High Priority

The Meta or Facebook event match quality score puts most focus on the following points, which are the strongest, most reliable identifiers. Think of them as the corner pieces of your user identity puzzle that offer the highest level of confidence in matching data to a specific person.

• Email address — tied to a single person and often used for logins, purchases, and subscriptions.
• Click ID — generated when someone clicks an ad and reveals exactly which ad and platform drove the action, making it crucial for attribution modeling.

Medium Priority

On their own, these signals may not confirm identity and don’t matter as much for the event match quality score Facebook or other Meta Suite platforms take into consideration. But when paired with high-priority data, they help paint a fuller picture.

• Facebook login ID — assigned by Meta to link actions to the associated Facebook accounts.
• Browser ID — a unique fingerprint based on a user’s browser or device setup that helps distinguish between users on the same network.
• External ID — your internal identifier, like a CRM ID, customer loyalty number, or custom cookie, bridging your internal systems with external activities.
• Date of birth — helps narrow things down, especially in households where multiple people are browsing on the same device.
• Country — confirms general location and supports geo-specific targeting.
• Phone number — provides another strong match quality clue for linking behavior to real users.

Low Priority

These don’t confirm identity on their own and don’t influence the event match quality score Meta ranks that much. Nonetheless, they help fill in gaps or support other signals.

• Lead ID — unique to your lead generation or CRM system, they’re good for internal tracking but weak for user-level identification.
• First and last name — too common to rely on, but useful when combined with stronger data like an email address.
• Town or city — provides geographic context but lacks precision.
• Postcode — more specific than a city, but still not unique enough to identify someone confidently.

Most of these identifiers are deeply personal, though. That’s why you need to collect and transmit them securely, using hashing and encryption where you can. More importantly, you must make sure that you adhere to privacy laws, meet GDPR and CCPA standards, state-level laws, and Meta’s own data handling policies.

Why Is the Accuracy of Sent Data Integral?

Even the smallest errors, like a typo in an email address, an omitted digit in a phone number, or an outdated piece of information, can seriously distort your data quality. When this happens and inaccuracies slip through, it becomes difficult to match this data to real people.

This drags down your EMQ score, undermining your ability to reach the right audience and wrecking your targeting. Plus, you’ll miss out on opportunities to optimize your campaigns and maximize your advertising ROI. In the worst-case scenario, inaccurate or outdated data might even put you at risk of violating data privacy laws, leading to compliance issues or penalties.

So, before sending customer data through the Conversions API, always double-check for data accuracy. Regularly auditing your data pipelines can help ensure that what you send is both correct and compliant, letting you maintain a high event match quality score, improve campaign performance, and safeguard your reputation.

How to Improve the Event Match Quality Score [6 Tips]

Low scores happen. And most of the time, there’s a clear fix. Follow these tips to tighten things up and enhance your event match quality on Facebook and other platforms.

Troubleshoot Low EMQ Scores

Before you start searching for tips on how to improve Facebook event match quality or solutions for similar ad platforms, you need to make sure that you’re lacking errors in the process. Here are the most common reasons why your EMQ score might be taking a hit on Meta, TikTok, Google, and analogous platforms.

Option 1: Manual Setup Errors

Custom code or tag manager setups can easily break if there’s a small error like a missing variable, incorrect hashing, or the wrong trigger. Even a misplaced character can stop your event from working.

• How to diagnose: Use Pixel or Tag Helper tools to test live pages and catch formatting issues.
• Solution: Review your setup against official documentation or use verified templates and integrations when possible.

Option 2: Event Deduplication Issues

If you send the same event from both Pixel and the server without proper setup, Meta might double-count or miss it entirely.

• How to diagnose: Use Meta’s Event Manager to check for duplicate or missing events.
• Solution: Use consistent event_ids to help Meta deduplicate cleanly. If you’re setting things up manually, follow Meta’s official deduplication guidelines.

Option 3: Pixel or Tag Misfires

If your events fire too late, more than once, or not at all, the data might never reach the ad platform, especially if users bounce quickly.

• How to diagnose: Use debugging tools like Google Tag Assistant or Meta Pixel Helper to identify and troubleshoot misfired, duplicate, or delayed tracking events.
• Solution: Fire important events earlier and make sure they only trigger once per action.

Option 4: Ad Blockers and Browser Restrictions

Some users block third-party scripts entirely, so your pixels never get a chance to fire. That means missing events and poor matching.

• How to diagnose: Compare event counts across browsers in your analytics to see where you’re losing data.
• Solution: Send events directly from your backend rather than relying solely on browser scripts. This helps bypass adblock detection.

Option 5: No Server-Side Integration

If you’re only using browser-based tracking, you’re likely missing conversions from users who block cookies or leave pages quickly.

• How to diagnose: Check if the number of events in your CRM or backend is higher than what’s reported in your ad platforms.
• Solution: Implement server-side tracking (like Meta CAPI or Google Enhanced Conversions) and combine it with your browser setup for better coverage.

Use First-Party Data and Cookies

You have several paths here. You can collect data directly from users, or you can try to piece it together from third-party sources. Always choose the former.

The thing is that first-party data is more reliable, and that’s exactly what platforms like Meta want to see when calculating the score for your Facebook event match quality or when handling analogous scoring on other platforms.

Now, pair that with first-party cookies (those tiny trackers your site places in a user’s browser). They help keep tabs on behavior across sessions. So, even if someone browses on their phone and completes the transaction on their laptop, you can still connect the dots and enrich event data through cross-device tracking.

Ensure You’re Capturing and Sending Complete Data

If the data you’re transmitting is incomplete, your EMQ score will drop. It’s just like trying to find someone, and all you have is a blurry photo and a first name. Close, but not good enough.

Similarly, advertising platforms rely on complete customer data to match events. The more identifiers you include (and the more accurate they are), the stronger the match.

As a best practice, check your platform’s diagnostics to see which match keys are missing. Then, collect more high- and medium-priority identifiers and format them properly before sending. That’s one way to ensure your ad tracking and attribution stay on point.

Make Sure You’re Hashing the Data

Hashing means turning sensitive data into a string of characters that can’t be reversed to its original form. For example, you can take an email address or some other form of personally identifiable information (PII), run it through a one-way algorithm, and generate a random string of text called a hash.

This hashed version is what gets sent to ad platforms instead of the raw data. Hashing allows these platforms to process sensitive data without ever seeing them.

It also helps you stick to privacy-friendly tracking principles and stay compliant with regulations that require businesses to handle personal data securely.

Utilize Advanced Matching for Meta

Another tip on how to improve event match quality Facebook uses is to take full advantage of advanced matching features. It’s a powerful Meta tool that improves your ad performance by sending additional customer data alongside conversion events. Meta offers two types:

• Automatic advanced matching — It scans your site for recognizable fields like email, first name, and last name. Then, it uses any available information to improve your Meta EMQ score.
• Manual advanced matching — You decide exactly what customer data gets sent, whether you’re using client-side tracking, server-side tracking, or both.

Don’t just rely on one method, though. Use both instead. Together, they give your campaigns an edge, improving your event match quality score on Meta.

Adopt a Server-Side Tracking Tool to Track the Full Funnel

Browser pixels are getting harder to rely on. With cookie restrictions, ad blockers, and privacy settings, you’re often left with gaps in your tracking. Server-side tracking fixes that by sending data straight from your server to the ad platform.

Why does this solution rock? When you track every key action across your conversion channel (like viewing a product, adding it to the cart, starting checkout, and finally purchasing), you’re giving the ad platform a full story. This helps build more unified customer profiles, enabling more efficient targeting.

Sure, you could try to track these events manually. But that’s a lot of data to handle, and it’s a path prone to mistakes, gaps, and missed opportunities.

But you can really get the most out of your data with specialized ad-tracking software. As such, RedTrack automatically captures and sends a wide range of meaningful identifiers, improving data accuracy and attribution.

Final Thoughts on Improving Facebook Event Match Quality

Want ad platforms to match more conversions and optimize faster? Then give them the good stuff: complete, hashed, server-tracked data.

Better yet, let RedTrack do the heavy lifting for you. You’ll get accurate event tracking, better attribution, and stronger ad management, all from one platform. In fact, the high-quality Conversions API integration has helped users achieve Facebook EMQ scores higher than 9.0 (with 10.0 being the highest possible score).

Want to see RedTrack in action? Contact us to check out the free demo, and we’ll show you how to boost your ad performance.