Grow your reach and drive sales with Facebook for WooCommerce

Written by Marina Pape on April 21, 2017 Blog, News, Product News.

At WooCommerce we’re passionate about the idea of eCommerce being open. By that we mean open to all budgets and an array of development skill levels, open to all locations, and open to everything from the simplest to most customized business ideas you can throw at it.

Today we’re proud to announce Facebook for WooCommerce, a free integration that opens up Facebook’s audience of more than 1 billion people to Woo store owners. It’s a significant step in our quest to democratize commerce on WordPress.

Read on to learn more about the two powerful ways this extension helps grow businesses.

Connecting Woo stores with the world

An eCommerce store is only as successful as its reach and sales. WooCommerce has over 1.9 million active installs — how many of these stores are reaching their goals, and reaching the right people?

It’s hard work, especially for small business owners, to put the time and energy into marketing whilst printing shipping labels, finding room for inventory under desks, and balancing the books in the proverbial early days. Everyone wants a silver bullet.

We write fairly regularly with tips for driving sales and finding customers, and integrating your store with Facebook is one such tip. Now the easiest way to do so is with Facebook for WooCommerce.

Here’s why:

  • Facebook helps you reach customers with ads, and
  • Listing products on your Facebook Page in a shop section drives sales.

Plus, it’s free, which is awesome. Facebook are embracing working with open source partners, and at Woo we’re proud to be one of the very first.

Here’s a more in-depth look at the two features provided by this extension.

Advertising and remarketing to potential customers via Facebook ads

At WooCommerce, we use Facebook extensively for advertising and remarketing, and have seen some excellent results. We recommend it to stores far and wide, and are excited that this new extension makes it an easier process.

Installing the Facebook pixel on your WooCommerce store (done via guided setup) enables:

  • Conversion tracking, so you can see the number of conversions and/or sales your ads are driving,
  • Optimization, so you can show ads to people most likely to take a specific action (like adding an item to their cart or making a purchase), and
  • Remarketing, so you can reach people who have already visited your store and may be more likely to return for a purchase.
The integration will help you install a tracking pixel on your store quickly and without a fuss.

Adding the Facebook pixel is a tried and tested way to track performance of ads, which is really helpful:

Facebook is 100% the backbone of our customer acquisition efforts, and it’s been made even better with the improved Facebook pixel. — Ali Najafian, co-founder, Trendy Butler

Showcasing your products on your Facebook Page

Setting up a Facebook shop section enables you to show the products you have for sale on your Facebook Page. With this extension, your products will be pulled in dynamically, and updated on Facebook when they’re updated in WooCommerce.

As things stand, the shop section integration enables you to:

  • List your catalog easily — it takes just one click to send your entire product catalog to Facebook. Any changes made on your WooCommerce website are automatically synced with your Facebook shop.
  • Merchandise your products — you can organize your products into collections, and even tag them in photos to improve visibility and highlight your best sellers on both Instagram and Facebook.
  • Offer mobile-friendly browsing — the Facebook shop section offers a beautiful shopping experience for mobile devices.
WooCommerce products on Facebook mobile, easy on the eyes.

Download the free extension to get started

There you have it — everything you need to know about Facebook for WooCommerce. Download the extension now to start advertising to potential customers and showcasing your products right on your Facebook Page.

Have thoughts for us about this? We’re keen to hear your feedback. The comments are open and we’d love to know what questions you have, what you’d like to see in future updates to the extension, or whatever else is on your mind.

38 Responses

  1. Dale
    April 21, 2017 at 5:36 am #

    Hi,

    Terrific news that this plugin is available and free.

    Just one minor point regarding license management. When you get the plugin it is only a single site license but I have quite a few other plugins with multiple site licenses as I operate several shops.

    Just had to purchase the plugin multiple times to get multiple licenses which seems a bit messy – would be great for you to make it an unlimited sites license since it is free.

    Dale.

    • Nicole Kohler
      April 21, 2017 at 7:35 pm #

      Hey Dale, thanks for this feedback.

      Can you let us know how you were purchasing the extension (on mobile, desktop, what browser, etc?). The multi-site subscription option is still available on this product page on the right hand side: https://cloudup.com/cPHOIClUnD3

      If this wasn’t working for you or displaying in a specific browser or device, do let us know and we’ll take a look ASAP!

      Thanks so much.

    • Adrian Castillo
      May 5, 2017 at 7:57 pm #

      That’s great news and a big step for woo commerce developers, congratulations.
      greetings from Mexico

  2. Daniel
    April 22, 2017 at 8:38 am #

    Great news. Looks so good. The initial export of the products failed but I believe some initial bugs will be solved accordingly.

    Thank you

  3. twoguyswithballs
    April 22, 2017 at 11:49 pm #

    Looks good. Installed the plugin and was able to sync products. All my products are variable products, I didn’t see how variations can be selected in FB. Are variable products supported?

  4. arlettetcd
    April 23, 2017 at 7:16 am #

    I also seem to be having an issue with the variations not showing on Facebook. Other than that, great job.

    • Tudor
      April 26, 2017 at 2:51 pm #

      I would like to second this, as variations not working with woo 3, so guess have to wait for update before using. please can you give next update status as this look so powerful

  5. Gary Zhang
    April 24, 2017 at 4:40 am #

    Thank you so much for this great extension, but why only a small part of our catalog was synced to Facebook shop? In the product editing page, it says “This product is not yet synced to Facebook.”

    • Nicole Kohler
      April 25, 2017 at 12:06 am #

      Hey Gary – please contact support about this and they can lend you a hand.

  6. James Evers
    April 27, 2017 at 9:37 am #

    Well that’s a great step of targeting the best social media first, we’re looking forward to Woocommerce team for acquiring extensions of other social media platforms as well.

  7. Holly
    May 1, 2017 at 4:29 pm #

    Hello,
    Thanks for the plugin! I used it to set up my shop on FB over the weekend.

    I have variable products and the sync does not display the default settings I have on my website.

    Also the format of my descriptions didn’t get transferred (bullet lists and headings), instead it displays as one big paragraph.

    I would like to know how to resolve these two items and then will be very happy with the plugin.
    Thanks!
    Holly

    • Nicole Kohler
      May 2, 2017 at 6:10 pm #

      Please contact our support team for assistance, they have experience with the extension and can suggest next steps. Thanks.

      • Holly
        May 3, 2017 at 4:27 pm #

        Thanks Nicole!

      • hollyvanasse
        May 3, 2017 at 5:07 pm #

        Hello Nicole,
        It appears that support is not available for this integration because it is free. It is frustrating to not have this work the way it says it will work and not have access to any help either. Facebook’s documentation sends a person to this page and this page sends a person to the Facebook page.

        Can you please direct me to a place where I can receive support for this to work?
        Thanks,
        Holly

        • Nicole Kohler
          May 4, 2017 at 7:03 pm #

          Hey Holly,

          I’m so sorry to hear this — I tried to find your ticket to respond to you directly there but wasn’t successful.

          Support absolutely is available for this extension, but it’s offered via Facebook’s support team. We’re working to make that more clear and the Woo team member you spoke with should have given you next steps, but it sounds like we didn’t. 🙁

          You can reach Facebook’s team directly for help with the issue you’re encountering at ads_extension_woocommerce@fb.com.

          Keep me posted – let me know if I can help you out in any way.

          • hollyvanasse
            May 6, 2017 at 4:20 pm #

            Hello Nicole,
            Thanks for your response. I sent an email to the address above on 5/4 and have yet to receive a response. At this point I have uninstalled the extension and will try again at a later date. I appreciate your help as you seem to the only one answering inquiries about this extension!
            Holly

          • hollyvanasse
            May 6, 2017 at 4:23 pm #

            Sorry I mis-spoke in my message just prior to this one, I emailed the Facebook team on 4/30 and haven’t received any type of a response as of today, 5/6.
            ~hv

          • Nicole Kohler
            May 6, 2017 at 9:34 pm #

            That’s really frustrating, thanks for letting me know.

            First – can you let me know what your ticket number was when you contacted us? Second – are you logged in to comment with the same email address you used to contact them? I assume so, but just double checking.

            Once I have this info I can try to inquire with the developers to see what’s going on. Obviously this isn’t the ideal experience or what we should have to do for you to get a response, but hopefully it’ll get this resolved for you ASAP.

            Thanks for bearing with us. 🙂

          • hollyvanasse
            May 7, 2017 at 4:24 pm #

            Hello Nicole,
            OK, as far as a support ticket number, I was unable to get that far because the system here said that I have free products and support is unavailable for them.

            I was using the Support –> Submit a ticket–>Open a ticket–>Help with Free extensions. When you get to the last part, it says that you can only receive help for the extensions listed, and Facebook for Woocommerce is not listed, so I didn’t continue the process there.

            When I sent an email to the FB support email address that you provided, I didn’t get a response, so no support ticket from them either.

            Thanks for being willing to figure this out!
            Holly

    • Nicole Kohler
      May 9, 2017 at 1:22 am #

      Hey Holly!

      Our first comment thread got so long I couldn’t reply there anymore 🙂

      I checked with the Facebook team supporting the extension, and it sounds like they are answering emails regularly. So I have two suggestions for you here:

      1. Can you reply to your original email/forward it to the email address I gave you again, just in case it got caught in spam or accidentally lost? I’ve let the team know I will be asking you to do this.
      2. Can you update the extension to its newest version (should be 1.2.4) and see if the issue persists?

      Fingers crossed we get closer to a resolution on this!

      • hollyvanasse
        May 9, 2017 at 6:18 pm #

        Hey Nicole!
        I have downloaded and installed the latest version, but now when I go to set up the shop under woocommerce –> settings –> integration, It says my shop is still connected–from the version that I had deleted. And it won’t let me do anything. The set up screen shows, but nothing is clickable to begin the process. So no luck there.

        I will re-send the email to FB email address again now.

        Fingers AND toes crossed,
        Holly

        • Nicole Kohler
          May 10, 2017 at 7:37 pm #

          That’s frustrating! I’m just as puzzled as you are here, so hopefully the FB team can straighten you out ASAP.

          • hollyvanasse
            May 11, 2017 at 4:11 am #

            No reply from the FB team over 24 hours later. I stripped all links out of the email and told them you had told me to re-send. So either they are not getting their emails or they are not answering them.

            To further the frustration factor, I had sent a test email to them last Friday and on Monday I got a response to that email asking what I needed help with. I responded to that email on Monday morning and have now heard nothing back from that person either.

            And when I forwarded the email yesterday, I included that person’s email too, to increase the chances of it getting to SOMEBODY….

            Can you send me a private email maybe? And then maybe you forward the info to the correct parties? I don’t know, just tossing out ideas…

          • Nicole Kohler
            May 11, 2017 at 11:39 pm #

            Holly — can you forward your email chain to me at (removed)?

  8. casalmatias
    May 2, 2017 at 6:34 pm #

    Hi, Im trying to install this amazing plugin, but i got this error:

    Connection failed
    Check that you’re logged into your store. You can close this window and reopen the plugin from inside your store’s admin panel.

    I am logged in my facebook and in the ecommerce, what can i be doing wrong?

    • Nutzu
      May 5, 2017 at 11:12 pm #

      I second this. Can someone help?

      • salmankhawar
        May 6, 2017 at 12:39 pm #

        Same problem here. Can someone help?

        • Nicole Kohler
          May 9, 2017 at 1:23 am #

          Hey all – does this issue persist if you update to the newest version of the extension (1.2.4) and try again? Let me know 🙂

    • salmankhawar
      May 6, 2017 at 1:06 pm #

      Did you get any help?

  9. mthenard
    May 6, 2017 at 1:00 pm #

    Same problem here. Help !

    • Nicole Kohler
      May 6, 2017 at 9:39 pm #

      Howdy all — Facebook is handling support for this particular extension, and you should be able to reach out to them at ads_extension_woocommerce@fb.com for direct assistance with the problem you’re reporting.

      They also have a page for the extension with some FAQs here: https://www.facebook.com/business/help/900699293402826

      Having said that, if you don’t receive a response within a few days, please let us know (either ping here or open a ticket) and we can follow up directly.

      • salmankhawar
        May 8, 2017 at 12:38 pm #

        There’s no assistance on the link provided
        And I have sent the email since around 3 days, no response.
        Facebook is pretty bad in responding I am sure.

        • Aashay Desai
          May 9, 2017 at 1:13 am #

          Hi Salman,

          I’m not sure if you’re the same Salman at rialto.pk, but I noticed my colleague did respond to you today. Sorry about the time difference, your email was sent on the weekend here. 🙂

        • Nicole Kohler
          May 9, 2017 at 1:17 am #

          Hey there – I’ve gotten in contact with the Facebook team supporting the extension and they are responding to emails regularly.

          If there’s still no response, please send a followup to your first message and let me know what your email is (if it doesn’t match the one you’re using to comment here) and I can follow up behind the scenes 🙂

          Also, please make sure you’ve updated the extension to its newest version as we are actively pushing fixes live regularly, and this problem may be resolved now.

          • hollyvanasse
            May 12, 2017 at 2:45 pm #

            Hi Nicole,
            I wanted to let you know I did send my emails to you yesterday. Hopefully they made it! Our other thread must have gotten too long again…
            Thanks!
            Holly

          • Nicole Kohler
            May 12, 2017 at 7:09 pm #

            I got them! Thanks Holly. Following up with FB. Stay tuned.

  10. armykart
    May 13, 2017 at 10:18 pm #

    I am getting following error
    Access to staticxx.facebook.com was denied

    You don’t have authorization to view this page.
    HTTP ERROR 403

    • andreisidana
      May 20, 2017 at 10:51 pm #

      I’m getting this too.
      Access to staticxx.facebook.com was denied

      any ideas?