Deduplication in AnyTrack

When Meta first launched the Conversions API, it promised more accurate tracking and better optimization. But with it came a new challenge that has haunted digital marketers ever since: deduplication.

Five years later, the struggle is still real. Duplicate events continue to inflate metrics, confuse attribution, and frustrate marketers who just want clean, reliable data. The good news? With AnyTrack, deduplication is handled automatically — before events even reach your ad platforms.

Why Deduplication is Necessary

Without deduplication, the same conversion might be tracked multiple times — for example:

• Once in the browser (Pixel/Tag)
• Again via an API or webhook
• Or even multiple times in the funnel (e.g., several form submissions)

This would inflate metrics and send unreliable signals to your ad platforms. Deduplication ensures that only one clean event is counted.

Deduplication Use Cases

There are several scenarios where deduplication is required:

1. When AnyTrack receives both client-side and server-side events

   • Example: Shopify Add to Cart tracked via the AnyTrack Tag (client) and via the Shopify Webhook (server).

2. When AnyTrack receives only server-side events

   • Example: conversions sent exclusively through an API or webhook.

3. When AnyTrack receives only client-side events

   • Example: conversions tracked solely via the AnyTrack Tag.

Deduplication is required whenever the same type of event is received multiple times with similar conversion data.

📘

For example:

When we integrated ClickFunnels in Anytrack we realized that during a sales funnel, a user might submit several forms (form_submit events) which was triggering an Event Snippet in the browser with a Lead event. While this event was firing in the browser, the AnyTrack webhook was receiving real time customer data directly from the ClickFunnels server and we could deduplicate these events and customers were finally able to optimize their campaigns for a real Lead event.

How AnyTrack Deduplicates Events

In all cases, deduplication is handled automatically by AnyTrack, using multiple identifiers and event parameters, including:

• AnyTrack Click ID
• Customer data
• First-party data (cookies, fingerprinting signals)
• Transaction data (transaction ID, order ID)

Events from client-side and server-side are compared, cleaned, and merged into a single event record.

📊 Shopify Example: Meta vs. AnyTrack Deduplication

What You Should Do About Deduplication

To make sure you don’t run into duplicate events, here are some best practices to follow:

1. Prevent the Meta Pixel from firing outside of AnyTrack

   • AnyTrack already handles conversion tracking and deduplication for you.
   • If other systems (or your own code) still trigger events directly to the Meta Pixel, duplicates will slip through.

2. Remove event snippets you previously added manually

   • Delete any old code snippets for Lead, Purchase, AddToCart, etc.
   • If you leave them in place, Meta will receive the same event twice: once from your snippet, and once from AnyTrack. Since AnyTrack doesn't control what is fired in the Event Snippet, the required deduplicated parameters won't be identical to the server side events, and duplicate data will slip through.

3. Disconnect overlapping apps

   • Remove or disconnect apps that interact with ad platforms you’ve already connected to AnyTrack (e.g., Meta, Google, TikTok).
   • Otherwise, both the app and AnyTrack could be sending the same events.
   • Remove tags from tag management platforms (Google Tag Manager, Stape.io)

✅ Native vs. Custom Integrations

• Native Integrations (e.g., Shopify, ClickFunnels, etc.) If you’ve connected AnyTrack via a native integration, you don’t need to do anything. The deduplication process is fully automated.

• Custom Integrations Deduplication also happens automatically using common tracking parameters like the AnyTrack click_id.

  ⚠️ Important for Purchase Events:

  • You must pass the transaction_id for each purchase.
  • The click_id alone is not enough, since it is tied to the customer, not the purchase.
  • Without the transaction_id, repeat purchases from the same customer could be deduplicated incorrectly.

Pro Tips for deduplication

• Rely on AnyTrack → Don’t fire Meta Pixel events directly; let AnyTrack handle all deduplication.
• Audit your site → Double-check that no legacy scripts or apps are still sending events to Meta Pixel using the AnyTrack Pixel Helper Extension
• Pass transaction IDs → Especially important for repeat purchase scenarios.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

• How can I prevent sending duplicate data to AnyTrack?

  • Ensure you’ve removed old Pixel snippets and disconnected duplicate apps.
  • Always send events through AnyTrack (tag, API, webhook), not directly to Meta.

• How can I identify duplicate data in Meta Event Manager?

  • If you just connected AnyTrack, it's normal to see some warnings and diagnostics from your Ad platforms. Wait 24 hours, select the appropriate date and inspect the event manager.
  • You should see only Conversion API events. If you see 'Multiple' sources, it means that an other system is calling the Meta Pixel.
  • Open the Event Details and open the deduplication tab. You will see an overlap of 0% between the data from Meta Pixel and Conversion API.

• Why should I remove event tracking snippets from my shop?

  Event tracking snippets can cause duplication of data in ad platforms because they may track conversions separately from AnyTrack. This can lead to data inconsistency, which can negatively impact your ad performance.

• What happens if I forget to remove the tracking snippets?

  If you forget to remove the tracking snippets, it might result in data duplication, which can skew your ad performance analytics and lead to inaccurate reporting.

• How does AnyTrack handle conversion deduplication?

  AnyTrack has an integrated system that automatically deduplicates conversions using unique identifiers. It then sends this deduplicated data to the ad platforms' conversion API to ensure accurate reporting.

• Does AnyTrack send both client-side and server-side conversions?

  No. In most cases Anytrack sends events via server-side integrations, also called Conversion API.

• Can AnyTrack deduplicate conversions for all ad networks?

  AnyTrack's conversion deduplication system is designed to work with all ad networks. In most cases, ad platforms use a combination of event parameters to deduplicate conversions.