What is Instant Targeting?
Instant Targeting solves a critical problem: your Meta ads aren't performing as well as they could because Facebook doesn't have enough information about your customers. When visitors browse your site anonymously or provide limited information, Meta's algorithms struggle to optimise your ad targeting and bidding.
Before Instant Targeting: Meta receives basic, often anonymous event data (someone added to cart, but Meta doesn't know who)
After Instant Targeting: Meta receives enriched events with detailed customer information, enabling smarter ad optimization and better ROAS
Understanding Instant’s Meta integration and deduplication
What You'll See (And Why It's Normal)
Important: When you first enable Instant Targeting, you'll see significantly more events in your Meta Events Manager. This is completely normal and expected.
For example, if Meta records 100 add-to-cart events on the browser, and 100 add-to-cart events on the server, Instant’s integration will send another 100 add-to-cart events server-side — resulting in 300 events being displayed in Meta Events Manager initially.
Why this happens: Meta shows all events received before deduplication. Instant sends enhanced versions of your existing events, so Meta initially displays both the original and enhanced events.
How the Integration Works Behind the Scenes
Whenever one of your customers takes an action, like adding an item to their cart or making a purchase, several systems send records of that event to Meta.
The browser pixel might send a basic record, Shopify’s server-side integration sends another, and Instant Targeting sends an enhanced version, all containing an identical deduplication ID for that specific user action.
If we look at a real example, suppose Jane visits your website and adds a product to her cart.
- The browser pixel records her “Add to Cart” event with limited, often anonymous, customer details.
- Shopify’s server integration might also record Jane’s action but again without much customer information attached.
- Instant Targeting, however, records the same event but supplements it with Jane’s email, prior purchase indicators, and engagement history (if available).
What Happens Next: Automatic Deduplication
The events from Instant's Meta Integration carry the same deduplication ID as events sent from either:
- The browser (via Meta Pixel Integration)
- Other server-side providers (e.g., Shopify's native server-side integration, or another server-side integration provider).
This deduplication ID ensures that Facebook can identify and group duplicate events, preventing double attribution. Within 24-48 hours, Facebook's deduplication system:
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Groups events with matching deduplication IDs
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Selects the event with the richest customer data (typically Instant's enhanced event)
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Uses that enhanced event for ad optimization while discarding duplicates
As a result, after this brief window, the event counts stabilize and return to normal ranges, and Meta starts making smarter optimization decisions thanks to the superior customer data included with each Instant event.
Note that this behaviour is not specific to Instant — we're just following Meta's best practices. Other products that utilise Meta's conversions APIs also send duplicate events, using de-duplication IDs the same way we do.
What Makes an “Enhanced” Event?
Enhanced events from Instant Targeting stand out because they are populated with rich customer attributes.
This context empowers Meta to find more lookalike high-value shoppers, improve audience match quality, and raise overall campaign performance by allocating ad spend more efficiently.
Because Instant Targeting works by adding value, rather than replacing your other integrations, you can safely run it alongside Shopify, Klaviyo, Google Tag Manager, or other Meta API providers.
How to Verify Everything is Working Correctly
The most obvious sign the integration is working is an initial jump in event counts. Over the first week, you may also see Meta’s “Event Match Quality” scores climb and begin to notice upward trends in your ad performance metrics.
If after enabling Instant you see no change in event volume, or if your events suddenly disappear from Events Manager, it could signal a misconfiguration (for instance, a deduplication ID mismatch).
In such cases, our support team is available to help — simply email help@instant.one with your website URL and a detailed description of your issue.
Conclusion
When using Instant’s Meta integration, duplicate events in Meta Events Manager are expected as server-side events mirror those sent from the browser or other providers.
However, thanks to Facebook’s deduplication mechanism, these events are grouped, and the event with the most enriched customer information is used for reporting and optimization. This ensures your marketing data remains accurate and effective.
For further reading, check out Facebook’s documentation on event deduplication: Facebook Deduplication Docs.