Facebook "0 results" but spending money

Quick Answer

Nine times out of ten, the conversions are happening but Meta isn't receiving the events. Check your pixel and Conversions API in Events Manager — if events aren't showing in Test Events, fix tracking before touching the campaign.

Step-by-step fix

Open Events Manager → click your pixel → Test Events tab.
Open your website in another tab and complete a test conversion.
Check Test Events for the event firing. If nothing appears, the pixel isn't installed correctly on the conversion page.
If Test Events shows the event but the campaign shows zero results, check the optimisation event in the ad set. The campaign optimises for whatever event you selected — if it's "Purchase" but you're firing "Lead", you'll see zero results.
Check the attribution window. The default in 2024+ is 7-day click. If your buyers take longer to convert, increase to 28-day click to see the full picture.
Check the URL parameters. Ads Manager only attributes conversions when the user lands on a URL with the correct fbclid parameter. If your landing page strips parameters, attribution breaks.
Check Conversions API match quality in Events Manager. Below 5/10 means Meta can't reliably attribute conversions to ad clicks.
Check the dataset connection between the ad account and the pixel. If the pixel was migrated to a new account, the link can break.

Why it happens

"Spending without results" almost always falls into one of these buckets:

Pixel isn't installed on the conversion page. It's installed on the homepage but not on the thank-you page. Most common in Shopify and WordPress sites where the pixel is added globally but the checkout uses a different domain.
Pixel events use the wrong event name. "PurchaseComplete" instead of "Purchase" — Meta only recognises the standard event names.
Campaign optimises for a different event than what's firing.
iOS App Tracking Transparency has reduced your attributable audience by 30-50% — conversions are still happening, they're just not being attributed.
First-party cookies are blocked by the user's browser. Safari and Firefox now block third-party tracking by default, so without Conversions API you lose those events.
The Conversions API isn't sending events — only the pixel is. Server-side tracking is now essentially required for accurate measurement.
The dataset is connected to a different ad account than the one running the campaign.
Attribution windows changed — the default switched from 28-day to 7-day click in 2021, and many older campaigns still expect the longer window.

How to prevent it

Always run the pixel and Conversions API in parallel. Pixel for client-side, CAPI for server-side. Together they catch 95%+ of events; alone they catch 60-70%.
Send all standard events (PageView, ViewContent, AddToCart, InitiateCheckout, Purchase) so the algorithm has full funnel signal.
Pass user data (hashed email, phone, IP, user agent) with every event for better match quality.
Test every new pixel install with Events Manager → Test Events before launching ads.
Set up Aggregated Event Measurement for iOS users with your 8 prioritised events.
Use Server-Side Tagging (via Stape or Google Tag Manager) for cleaner CAPI events.
Verify your domain in Business Manager so you can configure event prioritisation.

When to escalate to Meta support

Escalate if:

Test Events shows events firing in real-time but Ads Manager still shows zero results 24+ hours later.
Your dataset shows events but no "Attributed Conversions" in the ad reporting.
Match quality is showing 0/10 despite passing user data correctly.

Use Pro Team Chat with the dataset ID, ad account ID, and a screenshot of Test Events vs Ads Manager. Conversion attribution issues are usually resolved within 48 hours.

Pix-Vu mention

While you're fixing tracking, audit your creative too — many "zero results" cases are partly tracking gaps and partly weak creative. Pix-Vu helps you upgrade existing ad images so when your tracking is fixed, your conversions actually start coming through.