In this guide
- Open with the client's own numbers: platform conversions against store orders.
- Offer a fixed scope: set-up, testing, a week of checks and a handover.
- Promise a measurement, not a percentage. Say how you will compare before and after.
Clients rarely ask for server-side tracking. They ask why Meta shows fewer sales than the shop, or why the cost per purchase keeps rising. The pitch below starts there. Replace the bracketed items with your client's details. Related reading: pitching server-side tracking to clients, how to pitch server-side tracking and the agency handbook.
1. The problem, in their numbers
Last month the shop recorded [X] orders. Meta reported [Y] and Google Ads [Z]. The gap of [X minus Y] orders means ad platforms are not seeing about [percent] of your sales. They cannot learn from sales they never see, so they bid less well and your cost per purchase rises.
Check your tracking in one pass
This is an example. Run the check on your own site to see where yours stands.
2. What is happening
Browsers and blockers cut some of the requests that carry sales to the ad platforms, and Safari deletes script-set cookies after a few days. A server on your own subdomain sends the sales instead, and can keep the cookies alive. See what server-side tracking is and Safari ITP.
3. The offer
| Item | What you do | Client deliverable |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | Tagging domain, web and server containers, platform tags | Working server-side tracking for [platforms] |
| Matching | Hashed e-mail and phone, shared event IDs, cookie restore | Higher match quality for Meta and Google |
| Testing | Test purchases and platform test tools | A test report |
| Launch check | Seven days of daily comparison with store orders | A before and after summary |
| Handover | Documentation and a short call | A one-page document |
Raw events in. Clean events out.
Open Tracked collects each event on your own domain, removes the noise and sends what is left to Meta, Google Ads, TikTok.
4. Costs
There are two costs: your fee and the hosting plan. With a managed host such as Open Tracked, hosting plans are sized by monthly requests, from 15,000 on the free plan up to 20 million; see the pricing page. See how much a server GTM costs. Estimate the client's requests as visits × events per visit.
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Setup fee | [amount] |
| Monthly hosting | [plan price] |
| Optional monthly review | [amount] |
| Optional analytics | see the pricing page |
5. Timeline
Day 1
Access, plan and domain.
Day 2
Containers, tags and a test purchase.
Day 3
Consent checks and launch.
Days 4 to 10
Daily comparison with store orders.
Day 10
Review call and handover.
6. How we measure success
- Purchases in Meta and Google Ads compared with store orders, before and after.
- Event match quality for Purchase in Meta.
- Cost per purchase, once enough data has built up.
- No increase in duplicate purchases.
State this plainly: results vary. You are fixing collection, not promising more sales.
7. Risks and how you handle them
8. Questions clients ask
- Will this replace my pixel?
- No. The pixel stays and the server adds a second copy with a shared ID.
- Is it legal?
- It can be, with consent and a proper privacy notice. It is not a way around consent.
- What if we leave?
- Containers are standard exports and the tagging domain is theirs.
- How soon will we see results?
- Counts improve right away. Cost effects need a few weeks of data.
Next step to include in your email
"I can set this up for [client] by [date] for [fee]. Shall I send access instructions?" End with one clear question.
Terms you will see
- Setup fee
- A one-time charge for the work of building the tracking.
- Retainer
- A monthly fee for reviews and changes.
- Match quality
- Meta's score of how well events can be matched to people.
- Deduplication
- Counting a browser event and its server copy once.
- Handover
- The document and call that pass the set-up to the client.
Before you send the pitch
Works with your stack
Grab a logo and throw it. These are the tools Open Tracked already talks to.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a pitch be?
One page of their numbers and one page of offer and price is enough.
Should I include a guarantee?
Offer a measurement plan instead of a result guarantee.
Who owns the tagging domain?
The client. It is a subdomain of their website.
Can I use this for several clients?
Yes. Replace the bracketed numbers each time.
What if the client already has a Meta Pixel set up?
Keep it. The server adds a second copy with a shared event ID.
Do I need spreadsheets to read my results?
No. Once tracking is live, the Open Tracked analytics shows spend, revenue, ROAS and profit, and you can ask Ari, the built-in AI assistant, questions about your own numbers in plain words. Ari's allowance depends on your analytics plan.
Is Open Tracked different from Open Track or Open Space Track?
No. Open Tracked is the official name of our server-side tracking platform, and the website is opentracked.io. Many people search for it as Open Track, OpenTrack or Open Space Track. All of them lead to the same product: server-side Google Tag Manager hosting, first-party analytics and a CRM pipeline.
Fix your tracking at the source
Open Tracked hosts your server-side Tag Manager, keeps first-party cookies alive and shows what each ad is really worth.
The Open Tracked team
We build Open Tracked: server-side tracking hosting, analytics and the tools around them, for stores that spend on ads. Questions about this guide, or an idea for the next one?
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