High Event Failure Rate - Diagnostics

Introduction

High event failure rates can significantly impact your tracking accuracy and marketing performance. This diagnostic guide will help you identify the root causes of failures and implement solutions to improve your event success rate.

Understanding Failure Rates

A healthy event success rate should be:

• Excellent: 95-100% success rate
• Good: 90-95% success rate
• Acceptable: 85-90% success rate
• Poor: <85% success rate (investigation needed)

Checking Your Failure Rate

To check your event failure rate:

• Go to your ServerTrack dashboard
• Navigate to Event Logs
• Filter by "Failed" status
• Review the percentage of failed vs successful events
• Check analytics dashboard for overall success rate

Common Causes of High Failure Rates

1. Platform Authentication Failures

Symptoms: Events fail with authentication errors (invalid token, invalid credentials).

Causes:

• Facebook Access Token expired or revoked
• TikTok Access Token invalid
• GA4 API Secret deleted or incorrect
• Credentials changed in platform but not updated in ServerTrack

Diagnosis:

• Check Event Logs for authentication error messages
• Look for patterns: "Invalid access token", "Authentication failed", "401 Unauthorized"
• Check which platform(s) are failing
• Verify credentials in ServerTrack dashboard match platform dashboards

Solution:

• Regenerate credentials in the failing platform's dashboard
• Update credentials in ServerTrack dashboard
• Save configuration
• Test with a new event
• Monitor Event Logs to confirm failures stop

2. Network Connectivity Issues

Symptoms: Events fail with network errors, timeouts, or connection refused.

Causes:

• ServerTrack server connectivity issues (rare)
• Platform API outages or maintenance
• Firewall blocking connections
• DNS resolution problems

Diagnosis:

• Check Event Logs for network-related error messages
• Look for: "ECONNREFUSED", "ETIMEDOUT", "Network error", "Connection failed"
• Check ServerTrack status page (if available)
• Verify platform status pages (Facebook, TikTok, Google)
• Test connectivity from different networks

Solution:

• Wait for platform outages to resolve
• Check firewall rules if failures are consistent
• Verify DNS resolution for tracking domain
• Contact support if issues persist

3. Payload Validation Errors

Symptoms: Events fail with validation errors, "Invalid payload", or parameter errors.

Causes:

• Missing required parameters
• Invalid data types (string instead of number, etc.)
• Invalid parameter names
• Payload too large
• Invalid event structure

Diagnosis:

• Check Event Logs for validation error messages
• Review failed event payloads in Event Logs
• Compare successful vs failed event structures
• Check platform-specific requirements

Solution:

• Review platform documentation for required parameters
• Ensure all required fields are present
• Verify data types match requirements (numbers as numbers, strings as strings)
• Check parameter names match platform expectations
• Test with a simplified payload to isolate the issue

4. Rate Limiting (429 Errors)

Symptoms: Events fail with "429 Too Many Requests" or rate limit errors.

Causes:

• Sending too many events too quickly
• Burst traffic exceeding platform limits
• Platform rate limits reached

Diagnosis:

• Check Event Logs for 429 errors
• Look for patterns in failure times (bursts during traffic spikes)
• Review event volume patterns

Solution:

• ServerTrack automatically retries rate-limited events
• If persistent, consider spreading events over time
• Monitor event sending patterns
• Contact support if rate limiting is consistent

Step-by-Step Diagnostic Process

Step 1: Review Event Logs

• Go to Event Logs in your ServerTrack dashboard
• Filter to show only "Failed" events
• Review the last 50-100 failed events
• Look for patterns in error messages
• Note which platforms are failing (Facebook, TikTok, GA4)

Step 2: Identify Failure Patterns

• All Platforms Failing: Likely ServerTrack configuration issue
• One Platform Failing: Likely platform-specific authentication or configuration
• Specific Event Types Failing: Likely payload/parameter issue
• Intermittent Failures: Likely network or rate limiting
• Consistent Failures: Likely authentication or configuration

Step 3: Analyze Error Messages

Common error message patterns:

• "Invalid access token" / "401": Authentication issue
• "Invalid pixel ID" / "Pixel not found": Configuration issue
• "Validation Failed": Payload structure issue
• "429 Too Many Requests": Rate limiting
• "ECONNREFUSED" / "ETIMEDOUT": Network connectivity
• "Invalid parameter": Payload validation

Step 4: Check Platform Status

• Verify platform credentials are valid:
  • Facebook: Events Manager → Settings → Conversions API
  • TikTok: Events Manager → Settings → Enhanced Pixel Integration Gateway
  • GA4: Admin → Data Streams → Measurement Protocol API secrets
• Test credentials in platform dashboards
• Check platform status pages for outages

Step 5: Test with Isolated Event

• Create a simple test event (e.g., PageView)
• Send it manually via browser console or test tool
• Check Event Logs to see if it succeeds
• If it succeeds, the issue may be with specific event types or payloads
• If it fails, check authentication and configuration

Platform-Specific Diagnostics

Facebook CAPI Failures

• Check Access Token validity (tokens expire after 60 days)
• Verify Pixel ID is correct
• Check Events Manager → Test Events for real-time verification
• Review Facebook Business Settings for token permissions
• Check if token was revoked

TikTok ePIG Failures

• Verify Pixel ID and Access Token are correct
• Check Events Manager → Settings → Enhanced Pixel Integration Gateway
• Ensure ePIG is enabled in TikTok Events Manager
• Verify domain is added to allowed domains list

GA4 Failures

• Verify Measurement ID and API Secret are correct
• Check GA4 Admin → Data Streams configuration
• Verify API Secret hasn't been deleted
• Check GA4 Debug View for validation errors

Understanding Retry Mechanisms

ServerTrack automatically retries failed events:

• Automatic Retries: Failed events are automatically retried up to 10 times
• Retry Delay: Retries happen with exponential backoff
• Permanent Failures: Events with permanent errors (e.g., invalid auth) are not retried
• Max Retries: After 10 retries, events are marked as "max_retries_failed"

If you see "max_retries_failed" status, the underlying issue needs to be resolved before events will succeed.

Improving Success Rates

1. Fix Authentication Issues

• Keep credentials up-to-date
• Set reminders to refresh tokens before expiration
• Monitor Event Logs for authentication errors

2. Validate Event Payloads

• Ensure required parameters are always included
• Verify data types match platform requirements
• Test payloads in platform test tools before production

3. Monitor Regularly

• Check Event Logs daily or weekly
• Set up alerts for high failure rates
• Review analytics dashboard for success rate trends

When to Contact Support

Contact ServerTrack support if:

• Failure rate consistently exceeds 20%
• Authentication is correct but events still fail
• Network errors persist after verifying connectivity
• You're seeing error messages not covered in this guide
• Failures affect all platforms simultaneously

Summary

High event failure rates are usually caused by:

• Platform authentication failures (expired/invalid tokens)
• Payload validation errors (missing/invalid parameters)
• Network connectivity issues
• Rate limiting from platforms

Diagnostic steps:

• Review Event Logs for failure patterns
• Analyze error messages to identify root cause
• Check platform credentials and status
• Test with isolated events
• Fix identified issues and monitor improvement

Regular monitoring and proactive credential management help prevent high failure rates.

For more information, see our guides on Platform-Specific Troubleshooting and Rate Limiting.