Your TikTok Events API shows 50 purchase events. Your ROAS report shows 12. The missing 38 conversions aren’t lost—they’re unmatched. TikTok received your event data but couldn’t connect it to anyone who saw your ads. The culprit: Event Match Quality (EMQ).
EMQ is TikTok’s 0-10 score measuring how well your conversion events can be matched to actual TikTok users. According to TikTok’s Help Center, EMQ scores below 5 indicate significant attribution problems even with events firing correctly. Most WooCommerce store owners have never checked their EMQ—and they’re running campaigns blind because of it.
Here’s what EMQ actually measures, why your WooCommerce store probably scores poorly, and how to fix it.
What Event Match Quality Actually Measures
EMQ reflects the quality and quantity of customer data you send with each conversion event. TikTok uses this data to match your conversion to a user who saw your ad. No match = no attribution = no campaign optimization.
The matching parameters that matter:
- Hashed email—The primary identifier. SHA256 hash of lowercase, trimmed email address.
- Hashed phone—Secondary identifier. E.164 format (country code + number), then SHA256.
- ttclid—TikTok Click ID from ad click URL. Highest-confidence matching signal.
- external_id—Your customer or order ID. Enables cross-device matching.
More parameters = higher match probability = higher EMQ. Send just IP and user agent? Low EMQ. Send hashed email, phone, and click ID? High EMQ.
You may be interested in: TikTok Events API for WooCommerce: Why Your Pixel Alone Isn’t Enough
How to Check Your TikTok EMQ Score
Your EMQ lives in TikTok Ads Manager under Events Manager. Here’s how to find it:
- Open TikTok Ads Manager
- Navigate to Assets → Events → Web Events
- Select your Pixel/Events API
- Look for “Event Match Quality” score next to each event type
TikTok scores each event type separately. Your ViewContent might score 3 while CompletePayment scores 7—the difference is how much customer data each event includes.
Warning signs in your EMQ:
- Score below 5: Attribution fundamentally broken for this event
- Large gap between event types: Some events have data, others don’t
- “Not enough data” message: Event volume too low to calculate
Why WooCommerce Stores Score Poorly
The typical WooCommerce TikTok setup suffers from multiple data gaps:
Client-side Pixel gets blocked. Ad blockers prevent the Pixel from loading. No Pixel = no customer data captured = EMQ tanks. This affects 31.5% of users globally who run ad blockers (Statista, 2024).
Customer data parameters are missing. Basic Pixel installations capture page URL and IP address. They don’t capture hashed email or phone—the parameters TikTok needs for matching. Without explicit configuration, this data never reaches TikTok.
Advanced Matching fails silently. TikTok’s Advanced Matching feature can auto-capture customer data from forms, but it requires the Pixel to execute on the checkout page—which fails if the page caches, if ad blockers interfere, or if JavaScript errors occur.
Hashing is wrong or missing. TikTok requires SHA256 hashing for all PII. Send raw email addresses? Rejected. Use MD5 instead of SHA256? No match. Many WooCommerce tracking plugins get this wrong or skip it entirely.
The Three Levels of EMQ Improvement
Level 1: Enable Advanced Matching (Quick Fix)
If you’re running TikTok Pixel, enable Advanced Matching in Events Manager. This auto-captures form fields like email and phone when the Pixel loads.
Limitations: Only works when Pixel executes successfully. Ad blockers, caching, and JavaScript errors defeat it. Better than nothing, but not reliable.
Level 2: Send Customer Data via Events API (Recommended)
Events API lets you send customer data from your server—bypassing browser limitations entirely. Your WooCommerce checkout already collects email, phone, and name. The Events API simply transmits what you’ve already captured.
Required parameters for high EMQ:
- email: SHA256 hash of lowercase, whitespace-trimmed email
- phone_number: SHA256 hash of E.164 format phone
- ttclid: TikTok Click ID (if available from ad click)
- external_id: Your customer ID or order number
With proper Events API implementation, EMQ scores of 8+ are achievable because you control exactly what data gets sent.
You may be interested in: TikTok Pixel Not Working in WooCommerce? Here’s What’s Actually Going Wrong
Level 3: Unified Server-Side Tracking (Optimal)
The challenge with DIY Events API is coordinating hashing, parameter formatting, and reliable delivery. A unified tracking solution handles this automatically.
Transmute Engine™ operates as a first-party Node.js server on your subdomain. The inPIPE WordPress plugin captures WooCommerce order data—including email, phone, and customer details—and sends it to your Transmute Engine server. The server then formats, hashes (SHA256), and routes to TikTok Events API with all required parameters properly included.
Because Transmute Engine sits between WooCommerce and TikTok, it ensures:
- Complete customer data capture—from checkout, not browser scripts
- Proper SHA256 hashing—automatically applied to email and phone
- Click ID preservation—ttclid stored and sent with conversion
- Consistent parameter formatting—TikTok receives data it can actually match
What EMQ Improvement Actually Delivers
Higher EMQ isn’t vanity—it’s revenue. TikTok’s documentation confirms that advertisers using both Pixel and Events API correctly observe 19% more captured events and 15% improvement in CPA.
Here’s why: When TikTok can match conversions to ad views, it optimizes campaign delivery toward users who convert. Low EMQ means TikTok can’t see which ad viewers become customers—so it can’t optimize. You’re paying for machine learning that can’t learn.
The $33.1 billion TikTok is projected to generate in global ad revenue in 2025 (eMarketer) flows to advertisers with accurate attribution data. Everyone else subsidizes their campaigns.
Key Takeaways
- EMQ scores below 5 indicate broken attribution—events fire but can’t be matched to ad viewers
- Email, phone, and click_id are essential matching parameters—missing any significantly drops EMQ
- SHA256 hashing is mandatory—wrong format or unhashed data fails silently
- Server-side tracking captures complete checkout data—unlike Pixel that fails with blockers
- High EMQ enables 19% more captured events and 15% better CPA—worth the implementation effort
An EMQ score of 8 or higher indicates strong attribution capability. Scores between 5-7 are acceptable but have room for improvement. Scores below 5 indicate significant matching problems that undermine campaign optimization.
Events firing without attribution typically indicates low EMQ. TikTok receives your conversion data but cannot match it to a user who saw your ad. This happens when customer data parameters like email and phone are missing or improperly hashed.
At minimum, send SHA256-hashed email with every conversion event. For higher EMQ, include hashed phone number, external_id (your customer ID), and TikTok click identifiers like ttclid. The more parameters, the higher your match probability.
Advanced Matching works when properly configured, but requires the Pixel to load and execute before checkout—which often fails with ad blockers or slow page loads. Server-side tracking via Events API provides more reliable customer data capture since it happens on your server, not in the browser.
Your events are firing. Your EMQ determines whether those fires mean anything. Check your score, fix your data, and start optimizing campaigns with attribution that actually works.
