Even in the old days of print and radio advertising, marketing managers would painstakingly collect and analyse data concerning the performance of their ads. It makes sense to know if your investment pays off, no matter how large or small it is. Beyond actual money, you invest time, talent and dedication into crafting ads and finding the best distribution channels, the ideal audience and the perfect times to deliver them.
This has not changed in the Facebook™ age. In fact, things are much simpler and easier than in the old days: now you have all the data you want at your fingertips in the Facebook™ Ads Manager panel. Since the data is always there, waiting for them, some entrepreneurs or marketers put off the chore of looking at these valuable insights, adding up the numbers, drawing the lines and figuring out if they obtained the expected results.
Or they get caught in the “vanity” metrics, those big numbers that look good on the screen, but mean so little in terms of actual sales or lead generation. Well then, if some metrics are just for vanity, then which ones really matter? We were expecting this question from you, so here is the answer. We will give you the top Facebook™ ads metrics which you should really pay attention to on every ad campaign.
1. Frequency
This type of metric is very useful if you are running a brand awareness ad campaign. These campaigns are generally initiated by companies which want to establish familiarity with potential customers, build a social media corporate image and start building trust and engagement with followers.
The frequency metric indicates how many times a user saw your ad on Facebook™. Thus, a frequency of 10 means that, on average, the users within your selected audience have seen your ad 10 times. Once again, this metric is valuable for building a brand image. For pure sales or lead generation, it needs to be paired with and compared against other metrics in order to be relevant.
2. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
This specific metric is related to ads which include a link leading people away from Facebook™ – more precisely on a landing page. Although CTR is not a definite metric for the success of a sales or lead generation campaign on its own, it is valuable when you are performing A/B testing on various ad layouts and contents.
By comparing the way people respond to various types of calls to action, static photo vs. video, various colours and keywords included in your ads, you can weed out what does not work and identify those elements which are really attractive and persuasive for your target audience.
3. Cost per Click/Cost per Impression
You must always keep a close eye on these metrics because they are directly connected to your Facebook™ ads budget. Cost per click (CPC) shows how much is withdrawn from your ads budget every time a person clicks on your ad. Cost per impression, or cost per mille (CPM) shows how much you pay for every 1,000 views of your ad. It is important to par the analysis of this metric with the click-through rate because, as your ads become better optimised, you get more value for your money.
This means that more clicks will result in actual sales or completion of your call to action and you will get a higher ROI for your investment. An inadequately optimised ad in terms of audience targeting will result in a lot of empty clicks (no action is taken on your page) which cost you money without giving you any expected results.
4. Cost per Conversion
This is the Holy Grail of Facebook™ ad metrics in term of customer acquisition price. The data in this metric shows you how much you pay for every customer who makes a purchase starting from a Facebook™ ad. For example, if your total spending on an ad campaign was AUD 500 and it resulted in 10 conversions (10 people buying your advertised products) the cost per conversion is AUD 50. If your average product price is AUD 200-300, you’ve got a good margin. However, if your product costs AUD 20-30, then you’ve actually lost money for every converted customer.
Such calculations are very important because you need to be able to achieve a positive bottom line (revenues from sales should exceed Facebook™ ad spending). And in order to make accurate calculations, you should always download and compare ad metrics on a daily or weekly basis.