Campaign, ad set, ad
The three layers of every ad at Meta. The campaign sets your goal, the ad set decides who and where your ads go to, and the ad is what people get to see.
Example · A candle online shop has sales as its campaign goal. The ads show a burning candle, a gift box and a video from the workshop.
ROAS
ROAS stands for return on ad spend: your revenue from ads divided by what those ads cost. A ROAS of 3 means every €1 spent on ads brought in €3 of revenue.
Example · You spend €280 and sell €638 worth: 638 / 280 = 2.28.
Break-even ROAS
The break-even ROAS is the ROAS above which you make money on your ads. You work it out as 1 divided by your margin. Below it, you lose money on every sale.
Example · With a 40% margin: 1 / 0.40 = 2.5.
Target ROAS
Your target ROAS is the ROAS you want to reach yourself, higher than your break-even, so that profit is left over.
Example · With a break-even of 2.5 and a target ROAS of 3 you keep room to spare.
Cost per sale
The cost per sale is what one sale cost in ads: what you spent, divided by the number of sales.
Example · You spend €280 and have 11 sales: €280 / 11 = €25.45.
Maximum cost per sale
The maximum cost per sale is your average order times your margin. If a sale costs more, you lose money on that sale.
Example · An order of €58 with a 40% margin: €58 × 40% = €23.20.
Cost per enquiry
The cost per enquiry is what one enquiry, such as a quote or an appointment, cost in ads.
Example · A roofer spent €105 this week and got 5 enquiries: €21.00 per enquiry. His goal is €20.
Winner and loser
A winner is an ad that reaches your goal. A loser spends money without a result.
Example · A video on the roof brought 4 enquiries at €18. A winner. A photo of the van spent €64 without an enquiry.
CTR
CTR stands for click-through rate: the percentage of people who see your ad and click on it.
Example · 1,000 people see your ad and 14 click: a CTR of 1.4%.
Cost per click
The cost per click, also called CPC (cost per click), is what one click on your ad cost.
Example · You spend €42 and get 60 clicks: €0.70 per click.
CPM
CPM stands for cost per mille, or cost per thousand: what 1,000 impressions of your ad cost.
Example · You pay €42 for 6,000 impressions: a CPM of €7.
Frequency
Frequency is how often someone saw your ad on average: your impressions divided by your reach.
Example · Your ads are shown 6,000 times to 2,400 people: a frequency of 2.5.
Reach and impressions
Reach is how many different people saw your ad. Impressions is how often it was shown in total.
Example · This week you reach 2,400 people with 6,000 impressions.
Conversion
What you want someone to do after seeing your ad, such as buying something or filling in a form.
Example · For an online shop a conversion is a sale. For a roofer, a completed quote request.
Learning phase
The learning phase is the first period in which Meta works out who to show your ad to. According to Meta, it lasts until an ad set gets about 50 results in 7 days. Until then, your results fluctuate.
Example · A new campaign gives 1 sale a day in the first days, then 4, then 2. After a week it gets more stable.
Top, middle and bottom of funnel
The three stages, from someone who doesn’t know you yet to someone who buys.
Example · A candle online shop: the burning candle (top), how they are poured (middle), the gift box with price (bottom).
Retargeting
Showing ads to people who already visited your website or saw you before.
Example · Someone looked at a gift box in your online shop but didn’t buy. A few days later that person sees the same box in their feed.
Advantage campaign budget
A Meta setting in which Meta divides your budget itself across what performs best.
Example · You spend €40 a day. Meta decides itself how much of that goes to each ad.
Placement
Where your ad appears, such as the feed, stories or reels.
Example · One video can run in the feed and in reels.
Pixel or dataset
The Meta pixel, which Meta now also calls a dataset, is a bit of code on your website that lets Meta know who bought something or filled in a form.
Example · Your pixel measured 11 sales in the last 7 days.
Conversions API
A way to pass sales directly from your website to Meta, even when a browser blocks the pixel.
Example · Your pixel saw 11 sales. With the Conversions API added, Meta sees 13.
Creative fatigue
People have seen your ad too often and click less.
Example · A candle video had a CTR of 1.8% in week 1. In week 4, at a frequency of 5, only 0.6%.
A/B test
Running two versions of an ad side by side to see which works better.
Example · A roofer tested the same video with two texts: ‘Leaking roof?’ and ‘Free roof inspection’. The first brought twice as many enquiries.
UTM
A UTM code is a label at the end of your link, so that you can see in Google Analytics or Shopify which ad a visitor came from.
Example · AdSweet puts a tracking code on every ad.
Meta extras
Changes that Meta can make to your ad itself, such as adding music or cropping your image.
Example · Meta automatically puts music under your video. Whether that suits your brand is your choice.