Campaign metrics explained
Per-column metrics: Spend, Impressions, Clicks, CTR, CPC, CPM, Conversions, ROAS, CPA, Frequency. Per-platform variants + attribution caveats.
Written By Salvatore Sinigaglia
Last updated About 4 hours ago
Per-column metrics: Spend, Impressions, Clicks, CTR, CPC, CPM, Conversions, ROAS, CPA, Frequency. Per-platform variants + attribution caveats.
Campaign metrics explained
Each Ads Manager column has a specific meaning. Spend / Impressions / Clicks / CTR / CPC / CPM / Conversions / ROAS / CPA / Frequency. Per-platform variants (Meta vs Google differ on attribution defaults). Late attribution caveat: data settles over 24-72h.
Who is this for
Mediabuyers reading Ads Manager columns. Anyone wondering why ROAS dropped overnight or why Meta + Google show different numbers for the same product.
The core metrics
Spend
What it is: Total money spent on ads in selected date range.
How to read: in account's native currency (or workspace currency for cross-account rollup, auto-converted via daily FX).
Notes:
- Includes platform's billing rate (auction-driven, varies by demand)
- Doesn't include Wevion's subscription cost (that's separate)
- Updates every 15 min via sync
Impressions
What it is: Number of times your ad was shown.
How to read: counts every display (one user seeing the ad 5 times = 5 impressions).
Different from Reach (distinct users):
- Reach = unique users
- Impressions = total displays
- Impressions ÷ Reach = Frequency
Clicks
What it is: Number of times someone clicked your ad.
How to read: includes all clicks (link clicks + Page clicks + other interactions, depending on platform's click definition).
Compare:
- All clicks: any click (including page-like, comment, video play)
- Link clicks: clicks that go to your destination URL (more relevant for performance)
Wevion typically shows Link clicks as the headline number.
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
What it is: Clicks ÷ Impressions × 100%
Benchmarks:
- < 0.5% = creative resonance problem
- 0.5%-1.5% = average
- 1.5%-3% = good
3% = strong creative
Per-platform variations:
- Meta Feed: 1-2% typical
- Meta Stories: 0.5-1.5% (lower because of full-screen format)
- Google Search: 3-10% (high intent)
- Display: 0.05-0.5% (banner blindness)
Don't compare across platforms — compare within.
CPC (Cost Per Click)
What it is: Spend ÷ Clicks
How to read: lower = cheaper traffic. Compare within audience + objective (different objectives have wildly different CPCs).
CPM (Cost Per Mille)
What it is: (Spend ÷ Impressions) × 1000 — cost per 1.000 impressions
How to read: reflects auction competitiveness. Lower = cheaper inventory.
Per-platform CPMs vary significantly. Meta CPMs higher than Display in many markets.
Conversions
What it is: Count of conversion events fired matching your campaign's optimization goal.
Per-objective:
- Sales: Purchase events
- Leads: Lead form submissions
- App Promotion: App install events
- Traffic: Landing page views (not "conversions" technically, but shown as engagement metric)
Source: pixel events + CAPI events + tracker postback (see am-121 attribution sources).
Conversion Rate
What it is: Conversions ÷ Clicks × 100%
How to read: indicates landing page + offer fit.
- E-commerce: 1-3% typical
- Lead-gen: 2-10%
- High-intent search: 5-15%
If CTR good (clicks happening) but conversion rate low: landing page issue, not creative issue.
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
What it is: Revenue ÷ Spend
How to read: > 1.0 = revenue exceeds ad cost (profitable on ad spend alone, before fixed costs).
Targets vary by business model:
- E-commerce direct: 2-4x typical target
- High-margin: 3-5x
- Low-margin (commodity): 5-10x needed
- Subscription / LTV: 1-2x acceptable (long-tail revenue)
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
What it is: Spend ÷ Conversions
How to read: lower = cheaper acquisition. Compare to your max-allowed CPA (per-product economics).
Target CPA depends on:
- LTV (lifetime value): higher LTV allows higher CPA
- Profit margin: higher margin allows higher CPA
- Cycle time: longer to break even allows higher CPA
Frequency
What it is: Impressions ÷ Reach — average impressions per unique user
How to read:
- < 2: low exposure, room to scale
- 2-4: healthy
- 4-6: watch creative fatigue
6: definitely refresh creative
High frequency = same users seeing same ad = creative fatigue + ad blindness → falling CTR.
See cc-112 audience saturation AI for automated detection.
Per-platform metric variations
Compare metrics within platform, not across, for like-for-like analysis.
Late attribution
Conversion data settles over time:
- Hour 0-24: rapid settle (most pixel-based conversions arrive within 1h)
- Hour 24-72: late attribution (Meta credits conversions that happened up to attribution window earlier; view-through conversions back-fill)
- Day 3-7: trickle (long-tail view-through; some apps with delayed installs)
So a campaign's ROAS at end of Day 1 may show 1.8x, then settle to 2.5x by Day 7. Don't make permanent decisions on Day 1 data.
Wait at least 3 days for stable conversion-based metrics.
Currency normalization
For cross-account / cross-platform rollups:
- Per-account: native currency (e.g. EUR for IT account)
- Workspace rollup: workspace currency (auto-converted via daily FX from ExchangeRate-API.com)
Slight differences with platform's own currency conversion are normal (FX timing).
Metrics you won't see (and why)
Wevion shows channel attribution at ad-platform level, not cross-channel attribution (Meta last-touch, Google last-touch).
What you'll see
Metric columns in Ads Manager:
- Configurable per user via Customize Columns
- Per-row values for current date range
- Sortable
- Delta vs comparison period (if Compare to enabled)
Common questions
- "Why is ROAS dropping?": late attribution may not have settled. Wait 24-48h. Or audience saturation. Or creative fatigue.
- "CPA looks crazy ($500)": small sample size. 1 conversion + $500 spend = $500 CPA. Wait for 30+ conversions before judging.
- "Spend > Budget?": platforms can overshoot by ~25% on high-performing days, balanced by under-spend later. Daily budget is a target, not a hard cap.
- "Reach declining over time": audience saturation. Refresh creative or expand audience.
FAQ
How is ROAS calculated in Wevion's Ads Manager?
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is Revenue divided by Spend. A value above 1.0 means revenue exceeds ad cost — profitable on ad spend alone, before fixed costs. Targets vary by business model: 2-4x is a typical direct e-commerce target, while subscription or LTV-driven models may accept 1-2x thanks to long-tail revenue.
Why do Meta and Google show different numbers for the same product?
They use different attribution defaults. Meta defaults to a 7-day click plus 1-day view window, while Google defaults to a 30-day click window, and each defines a "conversion" differently. Wevion recommends comparing metrics within a platform, not across, for like-for-like analysis.
Why did my ROAS change overnight without me doing anything?
Late attribution. Conversion data settles over 24-72 hours as Meta back-fills conversions and view-through events that occurred within the attribution window. A campaign showing 1.8x ROAS on Day 1 can settle to 2.5x by Day 7, so Wevion advises waiting at least 3 days before making permanent decisions.
Why is my spend higher than the daily budget I set?
Platforms can overshoot a daily budget by roughly 25% on high-performing days, then balance it with under-spend later — in Wevion the daily budget is a target, not a hard cap. For cross-account rollups, Spend also shows in your workspace currency, auto-converted via daily FX, which can differ slightly from the platform's own conversion.
FAQ
How is ROAS calculated in Wevion's Ads Manager?
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is Revenue divided by Spend. A value above 1.0 means revenue exceeds ad cost — profitable on ad spend alone, before fixed costs. Targets vary by business model: 2-4x is a typical direct e-commerce target, while subscription or LTV-driven models may accept 1-2x thanks to long-tail revenue.
Why do Meta and Google show different numbers for the same product?
They use different attribution defaults. Meta defaults to a 7-day click plus 1-day view window, while Google defaults to a 30-day click window, and each defines a "conversion" differently. Wevion recommends comparing metrics within a platform, not across, for like-for-like analysis.
Why did my ROAS change overnight without me doing anything?
Late attribution. Conversion data settles over 24-72 hours as Meta back-fills conversions and view-through events that occurred within the attribution window. A campaign showing 1.8x ROAS on Day 1 can settle to 2.5x by Day 7, so Wevion advises waiting at least 3 days before making permanent decisions.
Why is my spend higher than the daily budget I set?
Platforms can overshoot a daily budget by roughly 25% on high-performing days, then balance it with under-spend later — in Wevion the daily budget is a target, not a hard cap. For cross-account rollups, Spend also shows in your workspace currency, auto-converted via daily FX, which can differ slightly from the platform's own conversion.
Last updated: 2026-05-17