Facebook Ads Reporting: The Metrics That Actually Matter
Facebook Ads Manager gives you access to over 350 metrics. Three hundred and fifty. You can track everything from “3-second video views” to “cost per inline link click” to “outbound click-through rate (unique, link).”
This is insane. No small business needs 350 metrics. You need about 8.
The overwhelming number of available metrics is a feature for enterprise advertisers with dedicated analytics teams. For SMEs, it’s a trap — a labyrinth of numbers that creates the illusion of understanding while actually obscuring what matters.
This guide cuts through the noise. Here are the metrics that actually tell you whether your Facebook Ads are making or losing money.
The Metrics That Matter
1. Cost Per Result (The Most Important Number)
What it is: How much you pay for each conversion — a lead, a purchase, a sign-up, whatever your campaign objective is.
Where to find it: It’s in your default columns. If your campaign is optimised for conversions, this shows cost per conversion.
Why it matters: This is the direct measure of efficiency. Everything else is secondary. If your cost per result is within target, your campaign is working. If it’s not, something needs fixing.
Benchmarks (UK, 2026):
- Lead generation: £5-£30 per lead (highly variable by industry)
- E-commerce purchase: £10-£50 (depends on average order value)
- App install: £1-£5
- Event registration: £3-£15
What to do with it: Compare against your target cost per result and against previous weeks/months. If it’s rising, investigate. If it’s falling, scale.
2. ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
What it is: Revenue generated divided by ad spend. If you spent £500 and generated £2,000 in sales, your ROAS is 4.0.
Where to find it: Add “Purchase ROAS” or “Website purchase ROAS” to your columns. (You need the Meta Pixel with purchase events and values for this to work.)
Why it matters: Cost per result tells you efficiency. ROAS tells you profitability. A cost per purchase of £15 sounds great, but if the average order is £12, you’re losing money.
For a deeper dive into ROAS, read our complete ROAS guide.
3. Amount Spent
What it is: How much you’ve spent. Simple.
Why it matters: Because the most profitable campaign in the world is useless if it’s only spending £5/day. Track spend to ensure your budget is being deployed and pacing correctly against your monthly target.
What to watch for:
- Underspending: Campaign not spending its budget? Audience might be too narrow, or bid too low.
- Overspending: Cost per result creeping up as you scale? You might be hitting audience fatigue.
4. Frequency
What it is: The average number of times each person has seen your ad.
Where to find it: Add “Frequency” to your columns.
Why it matters: When frequency gets too high, people start ignoring your ads (or worse, getting annoyed). This is “ad fatigue” — your performance metrics will decline as frequency rises.
Guidelines:
- Below 2.0: Fresh. Good engagement likely.
- 2.0-3.5: Monitor performance. Watch for declining CTR.
- Above 3.5: Refresh your creative. Your audience has seen this ad enough.
- Above 5.0: Your ads are becoming wallpaper. Change creative immediately.
5. Click-Through Rate (CTR)
What it is: The percentage of people who see your ad and click on it.
Where to find it: Default column. Use “CTR (link click-through rate)” for the most useful version — this excludes clicks on your profile picture, likes, and comments.
Why it matters: CTR tells you whether your ad is resonating. A high CTR means your creative and copy are compelling. A low CTR means people are scrolling past.
Benchmarks:
- Below 0.5%: Poor. Your ad isn’t compelling enough.
- 0.5-1.0%: Average. Room for improvement.
- 1.0-2.0%: Good. Your messaging is resonating.
- Above 2.0%: Excellent. Strong creative-audience fit.
Important: CTR matters most as a diagnostic tool. If cost per result is good, a “low” CTR isn’t a problem. If cost per result is bad, CTR helps diagnose whether the issue is the ad (low CTR) or the landing page (high CTR but low conversions).
6. Conversion Rate (Landing Page)
What it is: The percentage of people who click your ad and then complete the desired action on your website.
Where to find it: Not directly in Ads Manager. Calculate it: Conversions ÷ Link clicks × 100.
Why it matters: This metric separates ad performance from website performance. If your CTR is good but conversion rate is low, the problem isn’t your ads — it’s your landing page.
Benchmarks:
- E-commerce: 2-4% is average
- Lead gen: 5-15% is typical for a well-optimised landing page
- Below 1%: Something is fundamentally broken — page speed, relevance, or user experience
7. Cost Per 1,000 Impressions (CPM)
What it is: How much it costs to show your ad to 1,000 people.
Where to find it: Default column.
Why it matters: CPM tells you how competitive the auction is. If CPM suddenly spikes, it could mean increased competition, a seasonal peak, or audience saturation.
Benchmarks (UK, 2026):
- £5-£10: Typical for broad targeting
- £10-£20: Normal for targeted B2C audiences
- £15-£30: Common for B2B targeting
- Above £30: Premium or highly competitive audience
What to do about high CPM: Test broader audiences, adjust targeting, or wait out seasonal peaks (CPMs spike in Q4 every year due to Christmas competition).
8. Results (Total Conversions)
What it is: The total number of conversions your campaigns generated.
Why it matters: Volume matters alongside efficiency. A campaign with £5 cost per lead generating 2 leads per week is less valuable than a campaign with £10 cost per lead generating 20 leads per week.
Track this alongside cost per result to ensure you’re getting enough volume to hit business targets.
What You Can Safely Ignore
Reach
How many unique people saw your ads. Interesting but not actionable. You can’t directly optimise for reach in a conversion campaign, and the number itself doesn’t tell you anything about business results.
Impressions
Total ad views (including repeat views). Even less useful than reach.
Post Engagement
Likes, comments, shares. Unless you’re specifically running an engagement campaign (which you probably shouldn’t be for lead gen or sales), these are vanity metrics.
Video Views (Unless Video Is Your Objective)
“3-second video views” is a notoriously generous metric. 3 seconds is nothing. If you’re running video ads for conversions, look at ThruPlay (15+ seconds) at most — but really, just track cost per result.
Quality Ranking, Engagement Ranking, Conversion Ranking
Facebook’s ad quality metrics. Useful for diagnosing problems but not worth monitoring weekly. Check them when performance drops.
Building Your Facebook Ads Report
Here’s the column setup I recommend:
Custom Column Set: “Business Metrics”
- Amount Spent
- Results (your conversion event)
- Cost per Result
- ROAS (if e-commerce)
- Link Clicks
- CTR (Link Click-Through Rate)
- Frequency
- CPM
That’s 8 columns. That’s all you need for 95% of campaign decisions.
Weekly Check (10 Minutes)
- Are campaigns spending as expected?
- Is cost per result within target?
- Is frequency below 3.5?
- Any campaigns with significantly different performance than last week?
Monthly Review (30 Minutes)
- Total spend vs. budget
- Total results and cost per result — trend vs. previous months
- ROAS or revenue generated
- Creative performance — which ads are winning?
- Audience performance — which targeting is working best?
- Recommendations for next month
Integrate this with your other channels in a comprehensive marketing dashboard for the full picture.
Want Facebook Ads That Actually Deliver?
At Black Sheep Marketing, we manage Facebook Ads campaigns for UK SMEs — with proper tracking, clear reporting, and a focus on the metrics that actually matter to your business. Not impressions. Not reach. Leads and revenue.
If your Facebook Ads aren’t delivering clear, measurable results, we’ll audit your account for free and tell you exactly what needs fixing.
Get a Free Facebook Ads Audit →
