The 7 Facebook Video Ad Metrics and the 3 Cardinal Sins

This video ad is going to convert like crazy. It’s the best one you’ve ever made. You invested in the services of a great video production agency, and you’ve set your Facebook video ad campaign for success.

But nope. Results aren’t coming your way. Why is this happening?

Most times this means you’re too impatient with creative testing or misinterpreting your performance data. Facebook video advertising (usually) doesn’t work like magic. You need to test a lot of videos and audiences and know which metrics to monitor if you want to see results.

Why it’s important to track Facebook video ads performance

Whether you have an in-house production team or outsource your video production to service providers like Sparkle, you need to keep an eye on your Facebook video ads’ performance.

Facebook advertising is not an instant solution. The competition is fierce and getting stronger by the day. This means that even if you put great video content out there, you can’t expect to drive conversions immediately.

Successful Facebook advertisers follow what I like to call “The TAO of Facebook Advertising”:

First, you need to produce different kinds of videos covering different angles, targeting different audience segments, and dealing with different pain points. Start by testing video ads at scale to have enough data you can rely on.

Next, you must analyze your results to understand what works and what doesn’t. Instead of shooting in the dark, you want to make data-driven decisions regarding video production and audience targeting.

Once you’ve understood the kinds of videos your target audience best resonates with, it’s time to optimize your Facebook video advertising. Use the angles and messaging that drive the best results for you in your next Facebook video ads and target your top-performing audiences.

Moreover, accurate performance analysis will help you segment your audience and create more efficient custom and lookalike audiences for your next Facebook video ad campaigns.

7 Facebook video ad metrics you must be tracking

1. Video-view metrics

If you want to know whether your video ad is doing its job, the first question you need to ask yourself is, “Do people watch it?”

That’s the first stage in your Facebook video ad funnel, and the first metric you want to look at is 3-Second Video Plays. This will tell you how many people actually watched your video and didn’t just scroll past it.

Then, you can check Video Average Play Time and compare it with the average playtime of your other video ads to know whether your new ad is successful or not.

Furthermore, these Facebook video ad metrics can be useful to create custom audiences you can later re-engage with. People that have already watched your videos are already a warmer audience, and they are more prone to convert.

You can even take it one step further and segment your audience based on the percentage of your video they’ve watched. For example, you can create custom audiences for re-engagement using the metrics Video Plays at 50%, Video Plays at 75%, and Video Plays at 95%.

If the number of video views or the average watch time is lower than what you’re used to, this means that you’re either targeting the wrong audience, or your video isn’t engaging enough.

2. Outbound CTR

Once you know people are watching your videos, it’s time to continue down your Facebook video ad funnel and check the outbound click-through rate (CTR). Outbound clicks are clicks that lead to your website, which you need to distinguish from clicks to play or read more since website visits have much more value.

Make sure you give more weight to the rate than you give the overall number of outbound clicks. The overall number depends a lot on the number of impressions your ad had, and for creatives and audiences that are just starting up, it might take time to accumulate those.

Pro Tip: If you see that your Facebook video ad campaigns are driving a lot of views but a low outbound CTR, you might want to improve your CTA. Make it clearer and make sure to convey the message within the first 3-5 seconds of your video.

3. Conversions

After your potential customers reach your website or landing page, the conversion will be the next step. Conversions are your business’s bottom line and the bottom of your Facebook video ad funnel. This Facebook video ad metric is what brings you money, and you must know which video ads drive the largest number of conversions.

The conversions you should monitor depend on your business model and goals. Most eCommerce businesses track purchases and add to carts, while SaaS companies may track subscriptions or leads, for example.

Website conversions are tracked by setting up a Meta pixel on your website and tracking the events that are important to you.

Pro Tip: If people are going to your website but aren’t converting, it might be a sign you need to improve your landing page.

4. Result Rate (AKA Conversion Rate)

While the total number of conversions also depends on impressions and reach, your conversion rate could give you a good indication of whether your new baby creative is doing well or not.

The conversion rate is the percentage of your ad impressions that ended in a conversion. It is calculated by dividing the number of conversion events attributed to your ad by the number of impressions your ad has achieved and multiplying the quotient by 100.

5. ROAS

Some Facebook video ad campaigns can drive a good number of conversions but be less profitable than others because of the amount spent to gain these conversions.

If you want to make sure you get the most bang for your buck, the Facebook video ad metric you need to track is the return on ad spend (ROAS).

The ROAS formula is pretty simple:

This is probably the most commonly used metric among Facebook advertisers, and it’s the equivalent of ROI in the general business world. ROAS basically tells you how much an ad, an ad set, or a campaign is worth for you.

6. Cost per Result

Some call it Cost per Conversion or Cost per Action (CPA). Depending on the type of your desired conversion, it may be referred to as Cost per Purchase (CPP) or Cost per Click (CPC).

This is another metric that will tell you whether your Facebook video ad campaign is profitable for your business. If you’re paying too much to drive conversions, you may want to change your target audience or redistribute your budget.

You can always compare your average Cost per Action, Conversion Rate, and CTR to your industry benchmark to get an idea of how you’re doing compared to your competitors.

7. Relevance Score

In the past, Facebook used a single metric called the Relevance Score. However, in 2019, Facebook has divided it into three separate metrics:

• Quality Ranking: Based on user feedback and the post-ad experience on your landing page. It is also related to your Customer Feedback Score on Facebook and your page reviews.
• Engagement Rate Ranking: Ad engagement is measured by comments, shares, reactions, and clicks.
• Conversion Rate Ranking: how well you are achieving your campaign objective compared to other campaigns with the same objective.

These metrics mainly tell you whether your ad fits your audience. Don’t go too crazy trying to gain “above average” scores on all of them, but they can help you find the most suitable target audience.

The 3 cardinal sins of Facebook video ads performance analysis

1. Not segmenting your audience

Comparing video ad performance among different audience segments is like comparing apples and oranges. You must understand who you are targeting and take this into account when analyzing your results.

You can’t expect to see the same conversion rate among cold and warm audiences, right?

The most basic audience segmentation you should make is according to the different marketing funnel stages:

• Acquisition Prospecting: People that have never heard of your brand yet. For example, lookalike audiences, interest targeting, etc.
• Acquisition Re-Engagement: Facebook users that engaged with you, but haven’t visited your website yet. E.g., video viewers or ad engagers.
• Retargeting: Warm audiences that have already visited your website. These are pixel-based custom audiences.
• Retention: Existing customers that you want to upsell or cross-sell.

Then, you can segment your audiences further based on different characteristics, your targeting method, and the level of intent. Examples would be distinguishing between interest-based and lookalike audiences, high- and low-intent website visitors, different age groups and genders, etc.

If you want to analyze your performance efficiently, you must test many audiences and also test your Facebook video ads on different audiences. Then, if you try many different ads on a certain audience segment but never get the results you want, this isn’t your target audience. If your new video ad is working well for a specific audience, focus more on this segment or try similar audiences.

2. Pausing your ads before they’ve spent enough

As I’ve already explained, it takes time to see results on Facebook, especially with new creatives and audiences. So, don’t judge your video ads before they’ve spent enough to bring results.

Facebook’s algorithm needs time to get to know your audience, your ads, the best placements, and the best times to show them. Facebook is automatically doing this testing to achieve the best results based on your campaign objective. So, let it do its magic.

A good thumb rule is that your ad set must spend at least 2x your average cost per conversion before you can assess its performance. If your ad set still hasn’t spent this amount, be patient with it. However, if it continues to spend and goes beyond 3x your average cost per conversion without driving results, it’s time to pause the ad set or lower its budget.

You can either track your ad spend and performance using the Facebook Ads Manager or, alternatively, use Madgicx’s Creative Insights tool, which has a creative matrix that helps you identify scaling opportunities and ads that you’re overspending on.

3. Overlooking trend changes

It’s great to monitor your results in the last 7, 30, and even 90 days. However, your video ad may have just started trending up or down in the last couple of days. You don’t want to turn off an ad that is just starting to gain pace or overspend on an ad that’s suffering ad fatigue.

That’s why you should take into account both long- and short-term time frames. For example, if you launch a new ad, give it time to gain momentum, and don’t pause it too early.

Nonetheless, if you have an ad that has driven good overall results in the last 30-90 days, it’s important to check its current trend. If it’s currently trending, that’s a great scaling opportunity. If it’s losing momentum, perhaps it’s suffering ad fatigue, and you need to lower its budget or pause it.

Conclusion

My main message is this: Be patient with your video ads.

There is no magic in the world of Facebook video advertising. Persistent marketers who work smart, use the right methods, and keep learning all the time are those who succeed with Facebook ads.

Remember the TAO of Facebook Advertising: Test, Analyze, and Optimize.

If you test multiple video ads and try out all the audiences you should, analyze your performance according to the above-mentioned Facebook video ad metrics, and then derive actionable insights and optimize your next Facebook video ad campaigns, you’re on the right track.

Good luck!