How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

Facebook offers many ways of measuring the results of your ad campaigns, but what if you need custom metrics? What if you have specific goals and you cannot use any of the standard metrics to measure whether they are achieved? This was one of the issues for many marketers and business owners and the Facebook Team decided to provide a solution for it.

Therefore, you can now create several custom metrics in the Facebook Ads Reporting panel. Of course, you cannot create an unlimited variety of metrics, but more on this aspect later.

Custom Metrics Help You Make Sense of Your Facebook Ads

As digital marketing strategies become more complex, so do the KPIs you need to measure. Otherwise, you will never know whether you are losing money from your campaigns until you have a significant hole in your budget.

Therefore, here is how you can define your own custom metrics using Facebook Ads Reporting:

1. Go to the Business Manager Page

The starting point is your Meta Business Manager page. Here, you will see four main sections. Go to the “Analyse and Report” section and you will find the Ads Reporting option.

2. Find the New Custom Metrics Option

In the Ads Reporting panel, you will find the Metrics menu on the left side of the page. Click on it to access the drop-down menu and select Custom Metrics. You will get a pop-up window where you will create your metrics.

3. Define Your Specific Metrics

Now we get to the nitty-gritty. You start by specifying:

  • The name – maximum 100 characters;
  • The description – maximum 350 characters;
  • The format – numeric, currency or percentage.

Also, you can choose to use the new custom metric for the specific report you are preparing now or for all the reports for Facebook ads.

4. Create the Custom Metric Formula

Here, you need to be very careful and understand clearly what you want the new metric to measure. The Formula section for the metric contains the following symbols you can combine in various ways:

  • +
  • X
  • (
  • )

Now, look at the right side of the pop-up window. Here you will see the four objectives from which you can choose elements to create your custom metrics. They are:

  • Performance
  • Engagement
  • Conversions
  • Custom Conversions.

Each of them is clickable and opens a drop-down menu from which you will select the specific KPIs. You combine them with the symbols to define simple mathematical formulas for your custom metrics.

At the end, click on Create Metric and you’re done!

A Few Examples of Custom Metrics You Can Create

Now, it may all seem complicated at first, but the more you play with these new metric creation formulas, the faster you will learn. However, we decided to help you out by showing you how to create a few simple formulas for useful custom metrics.

  • ROAS (return on ad spend) – this useful metric shows you how profitable your Facebook ads are. The formula for this metric is: LEADS VALUE / SPEND;
  • CR (conversion rate) – this is the formula you need to create if you want to know how many clicks resulted in a purchase: WEBSITE PURCHASE / UNIQUE CLICKS;
  • Inverse ROI – here is another way to calculate the return on investment for your Facebook ads: SPEND / WEBSITE PURCHASE VALUE.

These are just a few examples, but we are sure that you will soon discover more useful and relevant formulas for custom metrics to measure the results of your Facebook ad campaigns. Good luck!

For those of us that have used the Facebook Ads reporting feature or Google Data Studio, creating custom metrics is nothing new. However, it was impossible to create these custom metrics in the Facebook Ads Manager view…. until now.

So what is a custom metric? Essentially, this is a calculation or formula you are creating, that is not available in Facebook’s standard reporting metrics. For example, Average Order Value.

This is a feature we’ve been crying out for and now it is here, I wanted to share with you how to set your own custom metrics up and recommend a few custom metrics that will give you a lot more detailed insights into your Facebook ad campaigns.

How To Create Custom Metrics in Facebook Ads Manager

Click Columns and select Customise Columns

How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

At the top of this view, you will see Create Custom Metric next to the search bar. Click this and you can get started with creating your own custom metrics.

How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

You will now have a window appear when you can create your metrics. Here you can name, set the format (Numeric, Percentage or Currency) and construct your custom metric.

How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

Essentially here, you are creating a formula as you would in Excel, in order to create your desired output.

So, you now know how to create your own metrics, but what should you focus on initially? Here are 5 metrics I think every DTC (direct-to-consumer) and e-commerce advertiser should be using:

1. Average Order Value

For me, knowing your AOV is an important element in understanding what is driving your ROAS. By creating this view, you will also be able to see how AOV varies between funnels and specific audiences. This can provide valuable insights into your propositions in each stage of the funnel and how you can drive AOV up overall.

For this calculation, you’ll need to divide the total revenue by number of purchases.

How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

2. Add To Cart to Purchase Ratio

The great thing about implementing this metric into your ads manager view, is you can get a really quick understanding into whether there is a conversion rate issue during the buying journey impacting performance (for good or bad).

To create this metric you, simply need to create the following formula:

How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

3. Quality Click Percentage

This metrics is really important as it gives you a view into how many people clicking your ads are resulting in actual landing page views. If this percentage is lower than 85%, then there could be an issue around landing page load times or the actual quality of the audience you are targeting.

For this custom metric, all you need to do is divide your total landing page views by total link clicks.

How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

4. Thumb Stop Ratio

This is a phrased coined by many paid media buyers, including David Herrmann. Essentially, this metric will help you understand which video or GIF creative is doing the best job at grabbing your customers attention in the feed. This gives you even more data for your creative planning and optimisations.

If you’re achieving above 30% for your prospecting campaigns, you’re nailing the creative.

To create this custom metric, you will need the following formula:

How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

5. Conversion Rate

This metric is so useful, as you can easily identify which audiences or creatives are exceeding your CVR average vs what is under performing.

How do I create custom metrics in ads manager?

As you can see, custom metrics arm you with a lot more data inside the platform itself, enabling you to make better and more informed decisions. The possibilities are endless with custom metrics and for someone who loves data-driven decisions as much as me, this is a breath of much needed fresh air for the Facebook ads platform.

There is also a great thread on Twitter, which is definitely worth a read if you’re looking for some custom metric inspiration.

It would be great to hear from you about any custom metrics you are using. Feel free to leave a comment below or reach out to me on Twitter or LinkedIn.

How do you make custom metrics?

Set up custom metrics.
Sign in to Google Analytics..
Click Admin, and navigate to the property to which you want to add custom metrics..
In the PROPERTY column, click Custom Definitions > Custom Metrics..
Click the New Custom Metric button..
Add a Name. ... .
From the Formatting Type dropdown, select an Integer, Currency, or Time..

What are custom metrics?

Custom metrics, also known as application-specific metrics, let you define and collect information the built-in Cloud Monitoring metrics cannot. You capture such metrics by using an API provided by a library to instrument your code, and then you send the metrics to a backend application like Cloud Monitoring.

What are the three metrics that Facebook uses to measure ad performance?

Delivery Metrics.
Impressions. Impressions are the number of times your ads were on screen in front of your audience. ... .
CPM (Cost Per 1000 Impressions) CPM (Cost per Mille) is the cost to achieve 1000 impressions. ... .
Frequency. Frequency is the average number of times a person has seen your ad..

How do I check my ads Manager metrics?

View Meta Ads Reporting metrics in Ads Manager.
Go to Ads Manager..
Click Campaigns , Ad sets or Ads ..
Click View charts to open the insights side pane to see a visual representation of your ads performance..