Track This Key Metric to Get More Mileage Out of Facebook Ads

Tracking the right metrics is the key to Facebook ad success.

But which ones should you actually be paying attention to, and which ones aren't worth worrying about?

This can be one of the toughest things for marketers and entrepreneurs to figure out.

It can depend on your campaign goals, the kind of service or product you're selling, your target audience, and other factors unique to your particular company and brand.

But one of the biggest ones worth caring about is CPR — cost per result.

You're probably tracking conversions already.

But while sales are ultimately the end goal, they're not the whole story.

There's also the matter of how much you had to spend to get those sales.

After all, if you sell $10,000 worth of products, but spent $9,999 on marketing and advertising in order to get those sales, your $1 ROI makes that five figure revenue look a lot less impressive.

In a recent blog post, Neil Patel explains why calculating the cost per result from your ads is essential for streamlining your campaigns and maximizing profit.

Cost per result (CPR)

Simply tracking conversions and calling it a day isn’t good enough.

You need a well-rounded marketing and advertising report that shows you more than just sales.

For example, let’s say that you had 1,000 conversions on your latest campaign.

Sounds awesome, right? Of course.

But how much did you have to spend to get those 1,000 sales?

Did you go over your bottom line? Did it cost $30 per sale when your product only costs $25?

Cost per result is a key metric that helps you understand how much you’re spending for each conversion:

[image source: Neil Patel]

So what is a result? The result is what you select as your conversion metric.

It’s the end goal of your entire advertising campaign. For example, website conversions.

And, it’s calculated just like AdWords determines the cost per conversion:

[image source: Neil Patel]

You simply take the total amount spent on that campaign and divide it by the total conversions.

This will give you the cost per conversion (or cost per result, as Facebook calls it).

Here’s what the data will look like in your Facebook Ads Manager:

[image source: Neil Patel]

You should aim to have the lowest possible cost per result on your conversions.

CPR tells you if you are spending too much money on acquisition and cutting into your bottom line.

If you sell cheap products yet have a high cost per result, it’s a good sign that your conversions aren’t valuable in the long run.

Thankfully, there is a simple way to monitor this and prevent the problems before they happen.

Navigate to your Facebook Ads dashboard and create a new rule:

[image source: Neil Patel]

Next, under your “Conditions” section, select the “Cost Per Result” action from the list:

[image source: Neil Patel]

Then set the number for your condition:

[image source: Neil Patel]

The key here is to input your bottom line as the number.

For example, if you sell a $50 e-book, you wouldn’t want your cost per result (conversion) to be greater than $50.

So set it to less than the cost of your product to make sure that you don’t sabotage your bottom line.

Next, you need to decide what the action will be if your cost per result is greater than that specified number:

[image source: Neil Patel]

If you want to send a notification only, you can do that.

If you prefer to automate everything, simply adjust your budget or bid based on the cost per result.

For example, if your cost per result goes too high, you can do any of the following tweaks as a response:

[image source: Neil Patel]

Once you’ve selected your appropriate response, here’s what your completed rule should look like:

[image source: Neil Patel]

This rule says:

If the cost per result is greater than five dollars, decrease my bid by 10% on all active ad sets.

Simple Facebook Ad automation at it’s finest!

Cost per result is just as important as your conversion metrics.

It tells you if you are spending too much to acquire those conversions and can help you dial back your ad spend.