After each Facebook ad campaign we run, we write a quick Ads Performance Report. This helps us determine the advertising efforts that worked and the ones that didn’t. If your company uses Facebook as an advertising tool, it’s important that after each ad campaign you run, you write an Ads Performance Report.
For social media managers, an Ads Performance Report is a great document to give to your boss after a campaign is complete. For others who don’t have to report on campaign results, creating an Ads Performance Report is still necessary. In the long run, it will save you time, effort and money.
In a basic Ads Performance Report you should include the following:
- Running duration of the ads (start and end date)
- Total amount spent
- Overall campaign Reach
- Total campaign Actions and Clicks
- Click-through rate
Next, make an additional section titled “Notes” where you list valuable information related to the campaign. For example, did your daily ad budget stay the same or did it fluctuate?
The body of the Ads Performance Report is for evaluating each individual Facebook ad. Break your ads up into two groups titled: “Successful Ads” and “Less Successful Ads.”
Tip: Determine what “successful” means for you. Is it clicks, actions, reach, CTR? Also note: A high CTR does not always mean the ad performed well. For instance, an ad with a very small reach that was clicked once could have a high CTR.
In the “Successful Ads” and “Less Successful Ads” sections, insert the images and copy for each ad and list the following:
- Name of the ad
- The metric that makes your ad successful (e.g: the number of clicks the ad had)
- Notes (e.g: Did you pause the ad? On what day and for what reason?)
Here’s an example:
Note: Don’t bet all your money on one horse. Meaning, for one Facebook ad campaign you should be running between five and 10 ads, all with varying copy and images. This allows you to do A/B testing so that one failed Facebook ad does not result in a failed ad campaign. After a few days, for the ads that do not perform well, pause them.
In the last section of your Ads Performance Report list concluding thoughts and recommendations. Make notes of what did and didn’t work, as well as what changes you’ll make to your next ad campaign.
For example, did your ad that included a call to action perform better than the rest? Did the ad that included an image of a person’s face perform better than the ad with a text overlay graphic?
An Ads Performance Report will save you time on future ad copy and image styles because you’ll already know what works and what doesn’t, and it will improve the likelihood of your next ad campaign performing well.
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