Turn reports into action
Reports are where you decide what to change. This article covers the working sequence: read the numbers, find the part that is failing, change one thing, and give it time.
Work from the top down
- Start with delivery. In Campaign Insights, check impressions and ad spend. Low or flat impressions is a delivery problem, and My ads are not delivering works through it in order.
- Then check the click. A healthy impression count with a weak CTR points at the creative rather than the targeting.
- Then check the conversion. Healthy clicks with no conversions usually means tracking, not performance. Confirm the conversion reads Verified before changing anything else.
- Then compare the dimensions. Under Performance by, read AUDIENCES, ADS, GEO and PUBLISHERS. Each answers a different question: who responded, which creative earned it, where, and on what inventory.
Changing things without losing the thread
Change one thing at a time. Moving budget and targeting together leaves you unable to say which one worked.
Give each change time. The algorithm needs volume before its numbers mean anything, so judging a change after a few hours reads noise as signal.
Cut by dimension, not by feeling. If one geo carries a much worse CPA across enough conversions to be real, narrow the geo. If one creative carries the CTR, give it more of the budget.
Write down what you changed and when. A CPA that moved without a note beside it invites the wrong conclusion next month.
Notes
ROAS stays empty unless the conversion carries a transaction value, so add Transaction Value when you create the conversion if you want to read return rather than volume.
