The ultimate guide to Facebook ads interpretation
We created this internal guide for to try to interpret Facebook ad metrics. It has come out of the result of extensive Facebook ad testing, as well as discussions with multiple different Facebook ad agencies about the same topics.

I don't think there's anywhere else it's defined in this much detail available on the internet, so I hope to both beginners and seasoned Facebook marketers alike, this guide will be useful.
In terms of what the abbreviations mean, it's a bit doctorly in nature:
Sx = "symptoms"
Ix = "how to tell if this is the right diagnosis i.e. Investigations"
Dx = "diagnosis"
Rx = "what to do to fix it"
So, here goes - the complete guide to interpreting how your Facebook ads are performing.
CTR
Low CTR –
Dx: Audience not engaging withAd creative
Rx: change creative, audience, or product
High CTR, no ATCs –
Sx:
Audience likes creative
However they're stuck at product page
DDx:
Price too high
Product page poorly made (needs better conversion rate optimisation)
Site not loading
Ix:
Use HotJar or some equivalent to peer exactly into exact behaviours of customer on website
Rx:
Change price
Optimise landing page
See if site loading
High CTR, High ATCs, No Sales –
Sx:
Getting stuck at checkout
About 50%f InitiateCheckouts should convert to Purchase. If not, worry a little bit.
Ddx:
Shipping costs preventing people from purchasing
Pre-purchase upsell preventing purchase
Ix:
Hotjar
Rx:
Introduce free shipping
Some people think countdown timers may help but I wouldn't
Landing Page Views
Landing Page View : Content Views
Sx:
A good ratio is 1:3 i.e. for every landing page view, you get three content views to this/other products
If not this high, then means low site engagement as a whole
DDx:
Site doesn't resonate with audience
Site loads too slow
Ix:
Hotjar
Rx
Optimise conversion rate of website
Frequency
Frequency > 1 per day (e.g. if VC 7d and frequency >7)
Sx:
Anything with a ratio >1 per day is way too high e.g. ATC 3d audience with a frequency of >3.00
Also anything with a frequency of >3.00 in general is probably too high in my opinion
Rx:
Reduce spend, OR
Horizontally scale to broader audiences
Higher Level With Purchases
High Sales, Low ROAS –
Dx:
Product and product page is good
However product-market-margin fit not yet approximated correctly
Ix:
Trial of increasing price of product
Need to test and refine ad audiences
Rx:
As for Ix.
High CPM, High Sales
Dx:
Occurs when competing with a lot of advertisers
Rx:
Use a concurrent PPE campaign with the same POST ID to get more organic traffic via shares
This will lower CPM