Summary
Performance targets on Ad Insights let you define what a winning ad looks like using your own numbers.
How performance targets work
A performance target is a set of metrics an ad has to hit for you to call it a winner. You can create multiple targets for your account. One of them is your default, and the default is the target Cuttable scores your ads against.
Create a performance target
To create a performance target:
Open Ad Insights and select the Targets tab.
Select New target.
Give the target a name that describes the ads it applies to, for example "Conversion".
Select Add metric, choose a metric from the list, and enter the value that counts as a win.
Select Save targets.
An ad has to meet every metric on the target to be highlighted, so adding more metrics makes the target harder to hit.
To remove a metric, select the x beside its value. To delete the whole target, select Delete target. Selecting Cancel discards any changes you have not saved.
Metrics you can set a target for
You can build a performance target from any of the following metrics. For cost metrics a lower number is better, so the ad has to come in at or below your value. For every other metric the ad has to reach or beat your value.
Metric | What it measures | An ad wins when it is |
ROAS | Return on ad spend | At or above your value |
CPR | Cost per result | At or below your value |
CPM | Cost per 1,000 views | At or below your value |
CPC | Cost per click | At or below your value |
CTR | Click-through rate | At or above your value |
Thumbstop | Thumb-stop rate | At or above your value |
Engagement | Engagement rate | At or above your value |
Set a scoring threshold
A scoring threshold is the minimum amount of data an ad needs before Cuttable will judge it against your target. An ad with only a few dollars of spend behind it can post a very high or very low number by chance, so ads below the threshold stay uncolored in the results table instead of being called winners or losers.
The Score Threshold section of each target summarizes the thresholds in plain language. To change them:
Select Change thresholds.
Enter a minimum for Ad Spend, Impressions, or Results. Leave a field at 0 for no threshold on that measure.
Select Done, then select Save targets.
By default, all new targets have a minimum ad spend of $100 and no impressions or results threshold.
Highlight winning ads in the results table
Setting a target does not color the results table on its own. To highlight your winning ads, use the Heatmap control at the top of Ad Insights and select Targets. The Targets setting is unavailable until you have saved at least one target with a value on it.
If your account has more than one target, a Target dropdown appears beside the Heatmap control. Selecting a different target in that dropdown recolors the table against that target, without changing which target is your account default.
Create variations from a winning ad
Once you know which ads are winning by your definition, you can build on them. On any ad row in Ad Insights, select Create Variations. This starts an Open Brief session with that ad loaded as your reference, so you can generate a fresh set of ads built on the same winning idea.
From there the flow is the same as any Make Ads session: confirm your brief, generate ads, review them in an ad group, and publish. Track the new ads back in Ad Insights, check them against your target, and repeat.
For the full detail on guiding what to keep and what to change, see Create variations of an ad.