I’ve had hundreds of conversations with founders, marketers, and platform reps over the years, and the same themes keep coming up: creative fatigue, attribution blind spots, and a performance rollercoaster that’s hard to explain.
But the real issue? Most performance marketers are still measuring success like it’s 2018.
If you’re only looking at ROAS or last-click performance, you’re likely missing the bigger picture. Consumer behavior has changed, the platforms have evolved, and we’re now operating in a far more competitive and complex auction.
So I want to break down how we think about Meta performance today and the custom metrics we use to stay ahead.
Reach Still Matters. A Lot
We’re in a “zero-click” world. Consumers see an ad, screenshot it, Google the brand, or browse Amazon before buying often days later. That means your reach, frequency, and first-time impression rate are more important than ever.
ROAS might look good on paper, but if your incremental reach is shrinking, you’re slowly suffocating your future sales.
One of the key metrics we build into every account is First Time Incremental Reach (FTIR): impressions divided by frequency, then divided again by total impressions. It gives us a pulse on how many new people are actually seeing the ads. A high ROAS with a low FTIR? That’s a warning sign that you're stuck retargeting your warm pool and won’t scale.
Creative That Builds Demand
Meta’s algorithm has always operated on a “search and exploit” model. Some days it’s capturing ready-to-buy customers. Other days, it’s searching and building demand.
That means your best-performing days are often followed by a dip, not because something broke, but because the platform already harvested the low-hanging fruit. If you pull the budget too soon, you kill momentum before the algorithm can discover your next pocket of scale.
You need to ride those cycles. Push through the slow days. And understand that creating demand is just as valuable as converting it.
Stop Obsessing Over Clicks
One of my go-to metrics is Quality Click Percentage (QCP): landing page views divided by link clicks. It’s a simple way to spot friction, like page load issues or irrelevant hooks.
If 100 people click your ad but only 50 land on your site, something’s broken. Same goes for Quality Session Percentage, add-to-carts divided by clicks, which can signal deeper funnel or CRO problems. These aren’t just ad metrics. They’re windows into your entire purchase journey.
And when your DTC sales suddenly dip after launching on Amazon? Check your cart drop-offs. Often, customers are bouncing to buy on Prime and your ad dollars are funding someone else’s conversion.
The Hidden Cost of Meta Shops
For a while, Meta really pushed in-platform checkout. And at first glance, the conversion rates looked great. But the downstream effect? You couldn’t pixel those users across other platforms, you didn’t collect their email, and you couldn’t retarget them anywhere else.
Driving traffic to your own site means you own the data, and every platform in your mix benefits. Google, TikTok, your email flows, they all get smarter. Otherwise, you’re spending real money and leaving valuable signals locked inside one ecosystem.
Thankfully, Meta is now sunsetting native checkout in favor of routing to platforms like Shopify. That’s a win for advertisers.
The Game Has Changed. So Should Your Metrics
Today, Meta is dominated by major advertisers who used to spend on TV. The auction is more expensive, targeting is more reliant on machine learning, and the path to purchase is longer than ever.
The fundamentals still matter. You need to reach new people. Your creative needs to entertain and convert. And your team needs to look beyond surface-level metrics and start asking deeper questions.
If your account isn't scaling, it’s not just about making a better ad. It’s about understanding your full funnel, your post-click behavior, and where your media dollars are going, even when sales aren’t immediately visible.
Because when you zoom out and read the data right, you stop reacting and start scaling with confidence.