Facebook Removes Repetitive Ad Metrics Following Public Complaints
It seems Facebook has heard its advertisers’ pleas.
The site is finally paring down its metrics in an effort to provide more clarity, more transparency and more actionable insights to its paying customers.
Facebook Removes Repetitive Ad Metrics to Improve Usability
On the chopping block are 20 “redundant, outdated, not actionable or infrequently used” Facebook ad metrics that either weren’t delivering what advertisers needed or just plain confusing them.
The announcement comes more than a year after public complaints started to emerge about inaccurate and conflicting Facebook metrics and only a few months after Facebook itself admitted to mischarging advertisers for video views.
Facebook even went so far as to refund thousands of dollars in ad costs for its mistakes.
What Exactly is Changing?
There are three areas that will be changing as a part of Facebook’s metrics updates:
1. A total of 20 separate metrics will be removed from the reporting area. I’ve broken them all down at the bottom of this post.
2. Many remaining ad metrics will get new labels, which will specify if they are “estimated” or “in development” totals for added clarity.
Here’s how Facebook explains it:
“Estimated metrics are calculated based on sampling or modeling. They can provide guidance for outcomes that are hard to precisely quantify, and we may update our measurement methodologies as we gather more data and improve our signals.”
“When we provide real-time results, we often use sampling methods that allow us to instantly model metrics at scale. By labeling metrics as estimated, you will now know when these methods are used.”
3. Facebook will launch a metric training program called “Measure What Matters” specifically for marketers and advertisers.
There will be two program tracks: one for advertisers with “brand objectives” and one for those with “direct response objectives.” They’ll be available later this month through Facebook Live, Facebook Business and in-person events.
Say Goodbye to these Facebook Ad Metrics
Let’s take a look at the Facebook advertising metrics that will no longer be available.
Actions – This includes Actions, People Taking Action and Cost per Any Action. Facebook says customizing your own events is a more effective way to measure engagement, clicks, conversions and similar actions.
Amount Spent Today – This is one of the redundant metrics Facebook is eliminating. You can find the amount you’ve spent using the dynamic data selector, selecting “today” as your date range and setting the start time to midnight.
Canvas Component Time Percentage – Facebook says this metric just wasn’t used much. It recommends using the Canvas View Time metric instead.
Carousel Card – Another metric that wasn’t widely used, Carousel Card offers the same data you can find with the Link Clicks metric. Facebook recommends using this for your Carousel ads instead.
Link Click Destination – Because of various mobile updates, Facebook says this metric is no longer accurate. It recommends using Outbound Clicks and Landing Page views in its place.
Mobile App Actions Conversion Value – Facebook didn’t specify why it’s retiring this one but recommends using conversion values for customized app events instead.
Page Mentions – Both Page Mentions and Cost per Page Mention are “outdated” metrics, according to Facebook, and are “not indicative of either positive or negative sentiment toward your brand.” Consider using Page Likes or Page Engagement in its place.
Page Tab Views – Page Tab Views, along with Cost per Page Tab View, aren’t as relevant as the Page Likes or Page Engagement metrics, which Facebook recommends using in their stead.
Positive Feedback and Negative Feedback – Because Positive and Negative Feedback are factored into the Relevance Score, looking at all three can be confusing for most advertisers. Facebook recommends using just the Relevance Score instead.
Social Reach – Social Reach, Social Impressions, Social Clicks and Unique Social Clicks are more outdated metrics that are going by the wayside. Facebook says they’re not “meaningfully different” from more robust metrics like Reach and Impressions and the “insights provided aren’t actionable.”
The changes to Facebook ad metrics might be confusing for some longstanding advertisers, but as many of these weren’t widely used, were redundant or just weren’t actionable, the end result will be better insights and a quicker path to ROI on the whole.
To learn more about what’s changing with Facebook metrics, email [email protected].
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