Debunking The Myth That Ad Managers Get All The Credit For ROAS

When soft stats are looking great in Facebook ad manager but the ROAS is low,most people wrongly assume that ad performance is declining. I used to think it was mine or my team's fault for low ROAS even if everything in FB ad manager was indicating great performance. But it’s not! Here's why the myth that ad managers are fully responsible for ROAS is totally incorrect. First of all, soft stats -- metrics like link CTR and CPC -- indicate the health of an ad campaign,and show us when the metrics on Facebook are all on point. But ROAS is actually heavily determined by metrics that are OFF of Facebook; website metrics such as conversion rate and average order value. If those two metrics aren't doing well but the soft stats on Facebook look good, then external factors OUTSIDE of the Facebook ads are what'scausing ROAS to dip...not ad performance. In that scenario, it's not that the ads aren't performing correctly -- the site isn't working as well as it should be. Ads are meant to drive traffic -- yes, the right traffic -- but the site is meant to actuallyconvert those visitors. Additionally there are things like the market, economy, seasons, holidays that can all throw a wrench into things (i.e. people may be clicking but they're not buying as much). Again, that'snot boiling down to ad performance -- that's an external factor. 

Credit for ROAS is often mistakenly given exclusively to ad managers-- whether it's good or bad ROAS. While running ads, the majority of our job involves ensuring our soft stats are on pointso that ROAS will translate IF all other external factors are in line as well. If ROAS or CPA isn't in an ideal range, then we're really adjusting and tweaking to help move the needle in the right direction, with the understanding that there is a lot of it that is outside of our control. We're just doingwhat we can within our power to help mitigate any slump that, again, is caused by external factors. 

As much as I would love to take all credit for high ROAS (and to be fair we do share impressive case studies with high ROAS), our soft stats are actually a much more important indicator of great ad management since higher ROAS is only possible IF the site metrics are dialed in. This is also something most agencies either don't understand (more often) or don't communicate (less often). 

So yes, I'm totally calling out everyone who thinks ad managers deserve all the credit for high ROAS and all the criticism for low ROAS.As an ad manager with a decade of expertise in this field, I also used to mistakenly believe that full responsibility for a campaign's ROAS rested squarely on the shoulders of the ad manager. But this is simply incorrect and puts unnecessary strain on an already stressful endeavor that involves many moving parts both on and off of Facebook.

Curious about what your conversion rate and average order need to be at in order to get a high ROAS (because, again, ROASis reliant on the health of your site metrics)? Check out our new ROAS calculator. Note that ideal soft stats in ad manager are typically in the $1-$2 cost per link click range and 1% link CTR range. While link CTR does vary a bit and ~0.5% can be just fine, the CPC is technically most important.Find out why by utilizing our calculator and tables in the link above.