Advertising Report
The Advertising Report in SegMetrics shows you everything you need to understand the performance and ROI of your paid advertising campaigns. This report focuses specifically on paid advertising channels, helping you identify which ad accounts, campaigns, and ads are most effective at generating leads, customers, and revenue while providing clear visibility into your advertising spend and returns.
In this article
- Understanding the Advertising Report
- Top-line KPI metrics
- Widgets and visualizations
- Using the Ledger
- Viewing customer journeys
- Attribution models
- Data Explorer and custom reports
- Frequently Asked Questions
Understanding the Advertising Report
The Advertising Report is designed to answer critical questions about your paid advertising performance:
- Which ad accounts and campaigns are generating the best ROI?
- What is your true cost per lead and cost per customer across platforms?
- Which specific ads are driving the most revenue?
- How does ad spend correlate with lead generation and sales?
- What is your return on ad spend (ROAS) for each campaign?
- Which products are being purchased by customers from your ads?
This report allows you to explore your data from high-level KPIs down to individual contact details, all within the same interface. You can start with aggregate metrics and drill down to see the specific people and actions that make up those numbers.
Top-line KPI Metrics
At the top of the Advertising Report, you'll see six key performance indicators that provide an at-a-glance view of your advertising performance. Each KPI shows the current value for your selected timeframe, along with a percentage comparison to the previous period.
Ad Spend
What it shows: The total amount spent on advertising across all connected ad platforms during the selected timeframe.
Where it comes from: Ad spend data is pulled directly from your connected advertising integrations (such as Facebook Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, etc.). SegMetrics syncs this data automatically from your ad accounts.
Why it matters: Ad spend is your primary investment in paid customer acquisition. Tracking this metric helps you understand your total advertising investment, monitor budget pacing throughout the month, and ensure you're staying within allocated budgets. When combined with revenue data, it reveals your true advertising ROI.
New Leads
What it shows: The number of new contacts who opted into your CRM or email platform after clicking on your ads during the selected timeframe. This does not include contacts that already exist in your ESP that are interacting with your ads.
Where it comes from: New leads are tracked when contacts are created in your connected CRM or ESP integrations (such as ActiveCampaign, Drip, HubSpot, etc.) and can be attributed to an advertising click through SegMetrics' attribution tracking.
Why it matters: New leads represent the top-of-funnel effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. This metric shows how many people your ads are bringing into your marketing ecosystem. A declining new leads number might indicate ad fatigue, audience saturation, or the need to refresh creative.
Cost per New Lead
What it shows: The average cost to acquire one new lead through your advertising efforts, calculated as Ad Spend ÷ New Leads.
Where it comes from: This is calculated automatically by dividing your total ad spend by the number of new leads generated from your ads.
Why it matters: Cost per lead is a critical efficiency metric that helps you understand how much you're paying to acquire each contact. This allows you to compare performance across campaigns, ad platforms, and time periods. If your cost per lead is increasing, it may signal that your ads need optimization, your targeting needs refinement, or competition is driving up costs.
Customers
What it shows: The number of new customers who made their first purchase after clicking on your ads during the selected timeframe.
Where it comes from: Customer data comes from invoices sent to SegMetrics via your connected payment processor or revenue source (such as Stripe, Shopify, ThriveCart, etc.), matched with contacts who clicked on your ads.
Why it matters: Customers represent the ultimate conversion from your advertising efforts. While leads show top-of-funnel performance, customers show bottom-line results. This metric reveals how effectively your ads attract people who actually buy, not just people who sign up.
Revenue
What it shows: The total revenue generated from customers who clicked on your ads during the selected timeframe.
Where it comes from: Revenue is calculated from the total amount of all invoices from customers who can be attributed to your advertising campaigns through SegMetrics' tracking.
Why it matters: Revenue is the most important metric for understanding the business impact of your advertising. This shows the actual monetary value generated by your ad spend. When compared to ad spend, it reveals whether your advertising is profitable or needs adjustment.
Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
What it shows: The ratio of revenue generated to ad spend, expressed as a percentage. A ROAS of 300% means you generated $3 in revenue for every $1 spent on ads.
Where it comes from: This is calculated by dividing revenue by ad spend and multiplying by 100 (Revenue ÷ Ad Spend × 100 = ROAS%).
Why it matters: ROAS is the ultimate measure of advertising profitability. It tells you whether your ads are generating positive returns. Most businesses need a ROAS of at least 200-300% to be profitable after accounting for product costs and overhead. A declining ROAS signals that your advertising efficiency is decreasing and requires attention.
Widgets and Visualizations
The Advertising Report includes several widgets that break down your performance data in different ways. Each widget provides unique insights into your advertising performance.
Top Sources
The Top Sources table breaks down your advertising performance by ad account or campaign level, showing which sources drive the most leads, customers, and revenue for your advertising investment.
What it shows: Performance metrics broken down by ad account, campaign, ad set, or individual ad level depending on your view selection.
Metrics included:
- Spend: Total amount spent on this ad account/campaign
- Impressions: Number of times ads were displayed
- Clicks: Number of clicks on ads
- New Leads: Contacts who became leads after clicking
- Customers: Number of customers acquired through this source
- Revenue: Total revenue from customers who clicked this source
- CPC (Cost Per Click): Average cost for each ad click
- CPL (Cost Per Lead): Average cost to acquire each lead
- CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost): Average cost to acquire each customer
- ROAS (Return on Ad Spend): Revenue generated per dollar spent
How to use it:
- Click column headers to sort by any metric
- Use the dropdown at the top to switch between "Account", "Campaign", "Set" (ad set), or "Ad" (individual ad) views
- Click any item name to add it as a filter and see more detailed data
- Click the filter icon next to an item to drill down into that specific account or campaign
- Use the magnifying glass in the bottom left hand corner to search within the widget for a particular campaign
- Note: You can customize what is shown in the metrics by using the explorer/custom report feature (more on that below). For example, If you want to see ALL leads/contacts interacting with your ads instead of just new leads (default), you can use the explorer feature to show that.
Why it's useful: This table is the heart of your advertising analysis. You can quickly identify which ad accounts are performing best, which campaigns are most profitable, and which ads are delivering the highest ROAS. Use this to allocate budget to winning campaigns, pause underperforming ads, and replicate successful strategies across your advertising.
Ad Engagement
The Ad Engagement widget displays a geographic breakdown of where your ad traffic is coming from using an interactive world map.
What it shows: The geographic distribution of your ad clicks and engagement, with color intensity indicating volume.
How to use it:
- Hover over any country to see specific engagement numbers
- Toggle between "Map", "Landing Page", or "Host" views
- Use the scale at the bottom to understand volume ranges
- Click any country to filter the entire report to that location
Why it's useful: Geographic data helps you understand where your ads are resonating most. You can identify high-performing markets that deserve increased budget, discover unexpected markets with strong performance, spot geographic trends in ad engagement, and optimize ad targeting by location. This is especially valuable if you're running international campaigns or want to identify expansion opportunities.
Sales from Ads
The Sales from Ads table shows which specific products are being purchased by customers who came through your advertising campaigns.
What it shows: Individual products with their corresponding orders and revenue from ad-attributed customers.
Metrics included:
- Product: Product name
- Price: Product price point
- Orders: Number of orders for this product from ad traffic
- Revenue: Total revenue from this product via ad-attributed customers
How to use it:
- Toggle between "Product" and "Deals" views using the tabs
- Sort by any column to identify your top-selling products
- Click any product to filter the entire report to that product
- Identify which products have the best conversion rates from ad traffic
- Use the magnifying glass to search for specific products
Why it's useful: This table reveals which products are actually selling through your ads, not just which ads are getting clicks. You can identify your most profitable products from ads, optimize ad campaigns to promote best-sellers, discover which products have low sales despite ad traffic, and adjust your product lineup or pricing based on ad performance. This helps you align your advertising creative with products that actually convert.
Ad Engaged Segments
The Ad Engaged Segments widget breaks down your advertising performance by contact tags, lists, or custom fields from your CRM/ESP.
What it shows: Performance metrics organized by contact tags, lists, or custom fields for people who came through your ads.
Metrics included:
- New Leads: Number of contacts in each segment who came from ads
- Customers: Number of customers in this segment who came from ads
- Revenue: Total revenue from customers in this segment who came from ads
How to use it:
- Toggle between "Tags", "Lists", or "Other" custom field views
- Sort by any column to identify your most valuable segments
- Click any segment to filter the entire report
- Identify which lead magnets or campaigns attract the highest-value customers from ads
- Use the magnifying glass to search for specific tags or segments
Why it's useful: Segment analysis reveals which of your ad-driven campaigns, lead magnets, or customer types generate the most value. You can identify which lead magnets convert best from paid traffic, discover which customer segments have the highest lifetime value from ads, optimize your ad funnels based on segment performance, and allocate more budget to ads driving high-value segments. This is particularly valuable for tracking booked calls, webinar registrations, and other conversion events.
Using the Ledger
One of SegMetrics' core principles is trust in your data. The Ledger feature ensures you can verify every metric by showing the individual data entries that make up any number.
How to access the Ledger:
- Either select a top line metric or scroll down to any widget in the Advertising Report
- Click the number of any KPI metric (like "New Leads" or "Customers")
- The Ledger window opens, displaying all individual records included in that metric
What the Ledger shows:
- Individual contact information (name, email) of exactly who clicked an ad
- Relevant data for the metric you clicked (ad clicks, order IDs, amounts, dates)
- Active filters at the top showing what's included in this view
- Pagination controls if there are many records
Why it's useful: The Ledger provides complete transparency into your data. You can verify that ad attribution is working correctly, identify specific contacts for follow-up or retargeting, export lists for custom audiences, troubleshoot discrepancies between SegMetrics and ad platform data, and see exactly which people came from which ads. This level of transparency helps you trust your data and make confident decisions about ad spend.
Viewing Customer Journeys
Sometimes aggregate data only tells part of the story. The Customer Journey feature lets you view the complete timeline of actions for any individual contact.
How to access Customer Journeys:
- Click any people metric in a table (like "New Leads" or "Customers")
- The Ledger opens showing individual contacts
- Click on any email address in the Ledger
- The Customer Journey window opens for that contact
What the Customer Journey shows:
- Every page view with timestamps
- All email opens and clicks
- Tag additions and list subscriptions
- Form submissions and opt-ins
- Purchases and order details
- Custom attributes and field updates
- The original ad click that brought them in
Why it's useful: Customer Journeys help you understand the complete path a person took from ad click to purchase. You can verify that ad attribution is accurate for specific contacts, understand the typical journey from ad to customer, identify patterns in successful ad-driven conversions, see how long it takes ad traffic to convert, and troubleshoot why certain ad campaigns aren't converting. This is invaluable for optimizing your ad-to-purchase funnel.
Attribution Models
Attribution models determine how SegMetrics assigns credit for conversions across different advertising touchpoints. The Advertising Report supports two attribution models that can be changed at any time.
You can select between attribution models next to the date range in the top right hand corner of the report. Its not uncommon the same ad will get credit within either attribution model.
First Engagement
How it works: Gives 100% credit to the first advertising touchpoint within your report's timeframe.
When to use it: Use First Engagement when you want to understand which ads initially brought people into your funnel during a specific period. This is perfect for measuring the effectiveness of awareness and acquisition campaigns.
What it means for reporting: Only the first ad a person clicked (within your date range) receives credit. This helps identify which ads and campaigns are best at starting relationships and bringing new people into your ecosystem. If someone clicked multiple ads before converting, only the first ad gets credit.
Last Touch
How it works: Gives 100% credit to the last advertising touchpoint before a purchase for a customer or ad clicked for a lead who has yet to purchase.
When to use it: Use Last Touch when you want to understand which ads directly drove conversions. This is ideal for measuring the effectiveness of retargeting campaigns and bottom-of-funnel ads.
What it means for reporting: Only the final ad interaction before purchase receives credit. This helps identify which ads are best at closing sales. Retargeting campaigns and conversion-focused ads typically perform well in this model. If someone clicked multiple ads throughout their journey, only the last ad before purchase gets credit.
Choosing the Right Model for Your Analysis
Use First Engagement when:
- You're measuring top-of-funnel ad performance
- You want to understand initial customer acquisition costs
- You're optimizing awareness and cold traffic campaigns
- You need to justify budget for early-stage advertising
Use Last Touch when:
- You're measuring retargeting campaign effectiveness
- You want to understand which ads close sales
- You're optimizing conversion-focused campaigns
- You need to identify your most profitable bottom-funnel ads
Pro tip: Switch between both models regularly to get a complete picture. First Engagement shows which ads start relationships; Last Touch shows which ads finish them. Both perspectives are valuable for comprehensive advertising optimization.
How Filters Affect Attribution Models
Standard filters are applied BEFORE the attribution model calculates credit. For example, if you filter to only show Facebook ads, the attribution model will only consider Facebook ad touchpoints when assigning credit, even if other channels (like Google or email) were involved in the journey.
To filter AFTER attribution is calculated, use Attribution Model Filters (click the XX icon in tables instead of the filter icon).
Data Explorer and Custom Reports
While the Advertising Report provides powerful pre-built analysis, the Data Explorer allows you to create and save completely custom reports with your own metrics, dimensions, and visualizations.
Accessing the Data Explorer:
- Click the "explore" icon in the top right of any widget
- Or navigate to "Reports" in the left sidebar
What you can do:
- Select any data source (Acquisition, Advertising, Orders, Subscriptions, etc.)
- Choose from dozens of metrics and dimensions
- Create custom visualizations (tables, charts, graphs)
- Save reports for future reference
- Share reports with team members
Note: A separate, comprehensive guide on using the Data Explorer is available. The Data Explorer provides advanced functionality for users who need analysis beyond the pre-built Advertising Report.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Why don't my SegMetrics numbers match what I see in Facebook Ads Manager or Google Ads?
A: Discrepancies are normal and expected. One reason could be ad platforms (Facebook, Google) use view-through attribution and track conversions differently than SegMetrics. SegMetrics only tracks click-through attribution and requires contacts to be matched to email addresses in your CRM. Ad platforms often use shorter attribution windows than SegMetrics. SegMetrics shows full customer value including future purchases, while ad platforms only show immediate conversions. For accurate business decisions, trust SegMetrics data as it reflects actual revenue in your business.
Q: What's a good ROAS to aim for?
A: ROAS requirements vary by business model. Anything ove 100% means you are getting your money back. 200-300% ROAS minimum for most businesses to be profitable after costs, 400-500% ROAS is considered excellent for most products, ecommerce typically needs 300-400% ROAS, high-ticket services can be profitable at 150-200% ROAS, and information products often need 400%+ ROAS. Focus on your profit margins—your ROAS needs to exceed your costs of goods sold plus overhead to be truly profitable.
Q: How does SegMetrics track advertising clicks?
A: SegMetrics uses a combination of UTM parameters in your ad URLs (like an ad.id), click IDs from ad platforms (fbclid, gclid, etc.), the SegMetrics tracking pixel on your website, and matching clicked visitors to email addresses when they opt in. For the most accurate tracking, ensure the SegMetrics pixel is installed on all pages and use UTM parameters consistently in all your ads.
Q: Why don't I see customers in my ad report?
A: This can happen if the ads themselves aren't being tracked properly. If the ad has leads but no customers, then the issue could be with checkout tracking or perhaps the correct payment processor isn't integrated. Many times ad conversions take more time than expected. Check the customer's full journey in the Contact Profile to see all their purchase history. Ad report will only show customers and leads if the ad click occurred before either the opt-in or conversion. If there are still questions, reach out to support.
Q: Can I see which specific ads are performing best?
A: Yes! In the Top Sources widget, use the dropdown to switch from "Account" view to "Campaign", "Set" (ad set), or "Ad" (individual ad) views. This will show you performance metrics for individual ads, including spend, clicks, leads, customers, and ROAS for each specific ad creative.
Q: How do I improve my cost per lead?
A: To reduce cost per lead: improve ad targeting to reach more qualified audiences, refresh ad creative to combat ad fatigue, optimize landing pages to increase conversion rates, test different lead magnets or offers, exclude audiences that don't convert well, and use lookalike audiences based on your best customers. Sometimes a higher cost per lead is acceptable if those leads convert to customers at higher rates.
Q: How can I use this report to allocate my ad budget?
A: Use the Top Sources table sorted by ROAS to identify your best-performing campaigns—increase budget there. Look at campaigns with good ROAS but low spend—they may have room to scale. Pause or reduce campaigns with consistently low ROAS. Compare CPL across campaigns to find efficiency opportunities. Use the Sales from Ads widget to identify which products are selling and direct ad spend toward promoting those. Review the Ad Engaged Segments to allocate budget toward ads driving high-value customer segments. Please remember, many ad funnels need time to develop. One of the best date ranges we recommend, to make informed decisions would be 60-90 days.
Q: Why do the paid customers in my orders report and my ads report not match?
A: The Advertising Report only shows customers if that person clicked an ad before the purchase. An orders report is just showing people who have a paid ad click and a purchase within a timeframe regardless of the order those two actions occur.
Q: Do ROAS and customer value update when someone purchases a subscription from an ad?
A: Yes. ROAS and customer value update over time as subscription revenue accrues.
For example, if a customer purchases a $20/month subscription from an ad that cost $20, their initial value is $20 and your ROAS is 100%. If you revisit that same customer two months later, their total value would be $60, resulting in a ROAS of 300%.