What ad metrics should I check daily for my e-commerce store?
Five essential ad metrics for daily monitoring with 3-minute checking routine covering ROAS, spend, cost per conversion, conversion volume, and campaign performance.
Most store owners spend 15-25 minutes daily checking ad performance across Google Ads and Meta Ads Manager—clicking through campaigns, comparing yesterday to last week, reviewing ROAS, checking budget pacing, scanning for anomalies. Three-quarters of that time provides zero actionable insights. You’re checking metrics that haven’t changed meaningfully, reviewing granular details that don’t influence today’s decisions, or exploring data out of habit rather than necessity.
You need five core metrics checked daily in under 3 minutes. These numbers reveal ad performance health, catch problems early, and surface optimization opportunities while ignoring vanity metrics and noise wasting time. This guide identifies exactly which ad metrics matter for daily monitoring, how to check them efficiently, and what action to take when numbers look problematic.
Five daily ad metrics that actually matter
1. Return on ad spend (ROAS) versus target
What it is: Revenue generated per dollar spent on ads yesterday, compared to your target ROAS and recent average.
Why it matters: Single number capturing ad profitability. ROAS of 4.5 when target is 4.0 means campaigns performing well. ROAS of 2.8 when target is 4.0 signals problem requiring investigation. Sudden drop from 4.2 to 2.5 indicates campaign issue, competitive change, or technical problem needing immediate attention.
Where to find it: Google Ads shows ROAS prominently in overview dashboard. Meta Ads Manager displays ROAS in campaign view when purchase tracking is configured. Or calculate manually: yesterday’s conversion value divided by yesterday’s spend.
What’s good: Depends on margins. Generally above 4.0 is strong for most e-commerce stores. Between 3.0-4.0 is acceptable depending on costs. Below 3.0 indicates problems unless margins are exceptionally high.
What to do: If ROAS drops 30%+ from baseline, check for technical issues (tracking broken, website down), campaign changes (accidentally paused top performers, bid adjustments), or external factors (competitor promotions, seasonal shifts). If steady below target, systematic optimization needed.
Time: 15 seconds to check.
2. Total spend versus daily budget
What it is: How much you spent yesterday compared to intended daily budget and whether pacing is on track.
Why it matters: Prevents budget overruns and identifies underdelivery. If daily budget is $200 but spent $340, need to adjust campaign budgets or pacing. If budget is $200 but only spent $85, campaigns aren’t getting impressions—low bids, narrow targeting, or technical issues preventing delivery.
Where to find it: Both Google Ads and Meta show total spend for selected date range in overview. Compare to intended daily budget.
What to do: Significantly over budget? Check individual campaign budgets for any set too high or misconfigured. Under budget? Review campaign status (paused?), bid levels (too low to compete?), targeting restrictions (audience too narrow?). If consistently under budget with good ROAS, opportunity to scale.
Time: 20 seconds to check.
3. Cost per conversion versus target
What it is: Average amount spent to generate one purchase yesterday compared to your acceptable cost per acquisition.
Why it matters: Must stay below gross profit per sale for sustainability. If average order value is $95 with 45% margins ($43 gross profit), cost per conversion above $35-38 leaves minimal room for operating costs. Rising cost per conversion indicates declining campaign efficiency even if ROAS looks acceptable.
Where to find it: Google Ads and Meta both show cost per conversion in campaign overview. Filter by yesterday or last 7 days for recent trends.
What to do: If cost per conversion exceeds acceptable threshold, diagnose cause—increased competition (CPMs rising), declining quality (conversion rate dropping), or audience fatigue (frequency increasing). Test creative refresh, targeting adjustment, or bid optimization. If persistently too high despite tests, reduce budgets or pause campaigns.
Time: 20 seconds to check.
4. Conversion count and revenue
What it is: Number of purchases and total revenue generated from ads yesterday compared to recent average.
Why it matters: Absolute performance context. ROAS of 4.0 with 3 purchases and $420 revenue is very different from ROAS 4.0 with 45 purchases and $6,300 revenue. Low conversion counts indicate low statistical confidence—might be random variance rather than real trend. Revenue comparison to recent average spots growth or decline trends.
Where to find it: Campaign overview in both Google Ads and Meta shows conversion count and conversion value for selected period.
What to do: Compare to same day last week and 7-day average. Down 20%+ consistently? Investigate traffic sources, conversion funnel, and competitive landscape. Up significantly? Identify what’s working and amplify it. Within 15% either direction is normal variance unless sustained over multiple days.
Time: 25 seconds to check both platforms.
5. Campaign-level performance check
What it is: Quick scan of individual campaign ROAS to identify any dramatically over or underperforming versus their norms.
Why it matters: Overall ROAS can look fine while individual campaigns have major problems. Campaign A usually delivers 5.5 ROAS but dropped to 2.1 yesterday. Campaign B usually delivers 3.2 ROAS but jumped to 6.8. Both anomalies require investigation even if blended ROAS looks normal.
Where to find it: Campaign tab in Google Ads or Meta showing ROAS column, sorted by performance or spend.
What to do: Investigate any campaign showing 50%+ deviation from its normal range. Check for technical issues, bid changes, audience saturation, competitive interference, or creative fatigue. Document what changed and whether intervention needed. Small variations (under 30%) are usually random noise with low daily volume.
Time: 40 seconds to scan 3-6 active campaigns.
The 3-minute daily ad routine
Check these five metrics every morning:
ROAS check (15 sec): At or above target? Below? Trending which direction?
Spend check (20 sec): On budget? Over? Under? Pacing issues?
Cost per conversion (20 sec): Within acceptable range? Rising trend?
Conversion volume (25 sec): Up, down, or stable versus recent average?
Campaign scan (40 sec): Any individual campaigns with dramatic changes?
Total time: 2 minutes if everything looks normal. 3-4 minutes if investigating specific issue.
Document findings briefly: “Jan 18: 4.2 ROAS (+5% vs avg), $185 spend (on target), $38 CPA (good), 5 conversions (normal), all campaigns stable.” Takes 15 seconds, creates historical baseline for trend analysis.
When to do deeper analysis
Daily 3-minute check catches obvious problems. Save deeper analysis for when metrics trigger concern:
ROAS below 3.0 for 2+ consecutive days: Spend 20 minutes investigating campaign settings, creative performance, competitive landscape, conversion funnel. Something is broken or has fundamentally changed.
Spend consistently 30%+ below budget with profitable ROAS: Spend 15 minutes identifying constraints—bid levels, targeting restrictions, budget caps. Opportunity to scale if removing constraints.
Cost per conversion rising 25%+ over two weeks: Spend 25 minutes analyzing auction competition (CPMs increasing?), conversion rate trends (site problems?), and audience saturation (frequency climbing?). Efficiency degrading, need optimization.
Conversion volume down 20%+ for three consecutive days: Spend 30 minutes checking tracking (still working?), website functionality (checkout broken?), campaign status (accidentally paused?), and traffic sources (impressions dropping?).
Metrics to check weekly instead of daily
Some metrics matter but don’t require daily monitoring:
Creative performance (weekly, 10 min): Which ads, headlines, images drive best ROAS? Time to refresh fatigued creative?
Audience performance (weekly, 10 min): Which targeting segments deliver best results? Opportunities to expand winners or pause losers?
Device and placement breakdown (weekly, 5 min): Mobile versus desktop performance? Instagram Feed versus Stories? Bid adjustment opportunities?
Search term review (weekly, 15 min for Google Ads): New irrelevant queries to exclude? High-performing terms to add as exact match?
Frequency analysis (weekly, 5 min for Meta): Campaigns approaching ad fatigue (frequency above 4)? Time to refresh creative or expand audiences?
Automating daily checks
Three-minute daily routine is sustainable for most founders. But if you prefer zero manual checking, automated reporting delivers key metrics automatically.
How automation works: Connect Google Ads and Meta Ads to analytics service. Configure daily email with five core metrics. Receive 2-minute summary every morning without dashboard login. Team members get identical data simultaneously.
When automation makes sense: Teams needing shared visibility. Non-technical founders uncomfortable with Ads Manager interfaces. Stores running multiple ad accounts across platforms. Time savings justifying monthly tool cost.
Frequently asked questions
Do I really need to check metrics daily?
Daily 3-minute checks catch problems within 24 hours. Weekly checks mean issues persist 7 days before detection—potentially thousands wasted on broken campaigns. But daily is minimum for stores spending $1,500+ monthly. Stores spending under $500 monthly can check 3-4 times weekly. Stores under $200 monthly can check weekly.
What if ROAS fluctuates daily—how do I know what’s normal?
Establish baseline over 2-4 weeks. If normal range is 3.8-4.6 ROAS, daily variation within that range is noise. Drop to 2.9 is signal requiring investigation. Think in ranges, not exact numbers. Three consecutive days outside normal range indicates trend worth investigating.
Should I check Google Ads and Meta separately or together?
Check both, but separately. Different platforms have different performance norms. Google Ads might consistently deliver 4.5 ROAS while Meta delivers 3.8 ROAS—both can be good for different reasons (search intent versus discovery). Don’t expect identical performance. Evaluate each against its own baseline and targets.
What if I notice a problem but don’t know how to fix it?
Document the problem first: which metric is wrong, by how much, since when. Then research: check platform support docs, search for similar issues, review recent changes you made. Many common problems have documented solutions. For complex issues, hire ads specialist for 2-4 hours troubleshooting—usually worth investment to fix campaigns losing money daily.
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