Why use Ads Explorer?
The Ads Explorer report is a powerful tool designed to optimize your Meta ad campaign management. It offers advanced capabilities that can significantly improve how you manage Meta ad campaigns ⚡️
One of its key features is the ability to set advanced metric conditions similar to Birch's automated rules. This allows for precise threshold settings and automated monitoring, ensuring you can take corrective action before performance declines.
You’ll also gain instant access to insightful, preconfigured reports — such as Last Week’s Top Ads, Fatigued Ads, Best Video Ads, and Downtrending Ads — which save your time by eliminating the need for manual analysis.
Integration with Automated rules: you will be able to quickly create a rule based on the Individual Ads reports data by simply clicking New Rule button. Apart from that, when creating a rule on the Ads level, the option of previewing matching ads will also be available to you!
Preset reports: a quick start to your campaign insights
Preset reports are automatically created when you first connect an ad account. They offer instant value and insights, serving as a perfect starting point for monitoring your campaigns without needing any manual setup.
These reports are pre-configured by Birch, using data from the connected ad account with the highest spend. Once you click on the preset report, you will see the default conditions and filters applied, e.g. here are the settings for Last Week’s Top Ads:
Preset reports cannot be modified or deleted. To customize a preset report, please save it as a new report, make necessary changes, and then click save and apply:
Presets are removed when all ad accounts are disconnected and will be recreated once an ad account is reconnected. Please review the key preset reports below:
🏆 Last Week’s Top Ads
This report highlights the top-performing ads from the previous week by analyzing metrics like Website Purchase Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) and Click-Through Rate (CTR). It focuses on ads from active campaigns that meet specific performance criteria, providing a quick overview of what’s working well.
📺 Best Video Ads
This report is tailored for tracking video ad performance, focusing on key metrics such as CTR (Click-Through Rate), Hook Rate, Hold Rate, and Conversion Rate. It helps you identify which video ads are resonating most with your audience.
🔥 Fatigued Ads
This report identifies ads experiencing fatigue by analyzing performance drops. Metrics such as increased frequency, decreased CTR, and lower conversion rates help pinpoint underperforming ads, enabling timely adjustments.
📉 Downtrend
The Downtrend report tracks ads showing consistent performance declines over the last 14 days. It focuses on metrics like Website Purchase ROAS and Conversion Rate, giving you an early warning system to address issues before they escalate.
Creating custom reports
Creating a custom report in Ads Explorer is straightforward. Click on + New report, you will see 3 options:
Individual ads - Analyze performance at the individual ad level.
Top assets - Analyze and compare performance across ads using the same creative or post ID.
Ad groups - Group ads based on shared attributes for a structured performance analysis.
Individual ads 🖼️
1. Select Individual ads: A form with default settings will appear, featuring a 14-day timeframe, the highest spend ad account, and basic Spend metric.
2. Customize your report: You can select multiple ad accounts (up to 5), set filters, adjust the metrics (up to 10), and choose from Meta's list of available metrics, including custom metrics (as well as based on Google Sheets), and metrics from Hyros and Wicked reports.
3. Select timeframe and metrics in the table: You can select a single timeframe for the report or compare it with another time period. The list of available timeframes is the same as in Automated Rules. Note: Custom timeframes are not available.
In the metrics, there is a checkbox Include metrics from the conditions (activated by default)
If checkbox is enabled: All metrics from complex condition will be automatically added to the report. You cannot delete or change them to another metric in the table.
If checkbox is disabled: Metrics from complex condition aren’t included in the report, only the ones you selected.
6. Set your report to be updated on a schedule:
and enable the Update report on schedule option:
5. Configure attribution settings: Adjust your attribution settings to ensure they align with your reporting goals. Go to the Settings:
and set the attribution window that you want to be used for performance reporting:
6. Review your results: Once clicking on "Generate report" button, the report will generate in table view, displaying ad previews, ad elements (ad name, primary text, headline, description, landing page, CTA), links to Ads Manager, creative types, selected metrics, and performance data for up to two periods.
Top assets 🎨
Group and compare ads based on creatives or post IDs. This report aggregates metrics across all ads using the same asset, helping you identify your top-performing creatives and spot fatigue. It’s perfect for optimizing your creative strategy by showing which visuals or videos resonate best across campaigns and audiences.
Ad groups 🖼️🖼️🖼️
Group ads by shared criteria like naming conventions, campaign objectives, or statuses. This report offers aggregated group-level metrics alongside detailed ad insights, allowing you to compare performance across different strategies or themes for a structured analysis.
Watch this video to see how grouping works and explore a real use case:
Integration with Automated rules
Based on Individual ads report you can easily create a new rule on Ad level with just a click. The ad accounts, filters, conditions will be carried over from the report. Once the rule is created, you can adjust its settings and set it live.
Additionally, when setting up rules on the ad level, you'll have the option to preview matching ads before activating the rule by clicking on Check matching ads button, giving you more control and flexibility without immediately going live. A new Individual ads Ads Explorer report will be created, automatically populating the form with the filters and metric conditions from the rule.
Saving, editing, and applying settings
Reports can be saved and edited with customizable settings, including metrics, conditions, and filters. If you modify a preset report, the system will prompt you to duplicate it for further customization. After making changes, the “Save and Apply” function ensures that both your settings and the latest data are processed.
To prevent accidental data loss, a warning will appear if you try to leave a report with unsaved changes, ensuring a smooth and error-free workflow.
To initiate an update of your report data, just click Save and Apply or Refresh button.
When ad accounts are disconnected, the associated reports are removed until a new connection is established. Preset reports are automatically regenerated upon reconnection of an account, ensuring continuous monitoring.
Summary
By leveraging Ads Explorer’s advanced metric conditions and preconfigured reports, you can take a proactive approach to managing your ad campaigns. This not only helps you optimize your strategies but also saves you time by eliminating the need for manual data analysis.
Try out this feature and let us know your thoughts! For any questions or feedback, feel free to reach out via the chat bubble or email us at support@bir.ch. We look forward to hearing from you!