Module 20

Ad performance analysis, audiences and campaign setup

13 lessons, 72 stepsOne instruction at a time, each with the result to expect. Tick steps as you go; Helix remembers.

Outcome: you can set up audiences and campaigns the right way on Meta, Google and TikTok. You can read your results and find the real cause of a problem. It may be the ad, the page, the offer or the checkout. Then you report it so it leads to a clear choice.

In plain words

Stage: Attract (get seen by people who want what you sell). Every lesson below is tagged with its stage; see Attract, Convert, Grow.

What it is: How to set up ads correctly and read your results like a pro.

Why it matters: Good setup means you can trust the numbers. Good reading means you fix the real problem.

Do this:

Check that your pixel and sales tracking work before you spend.

Set up your campaign step by step (drawings below).

When results drop, check in order: the ad, the page, the offer, the checkout.

Words to know:

Pixel: A small piece of code on your store that tells Meta when someone views, adds to cart or buys.

UTM: Tags added to the end of a link so your analytics can tell which ad or email a visitor came from.

Attribution: Deciding which ad or channel gets credit for a sale. Meta's default counts sales within 7 days of a click or 1 day of a view.

Funnel: The steps from seeing an ad to buying: visit, add to cart, checkout, order.

All words are explained in the glossary.

Lesson 20.1: Before you launch: tracking you can trustAttract

In short

Bad data leads to bad decisions, and a broken pixel can make good ads look like failures.

Do this now

Step 1: Add the Facebook & Instagram sales channel in Shopify.

Why this matters

Bad data leads to bad decisions, and a broken pixel can make good ads look like failures. Check tracking once now, then every month. Your store's own reports are the truth; ad platforms are only for direction.

Step 1 of 110 of 11 done

Add the Facebook & Instagram sales channel in Shopify. Connect your business account, ad account, page and pixel (see Shopify: Facebook and Instagram).

Expected result

The sales channel shows all four connected.

Tips

Open: Shopify: Facebook and Instagram
Want to click along? Use the campaign builder.
Shortcut: Connect Meta to Helix.

Pixel: A small piece of code on your store that tells Meta when someone views, adds to cart or buys.

Lesson 20.2: Setting up target audiencesAttract

In short

Audiences tell each platform who already knows you.

Do this now

Step 1: On Meta, set audience groups for the whole account in Advertising settings > Audience segments (under All tools ).

Why this matters

Audiences tell each platform who already knows you. Then cold campaigns find new people and warm campaigns reach the right ones. Set them up once on Meta, Google and TikTok, then reuse them in every campaign.

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On Meta, set audience groups for the whole account in Advertising settings > Audience segments (under All tools). Add your engaged audience (visitors and social engagers) and existing customers (customer list or store link).

Expected result

Reports show how much spend reaches brand-new people.

Tips

Want to click along? Use the campaign builder.

Good to know

Layer	Who	Example targeting
Cold	Never interacted with you	Broad, with harsh or light exclusions
Mixed	Anyone; the platform decides	Advantage+ sales campaign, with spend on existing customers watched in the Audience segments breakdown (Meta announced in 2025 it is retiring its old past-customer spend cap, so check Ads Manager)
Warm	Engaged but not bought	Visitors (180 days), engagers, video viewers, leaving out buyers
Hot	Close to buying	Added to cart (14 days), started checkout (7 days), leaving out buyers from the last 7 days
Existing customers	Bought before	Buyers, for launches and products people reorder

Lesson 20.3: Setting up a Meta sales campaign step by stepAttract

In short

Set up each Meta sales campaign the same careful way.

Do this now

Step 1: Write the campaign brief first (Lesson 6.16).

Why this matters

Set up each Meta sales campaign the same careful way. Then every ad gets a fair test. Helix can build Steps 2 to 8 for you as a paused draft in your own account. You check it and switch it on. New to Ads Manager? Do Lesson 7.14 first, and Lesson 7.13 for your very first ad.

Step 1 of 100 of 10 done

Write the campaign brief first (Lesson 6.16). Include target cost per purchase, who it is for, daily budget and when you will stop it.

Expected result

The brief is finished before you open Ads Manager.

Tips

Want to click along? Use the campaign builder.
There is a drawing under Good to know.

Campaign: The top level in an ad account. It holds the goal, like getting sales.
CPA: Cost per acquisition: how much ad money it took to get one sale.

Good to know

Drawing, not a real screenshot. Labels on your screen may look a little different. Official help: Meta: create a campaign in Ads Manager

Drawing, not a real screenshot. Labels on your screen may look a little different.

Lesson 20.4: Setting up Google step by stepAttract

In short

Google works best with three simple campaigns, built in this order.

Do this now

Step 1: Do Lesson 8.1 first. The Shopify Google & YouTube app must be connected, with Purchase as your main conversion.

Why this matters

Google works best with three simple campaigns, built in this order. First brand search: your ad shows when people search your store's name. Then Performance Max fed by your product list, which shows your products across Shopping, Search, YouTube and Gmail. Later, non-brand search for the words that sell. Helix does not connect to Google Ads yet, so you build these yourself. For your very first campaign, Lesson 8.12 has the full beginner walk-through, including creating the account.

Step 1 of 110 of 11 done

Do Lesson 8.1 first. The Shopify Google & YouTube app must be connected, with Purchase as your main conversion.

Expected result

In Google Ads, Goals > Conversions > Summary shows Purchase as Primary and "Recording conversions".

Tips

There is a drawing under Good to know.

Good to know

Words you will see: Merchant Center is where Google keeps your product list (the feed). A keyword is a search you want to show up for. Match type controls how closely a search must match: exact (that search or very close) and phrase (searches containing it). ROAS is sales divided by ad spend.

Drawing, not a real screenshot. Labels on your screen may look a little different. Official help: Google: about Performance Max campaigns

Drawing, not a real screenshot. Labels on your screen may look a little different. Official help: Google: add negative keywords

Lesson 20.5: Setting up a TikTok campaign step by stepAttract

In short

TikTok campaigns work like Meta with a few differences.

Do this now

Step 1: Create a campaign with the Sales objective and Website as the destination.

Why this matters

TikTok campaigns work like Meta with a few differences. The purchase event has a different name, learning is jumpier, and sales often show up under other channels.

Step 1 of 40 of 4 done

Create a campaign with the Sales objective and Website as the destination. Pick the pixel event Purchase.

Expected result

The campaign optimises for purchases. Older accounts may show the event as Complete payment (see TikTok: Sales objective).

Tips

Open: TikTok: Sales objective
Want to click along? Use the campaign builder.

Campaign: The top level in an ad account. It holds the goal, like getting sales.
Pixel: A small piece of code on your store that tells Meta when someone views, adds to cart or buys.

Good to know

Which TikTok goal to use when:

Goal	Use it when	Judge it by
Purchase (once called Complete payment)	You get enough sales for TikTok to learn, about 50 a week	Cost per sale and store MER
Add to cart	Sales are too few for TikTok to learn yet. Move to purchase in a new ad group once sales build	Cost per add to cart and store MER
Video views (6-second focused view)	You want cheap attention to retarget later	Cost per focused view, then sales from retargeting
Traffic or view content	Only to fill audiences for retargeting	Cost per visit, never as your main sales campaign

Send value and currency with your purchase and add-to-cart events, so TikTok knows what each sale is worth.

Lesson 20.6: The metric treeAttract

In short

Sales from ads come from a chain of steps.

Do this now

Step 1: Read the metric tree below from top to bottom and write your current number next to each step.

Why this matters

Sales from ads come from a chain of steps. It runs from showing the ad to the size of the order. Improve one link and everything below it moves, so finding the weak link is the fastest win.

Step 1 of 20 of 2 done

Read the metric tree below from top to bottom and write your current number next to each step.

Expected result

You have a number for CPM, CTR, cost per click and landing page view rate. You also have add to cart rate, checkout rate, purchase rate and AOV.

Tips

Shortcut: Open your key metrics.

CPM: Cost to show your ad 1,000 times.
CTR: Click-through rate: out of every 100 people who saw your ad, how many clicked.
Landing page: The page someone lands on after clicking an ad.
Add to cart rate: Out of every 100 visits, how many add something to the cart.
AOV: Average order value: total sales divided by number of orders.

Good to know

Spend
 └─ CPM (cost to show the ad 1,000 times)
     └─ CTR (out of 100 who see it, how many click)   ← the ad and its message
         └─ Cost per click
             └─ Landing page view rate                  ← page speed, tracking
                 └─ Add to cart rate                     ← product page, offer, price
                     └─ Checkout rate                    ← shipping cost, trust, payment options
                         └─ Purchase rate
                             └─ AOV (average order)      ← bundles, free shipping amount, upsells

Lesson 20.7: Cross-diagnosis: is it the ad, the page, the offer or the checkout?Attract

In short

When results drop, the cause can be the ad, the page, the offer or the checkout.

Do this now

Step 1: Open What to fix in Helix to see which patterns it has found in your numbers.

Why this matters

When results drop, the cause can be the ad, the page, the offer or the checkout. This table maps each pattern of numbers to its likely cause and fix. Helix runs the same rules for you in What to fix.

Step 1 of 30 of 3 done

Open What to fix in Helix to see which patterns it has found in your numbers.

Expected result

You see any matching insights with evidence.

Tips

Shortcut: See what Helix found.

Good to know

What you see	Likely cause	What to check and fix
Good hook rate and CTR, but few visitors buy	The landing page or offer	Mobile page speed. Does the page match the ad? Is the offer clear at the top? Trust (reviews, guarantee). Mobile checkout.
Lots of add to carts, but few finish checkout	Something in checkout puts people off	Surprise shipping cost, a slow or long checkout, missing payment options (express wallets, buy now pay later), forced account sign-up, unclear delivery time.
Visitors from other channels buy well, but ads get few clicks	The ad itself	New hooks, new angles, new formats. Check the offer is in the ad.
Low hook rate, but OK CTR from people who watch	The first seconds	Re-cut the first 3 seconds. Test new visual and spoken hooks.
Good hook rate, low hold rate	The middle of the video	Tighten the middle, show the product sooner, add proof.
Frequency and CPM rising, CTR falling	People are tired of the ads, or the audience is used up	Launch a new batch of ads. Go broader. Check reach grows with spend.
CPM jumps across all campaigns	The season, or more advertisers competing	Expect it in busy periods. Protect your margin and lean on email and SMS.
Platform ROAS looks fine, but MER is getting worse	Platforms taking credit for sales they did not cause, often retargeting	Move budget to cold, check the share of new customers, run a holdout test (Lesson 20.9).
Plenty of clicks, few landing page views	A slow page or broken tracking	Test page speed. Check the pixel fires when the page loads.
Good conversion, small orders	Missing ways to raise order value	Free shipping amount, bundles, a free gift, an offer after purchase.
Lots of views, few clicks	Weak call to action, or the wrong people	A clear call to action, the offer in the ad, a hook that attracts buyers not browsers.
Lots of refunds after a campaign	The ad promised too much	Make claims match reality. Improve size or fit guidance.

Lesson 20.8: Breakdowns that reveal problemsAttract

In short

Breakdowns split your results by group in Ads Manager and reveal problems hidden in averages.

Do this now

Step 1: In Ads Manager, click Breakdown > By delivery > Placement .

Why this matters

Breakdowns split your results by group in Ads Manager and reveal problems hidden in averages. Look at them weekly, not daily.

Step 1 of 40 of 4 done

In Ads Manager, click Breakdown > By delivery > Placement. Check if one placement (like Audience Network) spends a lot at a high cost per sale.

Expected result

You know your best and worst placements.

Tips

Want to click along? Use the campaign builder.

CPA: Cost per acquisition: how much ad money it took to get one sale.

Lesson 20.9: Attribution and incrementalityAttract

In short

Every platform claims credit for the same sale.

Do this now

Step 1: Use MER (total ad spend divided by total store sales) as your first number.

Why this matters

Every platform claims credit for the same sale. Incrementality means sales that would not have happened without the ad. Five rules keep you honest.

Step 1 of 50 of 5 done

Use MER (total ad spend divided by total store sales) as your first number.

Expected result

You judge ads by the store's real sales.

Tips

Shortcut: Open your growth dashboard.

MER: Helix shows it as all ad spend divided by all sales, as a percentage. MER 25% means $25 of ads for every $100 of sales. Many tools flip it to sales divided by ad spend, so 25% shows as 4x.

Lesson 20.10: Your analysis rhythmGrow

In short

Keep a fixed rhythm of daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly checks.

Do this now

Step 1: Put the daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly checks from the table below into your calendar.

Why this matters

Keep a fixed rhythm of daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly checks. Then nothing is missed or checked too often.

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Put the daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly checks from the table below into your calendar.

Expected result

Each check has a recurring slot.

Tips

Shortcut: Add it to your calendar.

Good to know

When	Time	What to do
Daily	10 minutes	Read your scorecard (MER, contribution profit). Stop money-wasting ads. Give more to winners. Check spend is on pace.
Weekly	45 minutes	Ad report (hook rate, hold rate, CTR and cost per sale by idea), breakdowns, search terms, brief the next batch.
Monthly	2 hours	MER and contribution profit against target, share of new customers, channel mix, test results, next month's plan.
Every 3 months	Half a day	A holdout test, a review of your account setup, and the budget plan for the next busy season.

Lesson 20.11: Reporting that leads to decisionsGrow

In short

A report is only useful if it leads to a decision.

Do this now

Step 1: Start each report with what happened.

Why this matters

A report is only useful if it leads to a decision. Four questions do that; dashboards with 40 numbers do not.

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Start each report with what happened. Show sales, contribution profit and MER (total ad spend as a share of total sales) against target.

Expected result

Three numbers open every report.

Tips

Shortcut: Open your growth dashboard.

Profit: Usually means contribution profit: what is left from sales after product cost, shipping, payment fees, discounts, refunds and ads. Net profit also takes off fixed costs.
MER: Helix shows it as all ad spend divided by all sales, as a percentage. MER 25% means $25 of ads for every $100 of sales. Many tools flip it to sales divided by ad spend, so 25% shows as 4x.

Lesson 20.12: Common analysis mistakesAttract

In short

Most analysis mistakes come from judging too soon or comparing the wrong things.

Do this now

Step 1: Never judge an ad after one day or $10 of spend.

Why this matters

Most analysis mistakes come from judging too soon or comparing the wrong things. Checking for these four saves money.

Step 1 of 40 of 4 done

Never judge an ad after one day or $10 of spend.

Expected result

Every ad gets its full test spend first.

Lesson 20.13: Read Google Analytics in 15 minutesAttract

In short

Your store reports say what sold.

Do this now

Step 1: Check GA4 is connected (Lesson 8.1).

Why this matters

Your store reports say what sold. Google Analytics 4 (GA4, Google's free website report tool) shows where visitors came from and where they left. That tells you which channel to grow and which page to fix.

Step 1 of 60 of 6 done

Check GA4 is connected (Lesson 8.1). Open GA4 and go to Reports > Life cycle > Acquisition > Traffic acquisition.

Expected result

A table of visits and sales by channel, like paid social, organic search and email.

Tips

Organic: Unpaid: posts, search results and word of mouth that you do not pay to show.

Self-check

Hook rate 35%, CTR 1.6%, conversion rate 0.6%. Where is the problem?
Your add to cart rate is double normal, but few people check out. What three things do you check first?
Platform ROAS is stable but MER is rising. What might be happening?
Why start Google Performance Max as feed-only, with your brand excluded?
Name four custom audiences to build on day one.

Answers

The ad works. The page or offer does not. Check speed, whether the page matches the ad, how clear the offer is, trust signs and mobile checkout.
Surprise shipping cost, checkout steps and payment options, and forced account sign-up.
Retargeting or double-counting is taking credit while fewer new customers arrive. Move budget to cold, check the share of new customers, and run a holdout test.
It behaves like Shopping (clearer data), and it stops Performance Max claiming cheap brand searches as its own wins.
Any four of: visitors (30 and 180 days), product viewers, add to cart and started checkout. Or buyers, engagers, video viewers and email list.

Words to know in this module

Campaign: The top level in an ad account. It holds the goal, like getting sales.
Pixel: A small piece of code on your store that tells Meta when someone views, adds to cart or buys.
UTM: Tags added to the end of a link so your analytics can tell which ad or email a visitor came from.
Attribution: Deciding which ad or channel gets credit for a sale. Meta's default counts sales within 7 days of a click or 1 day of a view.
Funnel: The steps from seeing an ad to buying: visit, add to cart, checkout, order.
Server events: Sales sent to Meta straight from your store's server, so fewer sales go untracked.
Domain: Your store's web address, like yourbrand.com.
Test order: A pretend order you place yourself to check payments, emails and tracking work.
Custom audience: A list Meta builds from your own data, like site visitors or customers.
Lookalike: People Meta thinks are similar to a list you give it, like your best customers.
Ad set: The middle level in Meta. It holds who sees the ads, where, and often the budget.
PMax: A Google campaign type that shows your products across Search, Shopping, YouTube and more from one campaign.
Negative keyword: A word you tell Google never to show your ads for, to stop wasted clicks.
Partnership ad: An ad that uses a creator's post or handle, so people see their name with yours. TikTok calls these Spark Ads.

All words to know