In a post-iOS14 world, we’re seeing inaccuracies with in-platform numbers on FB.

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With some of our accounts that are handling larger levels of spend, the discrepancy between in-platform numbers and the real thing needs to be addressed. 

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The truth is that Facebook knows that their attribution isn’t showing the entire picture and advertisers have been facing inaccurate reporting since the iOS14 update.

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They are working on their end to improve attribution and I believe that in the next few years, we will see more massive changes to the Facebook Ads platform.

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With this in mind, Facebook has recommended that advertisers use third-party attribution tools in order to allocate budget more effectively.

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MER means Marketing Efficiency Ratio and it’s a formula.

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Overall revenue / All marketing spend = MER

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MER helps to indicate how much it costs on average to achieve a sale.

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You can also express MER as a percentage of revenue spent on ads.

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For example, if your MER is 2%, then it may be a sign that you have room to invest more in marketing.

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Businesses in the process of scaling will typically set up a MER goal that they want to hit and increase marketing spend as long as MER doesn’t breach the agreed level.

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Typically more established companies that have already found their place in the market will have better MER than early stage brands that need to invest a lot more of their revenue into marketing in order to grow.

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With Facebook’s current attribution being exposed to conversion data-dumps and such inaccuracy, especially over shorter time-frames, it’s more important than ever to monitor blended numbers and use third-party attribution tools like TripleWhale.

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Hope this helps.