Advertising
See what Meta Ads really cost you
MerchantFlow pulls daily Facebook and Instagram ad spend and performance into your profit view, so you can see ROAS and MER net of every other cost.
Meta reports the ROAS it can see, which is revenue attributed to an ad divided by the spend behind it. That number knows nothing about what the product cost you, what the payment processor took, what shipping cost to fulfil, or what came back as a refund three weeks later.
A campaign at 3x ROAS can be comfortably profitable or quietly losing money depending entirely on the margin of what it sold. Without cost data alongside the spend, there is no way to tell which.
MerchantFlow pulls daily Meta spend and performance in at the campaign, ad set, and ad level, then sets it against the orders it helped produce and every cost attached to them. The result is a return figure measured on profit rather than gross revenue.
What it syncs
Daily ad spend by campaign, ad set, and ad
Impressions, clicks, CTR, and CPC
Attributed conversions and revenue, where available
Account and campaign structure
Multiple ad accounts under one login
Currency and account-level spend settings
Campaign objective and delivery status
What you get
Blended and per-channel ROAS
Return on ad spend measured against profit, so Meta is compared to other channels on the same basis.
Spend inside your P&L
Meta spend sits in your profit and loss as a real cost line, not in a separate advertising dashboard.
Campaign-level profitability
See which campaigns are genuinely contributing once product cost and fees are counted against them.
Break-even ROAS you can act on
Know the ROAS each product actually needs to clear, based on its own margin rather than a single blended target.
Multiple ad accounts in one view
Run several Meta ad accounts across brands or regions and see them combined or separately.
What this unlocks
Profit-based ROAS
Return measured against contribution margin rather than gross revenue, so a high-revenue low-margin campaign stops looking like a winner.
Blended MER
Total marketing spend against total revenue, the number that tells you whether the whole media mix is working.
Break-even ROAS per product
The threshold each SKU has to clear before a campaign selling it makes money.
Customer acquisition cost by cohort
What it actually cost to acquire the customers who arrived in a given period, and what they were worth afterwards.
Connection details
| Detail | What to expect |
|---|---|
| Connection method | OAuth through Meta. No access tokens to copy by hand |
| Access level | Read-only. MerchantFlow cannot create, pause, or edit campaigns |
| Granularity | Campaign, ad set, and ad level, by day |
| Platforms covered | Facebook and Instagram placements under the same ad account |
| Multiple accounts | Supported. Connect several ad accounts under one login |
| Currency | Account currency normalised to your reporting currency |
How it connects
Connect with OAuth
Authorize MerchantFlow to read your Meta Ads account. No tokens to copy by hand.
Pick your ad account
Choose the ad account tied to your store.
Spend syncs daily
MerchantFlow keeps ad spend and performance current every day.
How teams use it
The common trap is scaling the campaign with the best in-platform ROAS. That figure ranks campaigns by revenue, so it systematically favours whatever sells your cheapest, highest-turnover products, which are often the ones carrying the least margin.
- Compare campaigns on contribution margin rather than reported ROAS, and the ranking frequently reorders.
- Check which products each campaign actually sold, then look at their individual break-even ROAS.
- Watch for campaigns driving high refund or return rates, where reported revenue overstates what was kept.
- Use blended MER as the guard rail when campaign-level attribution disagrees between platforms.
Good to know
Platform-reported attribution is not the last word
Meta attributes conversions using its own model and windows, and recent spend can look under-attributed until Meta finalises it. MerchantFlow shows what Meta reports alongside your own order data, so you can see where the two disagree rather than trusting either blindly.
Ad platforms double-count each other
If Meta and Google both claim the same order, their reported revenue adds up to more than you actually made. This is why blended MER matters as a sanity check on per-channel ROAS.
Profit needs COGS to be set
Spend syncs automatically, but profit-based ROAS depends on cost of goods being populated for the products your ads sell. Without it, MerchantFlow shows the gap rather than guessing at a margin.
Common questions
Frequently asked questions
Does it include both Facebook and Instagram?
Yes. Meta Ads covers Facebook and Instagram placements within the same connected ad account.
Can I see ROAS net of product costs?
Yes. Because MerchantFlow knows your COGS and fees, it shows profitability after costs, not just platform-reported ROAS.
Is the connection read-only?
Yes. MerchantFlow reads spend and performance data only. It cannot change your campaigns or budgets.
Can I connect more than one ad account?
Yes. Several Meta ad accounts can be connected under one login and reported on together or separately, which is useful if you split accounts by brand, region, or agency.
How often does spend update?
Spend syncs automatically on a recurring schedule through the day, and you can trigger a manual sync at any time. Recent days are re-checked on later syncs so figures settle as Meta finalises them.
Why does MerchantFlow show a different ROAS to Meta?
Meta measures revenue it attributes to an ad. MerchantFlow measures profit against your real orders after product cost, fees, shipping, and refunds. The two answer different questions, and seeing both is the point.
Does it work with agency-managed accounts?
Yes, as long as the login you connect with has access to the ad account. Agencies can connect client accounts and report on them individually.
What happens to spend from before I connected?
Historical spend is backfilled when you connect, so past periods are comparable rather than starting from zero on the day you signed up.
