Creative Performance Guide: 15 Metrics & Tools for Success

Creative performance shows which ads stop the scrolling, spark interest, and get people to act, which is why it’s often considered the single biggest driver of campaign results. For example, Meta’s research finds that Nielsen says creatives drive 56% of campaign sales, while Google says creatives are responsible for up to 70% of a campaign’s success.

In this article, we’ll cover: 

• What creative performance is and why it matters
• 15 performance metrics for your ad creative
• How to use metrics to improve your creatives
• Tools for measuring your creative performance

Let’s start by talking about what creative performance is.

What is creative performance?

Before we talk about creative performance, let’s first define what a creative is in advertising. Basically, it’s any visual or written content like images, videos, or copy that’s used to deliver a message and get people to take action.

Thus, creative performance is how you measure the effectiveness of your visual and written assets in a marketing campaign. It doesn’t only consider whether a creative looks good, it looks at whether it drives action. When someone sees your ad, do they stop scrolling? Do they click? Do they convert? Creative performance helps answer those questions by tying your content directly to real results.

Here’s what it typically includes:

• Ads: These are the paid assets that run across platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Google.
  
  
• Video: This includes everything from short-form Reels and Stories to longer branded content.
  
  
• User-generated content (UGC): This is content created by real customers or creators, often shot on a phone, that feels more authentic and relatable than traditional brand ads. UGC has become a go-to format for performance marketers because it builds trust quickly and tends to drive strong engagement and conversions.
  
  
• Static images: These include product shots, lifestyle graphics, or promotional visuals used in campaigns. When a company puts out polished examples of creative work like a clean product flat lay or a well-branded announcement graphic, these still images often act as quick attention-grabbers that support the overall message.
  
  
• Landing page visuals: These are the banners, illustrations, and layouts that support your messaging after a click.
  
  
• Ad copy: This includes the headlines, descriptions, and calls-to-action that guide the audience toward your goal.

When creative works well, it supports key marketing outcomes like:

• Attention capture: This means grabbing eyes in a busy feed or competitive space.
  
  
• Message clarity: This is about communicating your value proposition quickly and clearly, so people immediately understand what you’re offering.
  
  
• Emotional resonance: This refers to connecting with viewers on a deeper level, which helps build trust and interest that can lead to stronger campaign results.
  
  
• Conversion-driving design: This is about leading people to take action, whether that’s clicking, buying, or signing up. It’s a core goal of any performance-based advertising strategy.

The evolution of creative performance marketing

Creatives used to focus mainly on brand consistency — polished visuals, catchy taglines, and one hero asset pushed across every channel. But today’s digital ad world moves too fast for that approach to hold up everywhere. More and more, teams are building multiple versions of ads, running A/B tests, and using performance data to decide what gets scaled and what gets cut.

This reflects a growing mindset: creative isn’t just a finishing touch, it’s a real driver of growth. That said, how deeply teams adopt this approach can vary depending on resources, goals, and the pace of their industry.

This shift is what gave rise to the performance marketing creative, an ad asset designed from the start to drive clicks, conversions, and engagement. Instead of being built just for brand alignment, these creatives are structured for A/B testing, backed by KPIs, and often informed by AI tools. 

It’s now the norm to collaborate across design, media buying, and strategy. Plus, authentic content like UGC has taken off, and AI ad generation is helping marketers scale creative ideas faster than ever.

Why creative performance matters

Creative is often the first thing people notice in a campaign and the biggest reason they engage (or don’t). You can have great targeting and a solid media plan, but if the visuals and messaging fall flat, your ad performance suffers.

Tracking creative performance is a form of digital intelligence that gives you the info you need to make informed decisions. Instead of relying on surface-level metrics or instinct, you can dig into results that actually connect to outcomes, like which videos keep people engaged, which images lead to clicks, and which messages drive conversions.

Creative analytics also help you spot fatigue early, refresh content before results dip, and continuously improve your campaigns. In short, it’s how you go from “pretty good” to “actually working.”

15 creative performance metrics every marketer needs

To understand if your creative is actually helping your campaign, you need to look at the numbers. Whether you're running brand campaigns or performance ads, these are the signals worth watching:

1. Click-through rate (CTR)

CTR shows how often people who see your ad end up clicking on it. It’s one of the simplest ways to measure how compelling your creative is because if people aren’t clicking, it’s likely not catching their attention.

For example, if a performance creative agency swaps in brighter colors and clearer CTAs and sees CTR rise from 1.2% to 3.5%, that’s a sign the changes worked. Looking at creative insight examples like this helps you figure out which visuals or messages are doing the heavy lifting.

2. Conversion rate

The conversion rate tells you how many people take action after engaging with your ad. These actions can be signing up, making a purchase, or booking a call, and more. 

If your creative is clear and persuasive, it helps reduce drop-off and nudges people to that next step. For example, updating the CTA copy from “Learn More” to “Get Your Free Trial” can boost conversions just by making the offer more specific.

3. Cost per click (CPC)

CPC shows how much you’re paying each time someone clicks on your ad. When your creative resonates with the right audience, platforms like Meta or Google tend to reward it with lower costs. A short lifestyle video that feels native to the platform will often bring down CPC compared to a generic, over-produced ad.

4. Return on ad spend (ROAS)

ROAS measures how much revenue your ads bring in for every dollar spent. If the creative makes the offer easy to understand and visually compelling, it usually leads to stronger returns. For example, swapping in product demos instead of still images can help people see the value faster, which may boost ROAS without you needing to change the offer itself.

5. Engagement rate

Engagement rate includes actions like likes, comments, shares, and saves. While it doesn’t always signal intent to buy, high engagement is usually a sign that your creative is making an impression. If you want to increase your engagement, you can consider adding a simple text overlay that adds humor or emotion. This can make static images feel more relatable and get people to interact instead of scrolling past.

6. Bounce rate

Bounce rate measures how often people land on your page and leave without doing anything. If your ad promises one thing and the landing page delivers something else, people won’t stick around. Updating page visuals to match the ad’s style and message can help reduce this rate and keep visitors engaged.

7. Video completion rate (VCR)

VCR tells you how many people watch your video ad all the way through. If they drop off early, the intro might be too slow or confusing. Video creatives that open with action or a strong hook tend to hold attention longer and improve completion rates.

8. Time on page

Time on page shows how long people stay on a landing page or site after clicking your ad. It’s a good sign that your creative and content are aligned. For example, a product landing page that includes explainer animations or scroll-triggered visuals can hold attention longer and build interest.

9. Brand lift (awareness and recall)

Brand lift metrics help you understand whether people remember your ad, recognize your brand, or feel more positively toward it. Using a creative that tells a clear story or uses consistent brand elements like colors or taglines can help improve your performance in this metric.

10. Social shares and virality

Shares are a sign that your creative hit a nerve (in a good way). People don’t share boring ads. Choose a creative that taps into humor, strong opinions, or relatable moments since it’s more likely to go viral and pick up traction without extra ad spend.

11. Cost per acquisition (CPA)

CPA tracks how much it costs to convert someone, whether into a lead, a signup, or a purchase. When creative speaks directly to the target audience and answers their biggest question or objection, it’s likely you’ll see your CPA go down.

12. Ad frequency and fatigue

Frequency shows how often people see the same ad, while fatigue kicks in when performance drops because people have seen it too much. Keeping an eye on these numbers can tell you when it’s time to rotate in fresh creative or test new angles. Create variations of your ads and keep them ready to go whenever your ads need a refresh.

13. Viewability rate

Viewability rate measures whether your ad actually appeared on-screen long enough to be seen. If your ad is visually bland or doesn’t load well, people might scroll past it before it even registers. Using punchy visuals or motion can help you improve this rate.

14. Customer retention metrics

Retention metrics, like repeat purchases or return visits, can also be influenced by your creative. Campaigns that reinforce value, loyalty perks, or product benefits after the first sale can help bring people back.

15. A/B test performance

When you run two versions of an ad, the performance difference tells you what creative elements matter most. Maybe the version with user-generated content performs better than the polished studio version, or maybe a headline tweak lifts conversions. These insights can help you refine your future campaigns.

How to use metrics to improve creative performance

Once you’ve got the metrics, the next step is using them to make more informed creative decisions. Here are a few ways to use this data:

• Use data tools to monitor performance: Platforms like Meta Ads Manager, Google Analytics, and third-party dashboards can help you track what’s working and what’s not.
  
  
• Benchmark your creatives: Set a baseline for key metrics like CTR, engagement, and ROAS so you can spot when something’s underperforming.
  
  
• A/B test creative elements: Try different versions of headlines, images, CTAs, and formats to see which combinations drive better results.
  
  
• Look at the big picture: Don’t rely on one metric alone, analyze performance holistically using a mix of key performance indicators like VCR, ROAS, and conversion rate.
  
  
• Personalize your messaging: Use what you learn about your audience to tailor content that speaks directly to their needs and preferences.
  
  
• Collaborate with creative strategists: Working with a performance-minded creative team can help you translate data into stronger designs.
  
  
• Spot patterns across campaigns: Look for repeated wins or misses in your creative testing and use them to guide future decisions.
  
  
• Refresh creative regularly: Keep an eye on ad fatigue and update assets based on performance trends to keep results steady.

Tools and platforms for measuring creative performance effectiveness

Tracking creative performance is way easier when you’ve got the right tools. Whether you're reviewing ad results, comparing asset performance, or building reports, these platforms can help you stay on top of what’s working and what needs a refresh. You can try:

• Bestever: Helps you figure out which ad creatives are actually doing the work. It pulls in your ad data, breaks down what visuals and messages are driving results, and shows you patterns across your top-performing content. You can spot what’s working, what’s not, and get ideas for what to try next.

• Meta Ads Manager: Great for tracking creative performance directly on Facebook and Instagram. You can view CTR, VCR, engagement, and run A/B tests to see what resonates with your audience.
  
  
• Google Ads: Offers similar insights for search and display campaigns, including asset-level reporting so you can see how different headlines, visuals, or video elements are performing.
  
  
• Motion: Focused on creative analytics for paid media teams, Motion tracks how individual assets perform over time, making it easy to identify top performers and creative fatigue.
  
  
• Pencil: Uses AI to help generate new creative variations and predict which ones are likely to perform best based on historical data.
  
  
• Supermetrics: A data connector that pulls creative performance metrics from platforms like Meta, Google, and TikTok into tools like Google Sheets, Looker Studio, or Excel for custom reporting.
  
  
• Custom dashboards: If your team uses GA4, UGC platforms, or eCommerce tools, building a custom dashboard helps you see full-funnel creative impact in one place, combining awareness, clicks, conversions, and retention.

How Bestever helps your creative performance succeed

If you want your ads to actually drive results, you need more than just basic metrics, you need to understand what’s making an impact and what might be holding things back. That’s where Bestever comes in. It gives you real insight into your creative performance so you can make faster, informed decisions that actually move the needle.

Here’s how Bestever can help: 

• Analyze your ads' effectiveness: Bestever’s Ad Analysis Dashboard gives you instant feedback on an ad's Visual Impact, Brand Alignment, Sales Orientation, and Audience Engagement. It’ll even break down each element in detail. 
  ‍
• Get suggestions to improve every frame: If an ad isn’t hitting the mark, ask Bestever to tell you what’s wrong and get instant actionable suggestions on what to do to fix it. No more guessing or wasting time — your team can start fixing those issues asap. 
  ‍
• Understand your audience: Bestever’s audience analysis tools go beyond sharing standard demographics, helping refine both targeting and messaging. You can share your website URL or integrate it with your ad manager, and it’ll quickly let you know who wants to hear more from you. 
  ‍
• Rapid asset generation: Fetch AI-generated images, stock photos, and video clips that all fit your brand voice. Then you can share the creatives with your team to make multiple ad variations faster.

• Instant feedback loop: Know immediately why an ad variant underperforms, then pivot before wasting your budget.

Want to improve creative performance without slowing down? Let our team show you how Bestever can help you work smarter, test faster, and get better results from your ads.

Schedule a free demo of Bestever now.