Welcome to Meta Ads Intelligence

Getting Started 5 min read

Meta Ads Intelligence is a performance marketing intelligence platform built for D2C brands running Meta ads. It fuses your Meta Ads data with Shopify order data to give you a single source of truth — your real Blended MER.

💡 The core insight Meta's reported ROAS is consistently 40–100% higher than actual marketing efficiency. Blended MER (Total Shopify Revenue ÷ Total Ad Spend) is the only metric that can't be gamed by attribution windows.

What you can do with Meta Ads Intelligence

See your real Blended MER — not Meta's attributed ROAS
Analyze creative performance — hook rate, hold rate, thumbstop rate per ad
Track product-level attribution — which campaigns drive which SKUs
Compare against Indian benchmarks — CPM ₹80, CTR 2%, Hook 30%
Take AI-recommended actions — with your explicit approval before anything executes
Understand customer cohorts — LTV, retention, RFM by acquisition source

Quick Navigation

Connect your Meta account OAuth flow, takes under 2 minutes.

Link your Shopify store One click per Meta account.

Check your Data Readiness score 8 steps per account — track your setup completeness.

View Commerce Intelligence Your first Blended MER report.

Quick Start — 5 Minutes to Your First MER

Getting Started5 min read

This guide walks you through connecting your first Meta account and seeing your Blended MER in under 5 minutes.

Step 1: Sign in

Go to https://ads.glimmio.com/login.php and sign in with your credentials. If you don't have an account, contact your workspace admin or request access.

Step 2: Create a Workspace

On first login, you'll be prompted to create a workspace. Give it a name (usually your brand or agency name). Each workspace is isolated — multiple brands can live in separate workspaces.

Step 3: Connect Meta Ads

Go to Settings → Integrations → Meta Ads and click Connect with Meta. You'll be redirected to Meta's OAuth login. Select the ad accounts you want to grant access to.

✅ What access we request We request ads_read and ads_management scopes. The ads_management scope is needed to execute actions from the Action Queue — but nothing ever executes without your explicit approval.

Step 4: Connect Shopify (optional but recommended)

Go to Settings → Integrations → Shopify and enter your store domain. Each Meta ad account maps to its own Shopify store independently.

Step 5: View Commerce Intelligence

Navigate to Commerce Intelligence in the left sidebar. You'll immediately see:

Your Blended MER (Shopify Revenue ÷ Meta Spend)
Your Meta-reported ROAS for comparison
The gap between the two
Revenue trends from Shopify

⚠ First sync timing The initial Shopify sync (products, orders, customers) runs in the background. For most stores, it completes within 30–60 minutes. Large stores with 10,000+ orders may take up to 2 hours.

Key Concepts

Getting Started8 min read

Blended MER

Marketing Efficiency Ratio. The most important metric in the platform.

Blended MER = Total Shopify Revenue ÷ Total Meta Ad Spend

Unlike ROAS, MER uses your actual Shopify order data — not Meta's attribution model. It cannot be inflated by view-through attribution, click windows, or cross-device counting. A Blended MER of 2x means every rupee spent on Meta ads generated 2 rupees in Shopify revenue (across all channels).

ROAS vs MER

Factor	Meta ROAS	Blended MER
Data source	Meta's attribution model	Shopify actual orders
Attribution window	1-day view, 7-day click	None — real orders only
Cross-device	May double-count	No — real transactions
Other channels	Ignored	Included (blended)
Refunds	Not deducted	Auto-deducted
Can be gamed	Yes (by changing windows)	No

1:1 Account → Store Mapping

Each Meta ad account connects to exactly one Shopify store. This is intentional — it prevents revenue from one brand contaminating the metrics of another. If you run 3 brands from 3 Meta accounts, each account gets its own Shopify connection and its own MER calculation.

Data Readiness Score

An 8-step checklist per Meta account tracking how complete your data setup is. Steps include: Meta connected, Shopify linked, products synced, orders synced, customers synced, insights loaded, campaign-product mapped, CRO audit done. Only applicable steps count toward the score — skipping Shopify doesn't penalize you.

Action Queue

The human-in-the-loop safety system. AI recommendations appear here as "pending" actions. You review, preview, approve — then and only then does the platform execute via Meta API. Every action has rollback capability.

Connecting Meta Ads

Setup3 min read

Connect your Meta Business Manager to Meta Ads Intelligence via OAuth. Takes under 2 minutes.

Go to Settings → IntegrationsFrom your workspace dashboard, navigate to the Settings page and click the Integrations tab.

Click "Connect Meta Ads"You'll see the Meta connection card. Click the button to start the OAuth flow.

Authorize in MetaMeta's OAuth dialog opens. Log in with your Meta Business account. Select the ad accounts you want to connect.

Select ad accountsAfter authorization, you'll see a list of your Meta ad accounts. Select which ones to add to this workspace. Each account will appear in your Data Readiness panel.

What access is granted?

Scope	Purpose	Write access?
`ads_read`	Read campaign, ad set, ad, and insights data	No
`ads_management`	Execute approved actions (budget changes, status)	Only via Action Queue
`business_management`	List ad accounts in Business Manager	No

✅ Write actions require explicit approval Even though we request ads_management, the platform will never write to your Meta account without you clicking "Approve" in the Action Queue. You can also use read-only mode if you prefer.

Troubleshooting

No ad accounts shown — Make sure you have Business Manager access, not just personal ads. Check your role in Meta Business Manager.
OAuth error after redirect — Clear cookies and try again. Make sure popups are not blocked.
Missing campaigns — Campaigns created after connection take up to 1 hour to appear. Click "Sync Now" in the integration settings.

Connecting Shopify

Setup3 min read

Connect a Shopify store to a specific Meta ad account. Each connection is independent — one Meta account maps to one Shopify store.

💡 Shopify is optional You can use Meta Ads Intelligence with Meta-only data. Connecting Shopify unlocks Commerce Intelligence (Blended MER), Product Analytics, Customer Analytics, and the full revenue picture.

Connection Steps

Select a Meta accountIn the platform, select the Meta ad account you want to link a Shopify store to.

Go to Settings → Integrations → ShopifyFind the Shopify connection card for this Meta account.

Enter your store domainFormat: yourstore.myshopify.com. Don't include https://.

Authorize via Shopify OAuthYou'll be redirected to Shopify to grant access. We request read access to orders, products, and customers.

Initial sync runsProducts, orders, and customers sync in the background. Your Data Readiness score will update as each sync completes.

What we sync from Shopify

Data	Used For	Sync Frequency
Orders	Revenue, MER, true CPA, product attribution	Hourly
Products	Product Analytics, campaign-product mapping	Daily
Customers	Customer Analytics, cohort retention, LTV	Daily
Refunds	Net revenue calculation, true CPA	With orders

Commerce Intelligence

Module10 min read

Commerce Intelligence is the flagship module. It fuses Meta ad spend with Shopify revenue to give you the real picture of your marketing profitability. Requires Shopify connection.

Core Metrics

Metric	Definition	Source
Blended MER	Total Shopify Revenue ÷ Total Meta Spend	Shopify + Meta
Meta ROAS	Meta-attributed revenue ÷ spend (for comparison)	Meta only
True CPA	Total Spend ÷ Actual Shopify Orders	Shopify + Meta
Revenue	Gross Shopify revenue in date range	Shopify
Net Revenue	Gross revenue minus refunds	Shopify
AOV	Average Order Value from Shopify	Shopify
Order Count	Total Shopify orders placed	Shopify

Understanding the MER vs ROAS Gap

The MER is almost always lower than ROAS. This is normal — it reflects the reality that Meta takes more credit than it deserves. The key questions to ask:

Is the MER above 1.0? (Are you at minimum recovering ad spend in revenue?)
Is the MER trending up or down week-over-week?
When you scale spend, does MER hold or does it drop? (Signals market saturation)

⚠ MER below 1.0x If your Blended MER is below 1.0x, you're spending more on Meta ads than your total Shopify revenue in the same period. This is a critical signal requiring immediate action regardless of what Meta's ROAS shows.

Date Ranges

Commerce Intelligence supports preset date ranges (Last 7 days, 14 days, 30 days, 90 days) and custom date ranges. MER is always calculated for the selected period — comparing spend and revenue within the same window.

Creative Analytics

Module8 min read

Breaks down performance by individual ad creative. Shows which videos and images are working — and surfaces the metrics most brands have never measured before.

Video-Specific Metrics

Metric	Definition	Good Benchmark
Hook Rate	% of video viewers who watch first 3 seconds	≥ 30%
Hold Rate	% of viewers who watch 50%+ of the video	≥ 25%
Thumbstop Rate	% of users who stop scrolling at your ad	≥ 25%

Creative Fatigue Detection

The platform monitors frequency and CTR trends per creative. When a creative shows rising frequency (same users seeing it repeatedly) alongside falling CTR, it flags the creative as "fatiguing" — signalling time to refresh or rotate.

✅ How to use Creative Analytics Sort by Hook Rate to find your strongest openers. Sort by Hold Rate to find your most engaging content. The creative with the highest Hook Rate and Hold Rate is your template for new creative briefs.

Action Queue

AI & Actions8 min read

The Action Queue is Meta Ads Intelligence's human-in-the-loop safety system. Every AI recommendation must be reviewed and approved by a human before it executes. Nothing changes in your Meta account automatically.

The 5-Step Flow

AI surfaces a recommendationExample: "Increase daily budget on Campaign X by ₹500 — it has the highest MER this week and lowest CPM."

Action enters the queueThe recommendation appears in your Action Queue with full context: why it's suggested, what metrics support it, predicted impact.

You review and previewSee exactly what the action will do — old value, new value, affected campaign/ad set. Nothing executes yet.

You approve (or reject)Click Approve to execute, or Reject to dismiss. You can also edit the value before approving.

Execution + audit logThe platform calls the Meta API. A full log entry is created: timestamp, action type, old value, new value, who approved.

Rollback

Every executed action stores the previous state. If a change causes issues, click Rollback in the action log to revert to the previous setting in one click.

💡 Why this matters Unlike AI agents (ChatGPT, Claude MCP) that can execute actions immediately with full API access, our Action Queue ensures no autonomous changes happen. Your account is always under your control.

Security Overview

Security6 min read

Authentication

OAuth 2.0 for Meta — no Meta password stored by us
CSRF tokens on all state-changing requests
Session-based auth with secure, HttpOnly cookies
Workspace isolation — users can only access their workspace data

Data Security

All data encrypted at rest (AES-256)
TLS 1.2+ enforced for all connections
Client data is never shared across workspaces
Your data is never used for AI model training

Write Safety

All Meta writes require human approval in Action Queue
Read-only mode available (no writes to Meta at all)
Full audit log of every API call, approval, and change
Rollback available on every executed action

Shopify Access

We request the minimum required Shopify scopes: read_orders, read_products, read_customers. We do not request write access to Shopify.

Glossary

Reference5 min read

Term	Definition
Blended MER	Marketing Efficiency Ratio. Total Shopify Revenue ÷ Total Ad Spend. The ground-truth profitability metric that cannot be inflated by attribution models.
ROAS	Return On Ad Spend. Meta's attributed revenue ÷ spend. Subject to view-through and click-window inflation.
Hook Rate	% of video ad viewers who watch the first 3 seconds. Good benchmark: ≥ 30%.
Hold Rate	% of viewers who watch 50%+ of a video ad. Signals compelling mid-content.
Thumbstop Rate	% of users who pause scrolling at your ad in the feed.
CPM	Cost Per 1,000 Impressions. Indian D2C good benchmark: ≤ ₹80.
CPC	Cost Per Click. Indian D2C good benchmark: ≤ ₹5.
True CPA	Total Spend ÷ Actual Shopify Orders. Not Meta's claimed conversions.
AOV	Average Order Value. Shopify average transaction value.
Action Queue	Human approval gate for all AI-suggested Meta changes. Nothing executes without explicit approval.
Data Readiness	8-step onboarding checklist tracking setup completeness per Meta account.
Workspace	Isolated client environment containing Meta accounts, Shopify stores, and user permissions.
1:1 Mapping	Architecture where each Meta ad account links to exactly one Shopify store.
RFM	Recency, Frequency, Monetary — customer segmentation framework.
LTV	Lifetime Value. Predicted total revenue per customer.
Rollback	Reverting an executed Action Queue item to its previous state.

Indian D2C Benchmarks Reference

Reference

These benchmarks are calibrated for the Indian D2C market. They differ significantly from US/EU benchmarks used by most tools.

Metric	Good	Warning	Critical
Link CTR	≥ 2.0%	1.0–1.9%	< 1.0%
ROAS	≥ 3.0x	1.5–2.9x	< 1.5x
CPM	≤ ₹80	₹80–₹150	> ₹150
CPC	≤ ₹5	₹5–₹15	> ₹15
Hook Rate	≥ 30%	20–29%	< 20%
Hold Rate	≥ 25%	15–24%	< 15%
Thumbstop	≥ 25%	15–24%	< 15%
Frequency	1.0–2.5	2.5–3.5	> 3.5

Platform Architecture

Getting Started

1:1 Account → Store Mapping

Each Meta ad account is independently linked to one Shopify store. This prevents revenue contamination between brands and gives accurate per-account MER.

Multi-Workspace

Agencies and multi-brand companies can manage multiple client workspaces from one login. Each workspace is fully isolated.

Data Flow

Meta Ads APICampaign, ad set, ad, creative, audience, and insights data pulled via Graph API.

Shopify Admin APIOrders, products, customers, refunds pulled via Shopify REST/GraphQL API with cursor pagination.

Fusion EngineJoins Meta spend data with Shopify order data by date range and account-store pairing.

Intelligence Modules10 modules process fused data for anomalies, benchmarks, recommendations, cohort analysis.

Action QueueAI recommendations staged for human review before any Meta API writes.

Data Readiness

Setup

The Data Readiness panel tracks 8 steps per Meta ad account. Each step has a status: done, pending, skipped, or n/a. Skipped steps (e.g. Shopify not connected) don't penalize your score.

#	Step	Unlocks
1	Meta Account Linked	All meta-only modules
2	Shopify Store Linked	Commerce Intelligence, Product & Customer Analytics
3	Products Synced	Product Analytics, campaign-product mapping
4	Orders Synced	Revenue data, Blended MER, true CPA
5	Customers Synced	Customer Analytics, cohort retention
6	Meta Insights Loaded	Historical performance, benchmarks
7	Campaign → Product Map	Product-level attribution
8	CRO Audit	Conversion rate baseline

Workspaces

Setup

A workspace is an isolated environment for one brand or client. Each workspace has its own Meta accounts, Shopify stores, users, and data. Multiple workspaces can be managed from one login.

Creating a Workspace

Go to your account settings and click New Workspace. Give it a name, set the default currency, and invite team members. You can switch between workspaces from the top navigation bar.

Financial Command Center

Module

Daily profitability tracking from Shopify revenue and Meta spend. Shows gross revenue, ad spend, estimated COGS, refund impact, and net MER trend. All financial data comes from Shopify automatically — no manual input required.

Benchmarks Dashboard

Module

Compare your account metrics against Indian D2C benchmarks. Metrics appear in green (good), amber (warning), or red (critical) relative to calibrated Indian market thresholds. See the for all values.

Analytics & Attribution

Module

Multi-touch attribution across the customer journey. Supports first-touch, last-touch, linear, and time-decay models. Shows which Meta touchpoints contributed to Shopify conversions.

Product Analytics

Module

Which campaigns drive which SKUs. Identifies if your ads are selling high-margin vs low-margin products. Shows revenue per product, return rate per SKU, and campaign-to-product contribution mapping.

Location Analytics

Module

Geographic breakdown of ad performance and Shopify sales. State and city-level CPM, CTR, revenue concentration, and delivery success rates. Helps match geotargeting to where real revenue comes from.

Customer Analytics

Module

Shopify customer cohort analysis overlaid with Meta acquisition data. Cohort retention, repeat purchase rate, LTV by acquisition source, RFM segmentation, and churn risk flagging.

AI Safety & Approval

AI & Actions

All AI-generated recommendations go through the Action Queue. The platform uses a strict "suggest only" model — it will never autonomously change campaign settings, budgets, or targeting. Every change requires your explicit click to approve. This makes Meta Ads Intelligence categorically safer than AI agents with direct API access.

Data & Privacy

Privacy

Your Meta and Shopify data is accessed solely to power your dashboards within your workspace. It is never shared across clients, never sold, and never used to train AI models. We access only the minimum required API scopes. For full details, see our Privacy Policy.

FAQ

Reference

See our dedicated FAQ page → for all common questions organized by category.