Things to know before starting

  1. It’s a great idea to test ROAS campaigns if you struggle to make a profit using installs or app events as your performance goal.
  2. Making this work takes time and dedication, and maybe the expected output won’t justify the time invested in making this work.
  3. Don’t expect ROAS campaigns to save your performance marketing efforts.

The requirements

  1. To run ROAS campaigns (also known as VO), you need to be certified by Meta or have a strong track record of following Meta’s policies for several weeks.
  2. You must generate at least 15 purchases with values over the last 7 days in your existing campaigns.
  3. Configure Apple’s SKAdNetwork in Meta Events Manager, adding value sets (see section “iOS considerations” for more information)

The two-event strategy

The goal is to run ROAS campaigns on Meta Ads even when users start on a free trial (no immediate revenue), while keeping reporting truthful. ROAS (Maximize value of conversions) is enabled when your conversion event is Purchase and includes the value, plus the currency parameters.

Trial → Purchase (SDK)

Follow these steps to implement the start trial event using the Meta SDK:

  1. When a user starts a free trial, map it to the StartTrial events instead of mapping it to the Purchase event.
  2. To ensure Meta gets the correct information, add these parameters to the app event postback:
  3. To get a more precise analysis, send these extra parameters:

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The reason to do this is that Meta’s ROAS learns from the value on Purchase; pLTV gives the bidder a value early, instead of waiting 7 to 30 days.

To calculate the pLTV, pick one approach and be consistent for at least 2–4 weeks before iterating. This is a straightforward alternative to get you started: