Understanding Key Metrics
Ads Manager provides a range of metrics to help you measure performance across campaigns and your overall business.
Campaign reporting metrics
Delivery and engagement metrics
Delivery and engagement metrics show how visible your ads are and how consumers interact with them. These metrics help you understand whether your ads are reaching the right audience and capturing attention. Low engagement may indicate a need to adjust creative, targeting, or bids to improve performance.
Metric | Definition |
Impressions | The total number of times users viewed your ads. Impressions are deduplicated within a five-minute window for a given customer and store. For Sponsored Products, this represents a view of a product; for Sponsored Brands, a view of an ad unit. |
Clicks | The total number of times users clicked on your ads. Like impressions, clicks are deduplicated within a five-minute window for a given customer and store. For Sponsored Products, this represents a click on a product; for Sponsored Brands, a click within the ad unit. |
CTR (click-through rate) | The number of clicks divided by the number of impressions, indicating how often users engage with your ads after seeing them. |
Cost and efficiency metrics
Cost and efficiency metrics help you evaluate how effectively your budget is being used to drive results. These metrics are critical for understanding return on investment and for ensuring your campaigns scale efficiently. Monitoring these over time allows you to balance spend with performance outcomes.
Metric | Definition |
Average CPC (cost per click) | The average amount you're charged for each click received. |
Spend | The total amount spent on the campaign. |
ROAS (return on ad spend) | Total ad-attributed sales divided by total spend. |
Conversion and sales metrics
Conversion and sales metrics show how ad interactions translate into actual purchases. These metrics help you understand whether your campaigns are driving meaningful business outcomes, not just engagement. They're especially useful for evaluating the effectiveness of your product selection and overall campaign strategy.
Metric | Definition |
Ad Attributed Sales | Sales of relevant items from the first order placed within 14 days of a click. For Sponsored Products: only the clicked item. For Sponsored Brands: any item included in the campaign. Sales can occur at any store on DoorDash and are only attributed to one of Sponsored Products or Sponsored Brands, whichever the most recent ad interaction. |
Ad Attributed Orders | The total number of orders that include ad-attributed sales, based on the same attribution logic. |
Ad Attributed Units | The number of units sold within those attributed orders. |
Conversion rate | The number of ad-attributed orders divided by impressions, showing how often ad views lead to purchases. |
Average item price | Total ad-attributed sales divided by total ad-attributed units. |
Customer metrics (campaign-level)
Customer metrics help you understand who your campaigns are reaching and converting. These insights help you measure whether you're acquiring new consumers, re-engaging lapsed consumers, or driving repeat purchases. This is critical for evaluating incremental growth and long-term brand impact.
Metric | Definition |
New-to-brand sales (180 days, one year) | Ad-attributed sales from consumers who haven't purchased from your brand in the specified time period. |
New-to-brand % | The share of total ad-attributed sales coming from new-to-brand consumers. |
Existing-to-brand sales | Total ad attributed sales from consumers who purchased from your brand in the prior 180 days. |
Lapsed-to-brand sales | Total ad attributed sales from consumers who haven't purchased in the last 180 days but have purchased within the past year. |
New-to-category sales (1 year) | Total ad-attributed sales from consumers who hadn't bought from your category in the prior 1 year |
Existing-to-category sales | Total ad-attributed sales from consumers who bought from your category in the prior 180 days |
Lapsed-to-category sales | Total ad-attributed sales from consumers who hadn't bought from your category in the prior 180 days, but had bought from your category in the past 1 year |
Brand Halo metrics
Brand Halo metrics help you understand the full impact of your advertising beyond the product that was initially clicked. These metrics capture how campaigns drive sales across your broader product portfolio, making them critical for measuring true brand impact.
Metric | Definition |
Brand Halo Sales | Sales generated across all products (organic and sponsored) within the Brand from users who clicked an ad and completed a purchase within 14 days. |
Brand Halo Units | Number of units sold 14 days post-click across all products for the brand for the product being advertised in the campaign. |
Brand Halo Orders | All orders which contained products which were bought within 14 days of the click for the Brand for the product being advertised in campaign. |
Brand Halo ROAS | Brand Halo Attributed Sales/Ad Spend for campaign. |
Brand Halo New to Brand Sales (one year) | Brand Halo Attributed Sales from all consumers who haven't purchased from the brand in the past year or more. |
Brand Halo New to Brand Sales (180 days) | Brand Halo Attributed sales from all consumers who haven't purchased from the brand in the last 180 days or more. |
Brand Halo New to Brand % (180 days) | Brand Halo Attributed sales from all consumers who haven't purchased from the brand in the last 180 days or more. |
Brand Halo Existing to Brand Sales | Brand Halo Attributed Sales from all consumers who have made one or more purchases from the brand in the last 180 days. |
Brand Halo Lapsed to Brand Sales | Brand Halo Attributed Sales from all consumers who haven't purchased in the last 180 days but have made a purchase in the past year. |
Brand Halo New to Category Sales (one year) | Brand Halo Attributed Sales from all consumers who haven't purchased from the category in the past year or more. |
Brand Halo New to Category Sales (180 days) | Brand Halo Attributed sales from all consumers who haven't purchased from the category in the last 180 days or more. |
Brand Halo Existing to Category Sales | Brand Halo Attributed Sales from all consumers who have made one or more purchase from the category in the last 180 days. |
Brand Halo Lapsed to Category Sales | Brand Halo Attributed Sales from all consumers who haven't purchased in the last 180 days but have made a purchase from the category in the past year. |
Reporting metrics
Product sales reporting
Product sales metrics help you evaluate how individual items are performing across the DoorDash marketplace. These insights can be used to identify top-performing products, understand where products are selling, and inform decisions around assortment, promotions, and campaign support.
Metric | Definition |
Event Date | The time frame when the item was purchased. This is based on UTC time. |
Brand | The brand of the item purchased. |
Product name | The purchased item's name. |
Product UPC | The purchased item's Universal Product Code (UPC). Some items may not have a UPC. |
GTIN_14 | The purchased item's 14-digit Global Trade Item Number (GTIN). |
DD_SIC | A unique DoorDash code assigned to each item or SKU in the DoorDash catalog. |
Vertical (Store Type) | The type of store where the item was purchased. Verticals include Grocery, Retail, Convenience, Alcohol, and Pet. |
Sales | Total Sales ("gross merchandise value" or "GMV") for the item purchased on the indicated date and in the indicated vertical. |
Orders | Total number of orders for the item purchased on the indicated date and in the indicated vertical. |
Units | Total number of units for the item purchased on the indicated date and in the indicated vertical. |
Competitive share metrics (NielsenIQ and Circana)
Share and category metrics help you benchmark your brand's performance within a category and understand your competitive position. These metrics are especially valuable for identifying whether you're gaining or losing share over time and where to focus investment to improve category performance.
NielsenIQ Super Category Share Reporting
Metric | Definition |
Event Date | The time frame when the item was purchased. This is based on UTC time. |
Brand | The brand of the items purchased. |
Vertical (Store Type) | The type of store where the item was purchased. Verticals include Grocery, Retail, Convenience, Alcohol, and Pet. |
Department/Major Group | The Department/Major Group representing the items purchased for the indicated brand in the indicated time frame, based on NielsenIQ department definitions. |
Super Category/Major Sub Group | The Super Category/Major Sub Group representing the items purchased for the indicated brand in the indicated time frame, based on NielsenIQ super category definitions. |
Category | The category representing the items purchased for the indicated brand in the indicated time frame, based on NielsenIQ super category definitions. |
Super Category Sales (GMV) ($) | Total sales for the items purchased for the indicated brand and super category in the indicated time frame. |
Super Category $ Share (%) | The percentage of brand sales for the indicated brand, super category, and time frame out of all sales for the indicated super category and time frame. |
Super Category Units (#) | Total units for the items purchased for the indicated brand and super category in the indicated time frame. |
Super Category Units (%) | The percentage of brand units for the indicated brand, super category, and time frame out of all units for the indicated super category and time frame. |
Super Category Impressions (#) | Total impressions, including ad and organic impressions, for the items purchased for the indicated brand and super category in the indicated time frame. |
Super Category Impressions (%) | The percentage of brand impressions for the indicated brand, super category, and time frame out of all impressions for the indicated super category and time frame. |
Circana Category Share Reporting
Metric | Definition |
Event Date | The time frame when the item was purchased. This is based on UTC time. |
Brand | The brand of the items purchased. |
Vertical (Store Type) | The type of store where the item was purchased. Verticals include Grocery, Retail, Convenience, Alcohol, and Pet. |
Department | The department representing the items purchased for the indicated brand in the indicated time frame, based on Circana definitions. |
Aisle | The aisle representing the items purchased for the indicated brand in the indicated time frame, based on Circana definitions. |
Category | The category representing the items purchased for the indicated brand in the indicated time frame, based on Circana Category-level definitions. |
(Super) Category Sales (GMV) ($) | Total sales for the items purchased for the indicated brand and (super) category in the indicated time frame. |
(Super) Category Share (%) | The percentage of brand sales for the indicated brand, (super) category, and time frame out of all sales for the indicated (super) category and time frame. |
(Super) Category Units (#) | Total units for the items purchased for the indicated brand and (super) category in the indicated time frame. |
(Super) Category Units (%) | The percentage of brand units for the indicated brand, (super) category, and time frame out of all units for the indicated (super) category and time frame. |
(Super) Category Impressions (#) | Total impressions, including ad and organic impressions, for the items purchased for the indicated brand and (super) category in the indicated time frame. |
(Super) Category Impressions (%) | The percentage of brand impressions for the indicated brand, (super) category, and time frame out of all impressions for the indicated (super) category and time frame. |
Note: NielsenIQ data is currently limited to Super Category-level reporting, except for alcohol and in Canada + Australia, which is available at the Category level. Circana definitions are available only in the U.S.
Video metrics
Video metrics measure how consumers engage with your Sponsored Brand video creative. These metrics are important for understanding whether your creative is capturing attention and maintaining engagement. Strong video performance can improve overall campaign effectiveness by driving higher interaction and consideration.
Metric | Definition |
Video Views ( > 2 second views) | Count of Video views >= 2sec. |
Video Completions | Video Views (completed). |
Video Completion Rate (completions per view) | Video Views (Completed) / All Video views (>=2sec). |
