How to read ROAS on Timi's Ads dashboard (WhatsApp CTWA, Kenya)

Your media buyer pings at 6pm: "What's ROAS on the weekend drop?" You could open three apps — till, WhatsApp, Ads Manager — and guess. Or open Ads in Timi: ad revenue divided by Meta spend, cost per qualified lead, and which creative produced paying chats — all tied to Click-to-WhatsApp traffic on your business number. Same shop, same period, no Friday spreadsheet.

This guide is the seller Ads dashboard operating manual — not OAuth setup (see connect Meta Ads) and not the full Ads Manager column walkthrough (see track WhatsApp leads in Ads Manager). For when Purchase fires see when Timi sends Purchase. For thin Hi vs qualified see qualified leads vs thin Hi.

What the Ads page is for

Timi Ads answers one question Meta spend reports alone cannot: "Which Click-to-WhatsApp campaigns produced qualified interest and recorded sales on my WhatsApp line?"

Meta Ads Manager shows delivery, spend, and conversion events on the pixel. Timi adds chat-side truth — who messaged from an ad, who engaged beyond a bare Hi, who paid — merged with spend when Meta Ads is connected.

You still create and edit campaigns in Ads Manager. Timi does not change budgets or creatives. The Ads page is your weekly decision desk for pausing losers and scaling winners on revenue — not vanity chat volume.

If Meta is not connected yet, the page prompts you to Connect in Settings. Connect first; otherwise spend and ROAS stay empty.

Five KPIs on the summary row

Pick a period (7d, 30d, 90d, or all) with the date picker. The top row shows five numbers:

ROAS (return on ad spend). Ad-attributed revenue divided by Meta spend in the period — e.g. 4.2× means KES 4.20 revenue per KES 1 spent. Use this as your headline health check. Below 1× means you spent more on ads than Timi recorded from attributed sales — investigate before scaling.

Cost / qualified. Meta spend divided by engaged ad leads — not raw chat count. Thin "Hi" openers are excluded from this denominator. Compare week over week; rising cost per qualified with flat creative often means audience fatigue or shop context mismatch.

Cost / chat. Spend divided by all ad-attributed chats, including thin openers. The gap between cost / chat and cost / qualified shows how much budget buys curiosity vs interest.

Qualified rate. Percentage of ad chats that moved past thin openers, with counts for engaged leads and thin Hi shown below. A drop after a new Reel usually means creative attracts browsers — see qualified vs thin Hi.

CPC and total spend. Context for whether Meta delivery got expensive independent of WhatsApp close rate.

Funnel: Ad chats → Qualified → Sales → Revenue

Below the KPIs, the funnel bar chart shows drop-off in the selected period:

1. Ad chats — Click-to-WhatsApp conversations that started
2. Qualified — chats that engaged beyond a bare greeting
3. Sales — recorded purchases from ad-attributed chats
4. Revenue (KES) — total sale value tied to those ads

Read conversion percentages between steps. Strong qualified count with weak sales often means pricing surprise, delivery zone gaps, or missing Purchase loop — team not confirming M-Pesa or marking sold.

Weak qualified with strong ad chat volume points to creative or first-reply mismatch — fix shop context before raising budget.

Per-ad table: pause vs scale

Scroll to per-ad performance when you run multiple creatives or ad sets. Each row typically shows spend, chats, thin openers, qualified leads, sales, revenue, and ROAS for that ad.

Pause or refresh when spend is meaningful, qualified rate is poor, and sales are zero for seven days.

Scale cautiously when ROAS is stable above your margin floor and qualified rate holds — increase budget ~20%, not 3× overnight.

Compare placements indirectly — if one ad name maps to Reels-only and another to Feed, the table shows which creative story converts without guessing from Meta placement tabs alone.

Thumbnail and status help you match rows to live creatives in Ads Manager.

Timi ROAS vs Ads Manager: when numbers differ

Both can be correct at once:

Attribution scope. Timi ROAS uses sales recorded in Timi from CTWA chats. Ads Manager Purchase uses events on your dataset. If your team marks sold late, Timi and Meta lag differently.

Organic till. M-Pesa from bio link buyers inflates your till but never appears in Timi ad ROAS — expected.

Event naming. Renamed events in Settings still map to milestones; Ads Manager columns must match your preset — see track leads in Ads Manager.

Date windows. Align period picker in Timi with Ads Manager date range before arguing with your media buyer.

Use Timi for operational truth (did ad chats pay on our line?). Use Ads Manager for platform optimisation (which ad set Meta should favour). Cross-check one known sale weekly.

A 15-minute weekly review

Every Friday, same order:

1. Open Timi Ads — note ROAS, cost / qualified, qualified rate
2. Scan funnel — biggest drop-off step
3. Pick one ad to scale and one to pause from the per-ad table
4. Open Ads Manager with your saved column preset — confirm Purchase trend matches Timi sales direction
5. Fix one operational leak — mark sold habit, delivery fee in shop context, or creative promise

Log one sentence for your team: "Scaled Reel A (4.1× ROAS); paused Feed B (Hi-heavy, zero sales); confirmed M-Pesa SOP."

Common mistakes

• Judging ROAS before Meta connect — spend column empty until OAuth completes
• Optimising on cost / chat alone — ignores thin Hi inflation
• Expecting ROAS to include organic bio sales — CTWA only
• Scaling budget when Purchase events flat — qualified without Purchase discipline misleads Meta
• Ignoring unmatched ad spend — verify CTWA destination, not wa.me links
• Comparing 7d Timi to 30d Ads Manager — align periods

Read the WhatsApp ads pillar guide for campaign structure and Audience Autopilot context.

FAQ

Where is the Ads page? Seller navigation → Ads (same account as Feed and Settings).

Do I still need Ads Manager? Yes. Timi does not publish or edit campaigns.

What if ROAS shows "—"? Usually missing spend (Meta not connected) or zero ad-attributed revenue in the period.

Can I export this data? Use Ads Manager for platform exports; Timi is for in-product weekly review. Internal till sheets remain separate.

Does Timi show Instagram vs Facebook split? Per-ad rows reflect Meta ad names; placement detail stays in Ads Manager.

How often does data refresh? Open the page for current period totals; trends chart by day or week depending on range.