Why a glossary. Meta Ads has accumulated 20 years of jargon: CTR, CPM, CPA, ROAS, CAPI, pixel, match quality, attribution windows. AI creative generation adds another stack: PDA, Andromeda, hook types, awareness levels, angle classifiers. This page decodes the 30 terms that matter most for CreaScale users.
We expand this glossary as new features ship. Definitions prioritize the operator perspective — what it means for your CPA and your workflow, not the textbook definition.
- PDA Framework
- Persona × Desire × Awareness — the 3-axis psychological method CreaScale uses to discover angles. Explained in depth in the PDA essay.
- Andromeda
- Meta's 2025+ ad delivery algorithm. Optimizes across 5 creative diversity axes (format, talent, environment, style, palette). CreaScale outputs are Andromeda-optimized.
- CAPI
- Conversions API — server-side event tracking that restored Meta attribution quality after iOS 14.5. Lifts match quality from ~5.1 (pixel-only) to ~7.2 (pixel + CAPI).
- Awareness level
- Eugene Schwartz's 5 stages: unaware, problem-aware, solution-aware, product-aware, most-aware. Dictates which hook type to use.
- Hook
- First 3 seconds / first line of an ad. The "stop the scroll" element. Hook type depends on awareness level: question for problem-aware, demo for product-aware, etc.
- Angle
- A specific PDA combination executed as one creative. Eight angles per run = 8 distinct psychological stances toward the same product.
- Learning phase
- Meta's initial optimization period for a new ad set. Exits when the ad set hits 50 conversions. Most creatives die before exiting — why 8 diverse angles matter.
- CTR
- Click-through rate. Meta feed ecommerce floor: 1.2%. Good: 2.0%. Excellent: 3.5%+. CreaScale's test campaign: 6.34% top CTR.
- CPM
- Cost per mille (1,000 impressions). 2026 ranges: ecom $8-15, SaaS $18-32. Region-dependent.
- CPA
- Cost per acquisition / purchase. CreaScale live-campaign proof: $1.65 best, $19.77 total spend for 12 purchases.
- ROAS
- Return on ad spend. Revenue / ad cost. ROAS of 3.0 = $3 revenue per $1 spend. Anything below 2.0 at scale is usually unprofitable.
- Ad Library
- Meta's public archive of all running ads. CreaScale scrapes it during the Classifier step to understand competitor angles before generating.
- Match quality
- Meta's confidence (0-10) that a conversion event matched a real user. Pixel-only post-iOS: ~5.1. Pixel + CAPI + Enhanced Match: ~7.2.
- Enhanced Match
- Meta feature that hashes first-party user data (email, phone) and sends it alongside conversion events to boost attribution.
- Interviewer
- CreaScale pipeline step 2. Claude Opus 4.6 deeply analyzes the product before angle discovery — pulls spec, benefits, differentiators, objections.
- Classifier
- CreaScale pipeline step 3. Ranks candidate angles by expected performance given the target market + competitor Ad Library data.
- Nano Banana 2
- Google's Gemini 3 Pro Image model. CreaScale uses it for the HD image generation step — photorealistic output with accurate text overlays.
- Claude Opus 4.6
- Anthropic's flagship reasoning model. CreaScale uses it for the Interviewer, Classifier, and multilingual ad copy steps.
- Scrape
- Pipeline step 1. Pulls product title, description, images, price, reviews, and competitor ads from the URL you paste.
- Angle Review
- Optional pipeline checkpoint (Pro+). You see the 8 discovered angles, can swap or edit, before image gen starts. Prevents wasted credits on bad angles.
- Add-Angles
- Feature that generates more creatives from an existing completed run, picking one axis (Persona / Desire / Awareness) to expand.
- AI Image Edit
- Chat interface to modify a generated image via natural language — "change background to white", "remove the logo on the phone", etc.
- One-Shot
- CreaScale's $10 single-run product. 30 credits, no subscription. For testing before committing to Pro.
- Credits
- Internal unit of generation. Full run ~20 credits. Re-gen one image = 2. Re-write one copy = 1. AI Edit = 1 per round.
- Credit Pack
- Top-up bundle for subscribers: 30cr/$20, 60cr/$35, 150cr/$75. Never expire while subscription active.
- HMAC
- Cryptographic signature. CreaScale webhooks include an HMAC SHA-256 signature so you can verify events came from us, not a spoof.
- Webhook
- HTTP callback CreaScale sends to your URL when an event happens. Events: run.completed, run.failed, credits.low, subscription.renewed.
- UGC
- User-generated content. Competitor category (Creatify, Arcads) that focuses on AI-actor talking-head ads. CreaScale does not generate UGC.
- Feed / Reels / Stories
- Meta placements. Feed: 1080x1080 or 1080x1350. Reels: 1080x1920. Stories: 1080x1920. CreaScale outputs all 3 sizes per creative.
- Learning curve
- How many days until Meta's algorithm exits learning phase. PDA creatives typically exit in 5-7 days (fewer wasted impressions on the losing angles).
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We add 2-3 new terms to the glossary every month. Email support@creascale.ai with a term you want decoded.
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