Solved: Facebook Ads ROAS Flatlining for D2C Pet Toy Brand

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out and explaining your situation with the pet toy brand and the Facebook ads. Getting stuck at that kind of ROAS level is something we see quite often, especially once you’ve put a decent bit of budget behind things. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on what might be going on and what areas you could look at.

From what you’ve said, hitting a plateau around 1.5x ROAS suggests you’ve likely captured the lowest hanging fruit. The initial audiences that are easiest to convert have been tapped out, and the creative that worked best at the start might be experiencing some fatigue or just isn’t resonating with slightly broader audiences. To push past this and get your customer acquisition cost (CAC) down to a profitable level for scaling, you really need to go deeper.

It’s definitely not uncommon for an internal team to hit this wall. The next steps often require a level of relentless testing and analysis across multiple fronts that takes dedicated expertise and resources to manage effectively. Based on our experience with D2C eCommerce and software clients trying to scale on platforms like Meta, it usually boils down to refining three core areas: audiences, creative, and the website itself.

You’ll need to broaden your horizons with audience testing...

The first area is audiences. You mentioned needing to find new segments, and that’s absolutely crucial. If you've been focusing on the obvious interests or lookalike audiences based on your current customers, you'll find they only take you so far. To scale profitably, you need to continually test new audience hypotheses.

This means going beyond the initial obvious ones. Have you explored broader interest categories that might intersect with pet owners? Think about lifestyle interests, other related product types they might buy, even seemingly unrelated things if there's a behavioural link. Layering interests can sometimes find pockets of profitable users. Also, explore different lookalike percentages or source audiences. A 1% lookalike of your best customers is gold initially, but you might need to test 2%, 3%, or even wider lookalikes, perhaps segmented by value rather than just purchases, as you scale. We've seen campaigns unlock significant scale by finding success in seemingly counter-intuitive audience combinations.

Behavioural targeting options can also be really powerful on Meta for eCommerce. Things like 'Engaged Shoppers' or specific purchase behaviours might help filter for people more likely to buy. Don't forget about placement targeting either - sometimes certain placements (like Instagram Reels or Facebook Stories) perform better for acquisition depending on your creative.

The key here is systematic testing. You need a structure for testing new audiences against your current best performers, allocating budget to see what works, and being ready to cut the ones that don’t quickly. This isn’t a one-off task; it’s a continuous process as audiences fatigue or market conditions change.

And creative testing needs to become a machine...

Just as important as audiences, especially on a visual platform like Meta, is your ad creative. You mentioned optimising creative testing, and this is often where the biggest gains are made when scaling. If your ads aren't stopping people scrolling or aren't effectively communicating your product's value and brand personality, even the perfect audience won't convert.

Creative fatigue is a real issue. What works today might stop working next month as people see it too much. You need a pipeline of fresh creative ideas constantly being tested. This means exploring different concepts, formats, and messaging angles.

Formats: Are you only using images? Try video, carousel ads, collection ads. For D2C brands, video can be incredibly persuasive, especially showing the product in use or demonstrating benefits. We've had several D2C clients see really good results with User Generated Content (UGC) style videos – maybe videos of pets playing with the toys, or owners talking about how much their pet loves them. This often feels more authentic and trustworthy on social platforms than highly polished studio ads.

Messaging: What's the core message in your ad copy? Is it just about the toy? Or is it about the benefit to the pet/owner (e.g., reducing boredom, saving furniture, training aid)? Test different hooks. Start with a question, highlight a problem, offer a solution, use social proof (happy pet/owner testimonials). Test different calls to action (Shop Now, Learn More, etc.).

Visuals: Beyond just format, are your product photos or videos engaging? Are they high quality but also natural-looking? Do they show the toy in action? For pet toys, seeing pets actually playing with and enjoying the toys is essential. Maybe try different angles, close-ups, or showing different features.

The process should involve setting up structured tests (like A/B tests within Meta's Ads Manager or using dedicated testing campaigns) to compare different creatives or creative elements side-by-side, letting the data tell you which ones are winning, and then allocating more budget to those winners while cycling in new ideas to test.

Plus, your website has to be rock solid...

You can drive all the right traffic in the world with perfect audiences and creative, but if your website isn't doing its job, you're throwing money away. A ROAS of 1.5x could indicate that your cost per click (CPC) is okay, and maybe your click-through rates (CTR) aren't terrible, but the conversion rate on your site is too low to make it profitable.

For an eCommerce store, the website's job is to turn a visitor into a customer as efficiently as possible. There are several common drop-off points you need to look at, often visible in your analytics (Google Analytics, or even Shopify analytics if you use it). Are people landing on your page and leaving immediately? Is traffic getting to product pages but not adding to cart? Are carts being abandoned at checkout?

Things that typically impact eCommerce conversion rates:

- Site Speed: Slow websites frustrate users and lead to bounces, especially on mobile. Check your page load times.

- Mobile Optimisation: Most Meta traffic is mobile. Is your site easy to navigate, read, and purchase from on a phone?

- Product Images: Are they high-quality, showing the product from multiple angles, perhaps with zoom capabilities? For pet toys, showing scale (e.g., a hand holding it, or a specific breed of dog with it) and showing the toy in action (a short video loop) is critical.

- Product Descriptions: Are they persuasive and informative? Do they highlight benefits, not just features? Do they answer common questions (materials, durability, size guides)? Good copy sells.

- User Experience (UX): Is it easy to find products, add them to the cart, view the cart, and go through checkout? A confusing or clunky process kills conversions.

- Trust Signals: This is massive for online stores, especially less established ones. Do you have customer reviews and testimonials prominently displayed? Trust badges (secure checkout, payment methods)? Clear returns policy? Contact information? Links to active social media where people can see community interaction? Sometimes even just an "About Us" page with photos of the team or founders can help build trust. People need to feel comfortable giving you their money.

- Pricing & Offers: Is your pricing competitive? Are there any special offers for new customers (discount code, free shipping)? Is the value proposition clear?

Even small improvements to your conversion rate can have a dramatic impact on your overall ROAS and CAC. If you can increase your site conversion rate by even 10% or 20%, it means you need significantly less ad spend to get the same number of sales, directly lowering your CAC and increasing ROAS.

What kind of results are possible?

You mentioned struggling to get your CAC low enough to scale profitably. This is the goal, of course. The 1.5x ROAS isn't necessarily 'bad' in isolation, but if your profit margin after cost of goods, operating expenses, and ad spend is negative at that level, then it's definitely not sustainable for growth.

We've seen eCommerce campaigns on Meta achieve significantly higher ROAS numbers – sometimes reaching 6x, 8x, or even over 10x ROAS. The exact achievable number depends heavily on your specific product margins, average order value, customer lifetime value, and market competition. But getting from 1.5x to something much higher is usually possible with dedicated optimisation efforts across the areas mentioned.

It often requires a shift in mindset from just 'running ads' to building a sophisticated, data-driven acquisition system that integrates audiences, creative, website experience, and even backend factors like email nurturing and customer value optimisation.

Scaling requires constantly feeding the system new ideas and testing them rigorously. It's about creating a repeatable process for finding winning combinations of audience and creative, and ensuring your website is a leaky bucket.

Here's a quick overview of the key areas to focus on:

Putting all this into practice requires significant time, effort, and specific expertise. It involves developing hypotheses, setting up tests correctly, analysing data (often complex interactions between audience/creative/site), and iterating quickly. What you’re experiencing is a common challenge when trying to move from initial growth to sustained, profitable scaling.

This is where having expert help can often make a significant difference. An experienced agency or consultant specialising in performance marketing can bring the structured testing methodologies, deep platform knowledge, and analytical capabilities needed to systematically identify and implement the optimisations required to push past these plateaus. They can help audit your existing setup, build out the testing frameworks, and provide insights based on experience with similar brands that might take an internal team much longer (and cost more in inefficient ad spend) to discover.

If you'd like to explore how we might be able to help you break through this ROAS ceiling and achieve sustainable, profitable growth, we'd be happy to schedule a free consultation to discuss your specific situation in more detail and provide some tailored recommendations.

Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh