TLDR;
- Your rising CPA is likely due to audience saturation and creative fatigue, not a platform-wide issue. Simply changing creatives isn't enough; you need to change your entire audience and messaging strategy.
- Stop focusing solely on a low CPA. You must calculate your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) to understand what you can actually afford to pay for a new customer. A higher CPA for a better customer is a win.
- Your campaign structure is probably holding you back. You should restructure into a full-funnel approach (ToFu, MoFu, BoFu) to systematically test new audiences and retarget users effectively.
- Your 'testing' is likely unfocused. You need to move from superficial creative swaps to testing core messaging angles like the 'Before-After-Bridge' framework that speaks directly to customer problems.
- This letter includes an interactive LTV calculator and a flowchart to help you visualise and implement these strategic shifts immediately.
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! I've had a look over the situation with your cosmetic brand's Meta ads, and I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts. Honestly, what you're describing—a steady creep in CPAs that suddenly accelerates—is a very common problem, but the cause is rarely what people think it is.
It's easy to blame the algorithm or market conditions, but a 2-3x increase in acquisition cost over a few months almost always points to strategic exhaustion. Your current approach has hit its natural ceiling. The good news is this is fixable, but it's going to require a more disciplined and fundamental shift than just testing more creatives. Let's get into it.
We'll need to look at why your CPAs are really climbing...
First, let's get one thing straight. While platform auctions fluctuate, the idea that Meta just decided to make ads 200% more expensive for everyone in your niche isn't realistic. The platform is a machine that responds to inputs. When the outputs get worse, you have to look at the inputs: your audience, your creative, and your offer.
You mentioned you "change creatives a lot," which is good, but it's often a symptom of treating the problem, not the cause. The real issues are almost certainly audience saturation and creative fatigue. You've likely shown your ads to the most responsive segments of your audiences so many times that they've either bought or have become completely blind to your message. Your ads are now having to work much harder, reaching less interested people, to get a single conversion. That's why your CPA goes up.
Simply swapping out an image or a headline isn't enough to overcome this. You're putting a fresh coat of paint on a car that's run out of petrol. We've seen this countless times with eCommerce clients. One women's apparel brand we worked with saw a 691% return, not by endlessly tweaking minor ad details, but by fundamentally restructuring their targeting and messaging to reach fresh, high-intent pockets of the market. The solution isn't more testing; it's smarter, more structured testing.
I'd say your audience strategy is exhausted...
This is probably the biggest lever you can pull right now. When I audit accounts, I often see a messy collection of ad sets with overlapping interests and poorly defined lookalikes. A successful Meta ads strategy isn't a random collection of audiences; it's a prioritised system. You need to think in terms of a funnel: Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu).
ToFu (Top of Funnel): This is your cold traffic—people who don't know your brand. Here, you should be rigorously testing interest-based audiences and, crucially, high-quality Lookalike Audiences (LALs). You mentioned you've been running ads since 2022. You should have a wealth of data to build powerful LALs from. Are you building them from your highest value customers, or just a general "all purchasers" list? The difference is massive.
MoFu (Middle of Funnel): These are people who've shown some interest but haven't purchased. This includes website visitors, video viewers, and social media engagers. You need to be hitting them with a different message—perhaps addressing common objections or showcasing social proof like reviews.
BoFu (Bottom of Funnel): This is your hottest audience. People who have added to cart or initiated checkout. They are on the verge of buying. Your ads here should be direct, maybe with an offer of free shipping or a reminder to complete their purchase. These audiences should be your most profitable.
Most brands that see CPAs skyrocket have exhausted their ToFu audiences and are either neglecting or mismanaging their MoFu/BoFu retargeting. You need a separate, always-on campaign for each stage, with budgets allocated based on performance. Below is a simple visualisation of how you should structure your thinking.
ToFu (Top of Funnel) - Awareness
Goal: Find new customers.
Audiences: Broad interests, high-quality Lookalikes (1% of top 25% LTV customers, purchasers).
MoFu (Middle of Funnel) - Consideration
Goal: Re-engage interested prospects.
Audiences: Website visitors (last 90d), 50% video viewers, social media engagers (excl. purchasers).
BoFu (Bottom of Funnel) - Conversion
Goal: Close the sale.
Audiences: Added to Cart (last 14d), Initiated Checkout (last 7d) (excl. purchasers).
Your first job is to map out your available audiences against this structure and prioritise them. For ToFu, I would start by building LALs of your highest value customers first. Then move down the list: all purchasers, initiated checkouts, adds to cart, etc. You have two years of data; this is a goldmine you're likely not using properly.
You probably should rethink 'creative testing'...
As I mentioned, "changing creatives a lot" can be a misleading activity. Are you testing fundamentally different reasons *why* someone should buy your product, or are you just testing a blue background versus a pink one? Because the algorithm is smart enough to see past superficial changes. Creative fatigue is about the core message, not just the visuals.
To break through, you need to test different value propositions. For a cosmetic brand, a great framework is the Before-After-Bridge. You don't sell foundation; you sell the feeling of confidence that comes from flawless skin.
- Before: Paint a picture of their current frustration. "Tired of foundations that look cakey and settle into fine lines by lunchtime?"
- After: Show them the desired outcome. "Imagine a radiant, natural-looking finish that lasts all day, so you can focus on your life, not your makeup."
- Bridge: Introduce your product as the solution. "Our HydraGlow Serum Foundation is the bridge. Its lightweight, buildable formula provides seamless coverage while hydrating your skin."
You need to brainstorm 5-10 different 'Before' states your customers experience and build ad concepts around them. This is a much more powerful form of testing. Is their main problem dryness? Blemishes? Longevity? Each one is a different campaign angle.
Aswell, you should be testing formats more aggressively. Static images are fine, but have you tried User-Generated Content (UGC) style videos? Short, authentic-looking clips of real customers (or actors that look like them) applying your product often outperform slick, polished studio shots, especially for cosmetics. They build trust and feel more genuine in the feed. We've seen UGC work wonders for all sorts of clients, from software to eCommerce. The impact on engagement, and subsequently CPA, can be dramatic.
You'll need to calculate your true break-even point...
This is probably the most important mental shift you need to make. You're worried that your CPA has risen to €25-30. My first question is: is that actually unprofitable? Most founders can't answer this because they haven't calculated their Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
The real question isn't "How low can my CPA go?" but "How high a CPA can I afford to acquire a great customer?" A customer who loves your products might buy from you 5 or 10 times over the next few years. Paying €30 to acquire a customer who will spend €300 with you is a fantastic deal. Chasing a €15 CPA that only brings in one-time buyers who purchase low-margin items is a fast track to going out of business.
Let's calculate a simplified LTV for your eCommerce brand:
LTV = (Average Order Value × Gross Margin %) × Average Number of Repeat Purchases
Once you know this number, you have your truth. A common rule of thumb is to aim for a 3:1 LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio. So if your LTV is €150, you can comfortably afford to spend up to €50 to acquire a customer. Suddenly, that €30 CPA doesn't look so scary, does it? It looks like an opportunity to scale.
Use the calculator below to get a rough idea of your LTV. This will change your entire perspective on your ad performance.
This is the main advice I have for you:
So, to bring it all together, you're not facing an unsolvable platform problem. You're facing a strategy problem that requires a more sophisticated approach. Panicking about a rising CPA without understanding the context of LTV and audience health is a mistake. You need to transition from just "testing things" to a structured system for growth.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below in a table. This isn't just a list of tactics; it's a new operating system for your paid advertising efforts. It requires more discipline upfront, but it's how you build a resilient, scalable customer acquisition engine instead of just riding the unpredictable waves of the Meta auction.
| Area of Focus | Recommendation | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Campaign Structure | Restructure all campaigns into a ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu framework with separate budgets. | Prevents audience overlap, allows for tailored messaging at each stage, and gives you clear control over where your money is going. Stops you from overspending on cold traffic. |
| Audience Strategy | Build and systematically test new Lookalike audiences, prioritising those built from your highest LTV customers first. | Your current audiences are saturated. High-quality LALs are the fastest way to find fresh pockets of high-intent buyers that resemble your best customers. |
| Creative Testing | Shift from testing superficial visual changes to testing core messaging angles using the "Before-After-Bridge" framework. Test UGC-style video creative. | Fatigue is about the message, not just the image. A powerful value proposition will break through the noise far more effectively than a new background colour. UGC builds trust. |
| KPI & Measurement | Calculate your true Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) and use it to establish a new, realistic target CPA (e.g., LTV/3). | Frees you from the tyranny of chasing an unsustainably low CPA. Allows you to confidently invest in acquiring high-value customers, even if they cost more upfront. |
| Attribution | Monitor blended ROAS (Total Revenue / Total Ad Spend) as your North Star metric, alongside platform data from Meta and Triple Whale. | Platform data is becoming less reliable. Blended ROAS gives you the ultimate source of truth on whether your overall marketing efforts are profitable and working. |
Implementing this properly takes time and expertise. You have to analyse your customer data correctly to build the right LALs, write compelling copy for each stage of the funnel, and manage budgets dynamically based on performance. It's a full-time job.
If you feel this is a bit overwhelming and you'd like a second pair of expert eyes on your account, we offer a completely free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session. We can go through your current setup together, and I can give you some more specific, actionable advice based on what I see. It's often the quickest way to find the big opportunities you might be missing.
Let me know if that's something you'd be interested in.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
