Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've shared about your Meta ads and the issues you're seeing with Advantage+.
It sounds like you're hitting a really common and frustrating wall with Meta's automated campaigns right now. The high CPA and especially the wasted spend on retargeting existing customers is something we hear quite a bit, and it definitely feels like throwing money away. I understand why you'd consider pausing things entirely if that's happening.
Looking at why Advantage+ might be struggling...
When we see automated campaigns like Advantage+ burning through budget with poor results, it often comes down to the system struggling to efficiently find the right audience who are actually likely to convert. While it's designed to find converters, it relies heavily on data and if either the data signal isn't strong enough, or it's just casting too wide a net too quickly, you end up paying for a lot of clicks or impressions that don't lead anywhere profitable.
Think about it like this, pulling from our experience with campaigns that scale: Like with scaling software campaigns, you often hit a point where your cost per acquisition starts to climb. This isn't always just the platform being inefficient; it's partly because as you increase spend, you're naturally pushing outside that initial, super-hot core audience that converted easily. Advantage+ is designed to scale, but it might be trying to do it too aggressively for your specific situation, pulling in people who are less likely to buy, which drives your CPA right up.
The wasted spend on retargeting existing customers or people already engaged with your page is a classic symptom of automated targeting not being smart enough about audience segmentation. It might see engagement or past visits as a signal of potential future conversion, but it doesn't have the nuance to understand they've *already* converted. That's a clear sign the platform's algorithm isn't optimising effectively for *new* customer acquisition, which is usually teh goal.
The impact of your offer and creative...
Beyond just the platform's targeting efficiency, the performance of any ad campaign, especially with automated systems like Advantage+, is hugely dependent on what you're actually offering and how compelling your ads and landing pages are. We've seen time and again, whether it's for eCommerce, B2B SaaS, or local services, that even if you get decent traffic, a poor offer or a weak website/landing page will kill your conversion rate and send your CPA through teh roof.
Remember that point in the eCommerce example about looking at drop-off points? If you get lots of ad clicks (decent CTR) but people aren't converting on your site, it's not necessarily the ad platform's fault anymore. It becomes an issue with the website, the offer, or the conversion process itself. Are people landing on a page that immediately grabs them? Is the value proposition clear? Is it easy to take the desired action?
With Advantage+, while you have less manual control over targeting, you still have control over your creative (the ad itself - images, video, copy) and the destination (your website/landing page). If your CPA is sky-high, it's crucial to look critically at these elements. Is your ad copy persuasive? Are your visuals engaging? Is the offer compelling? Is your website trustworthy, easy to navigate, and optimised for conversions? Like in the examples where websites were critiqued (cluttered start pages, poor product photos, no descriptions, lack of trust signals), these things can absolutely wreck your conversion rate, making any traffic you pay for much less valuable.
Testing different creative angles is still vital with Advantage+. Sometimes a small change in messaging or visual can resonate much better with teh audience teh system finds, even if you can't manually select them like you used to. It's a bit like testing different angles in UGC videos for SaaS clients; some just hit different and unlock better performance.
Performance analysis is still key, even with less control...
Even with less control in Advantage+, digging into the available performance metrics is essential. Meta's reporting might be less granular than it used to be for manual campaigns, but you should still be able to see some data points. Where is the budget being allocated? Are certain creative variations performing better or worse? Can you see any demographic or placement insights, even if they are broad? Understanding where the spend is going and what limited signals you *can* get about audience behaviour can help you refine your creative and potentially identify issues.
What can you do now?
Given your frustration and the current performance, pausing ads isn't unreasonable. But before you give up on Meta entirely, which can still be a powerful platform if you can make it work, here are a few things to consider based on tackling similar issues:
| Area | Recommended Action | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Review Your Offer & Website | Critically assess your landing page and the offer itself. Is it persuasive? Is the value clear? Is the conversion process smooth? Are there enough trust signals? Improve your website's conversion rate – any improvement here directly lowers your CPA. | This is often teh biggest bottleneck, even with good traffic. See examples about website critiques. |
| Test Creative Variations | Develop and test multiple different ad creatives (images, videos, copy). Try different angles, headlines, and calls to action. Advantage+ will allocate budget to what it thinks works best, so give it more options to find a winner. | Even if targeting is broad, your message needs to resonate. |
| Check Audience Exclusion Settings | Double-check that you have correctly set up and applied audience exclusions for existing customers. Sometimes this is missed or set up incorrectly, leading to wasted retargeting spend. | Ensure you're not paying to sell to people who have already bought. |
| Analyse Available Reporting | Dive into Meta's reporting as much as possible. Look for any patterns in where budget is spent, creative performance, or broad audience signals, even if granular data is limited with Advantage+. | Try to understand *what* Advantage+ is doing, even if you can't control it fully. |
| Consider Different Campaign Objectives/Structures (if available) | If other campaign types or settings are still available to you, explore if a different structure might offer more control or yield better results than pure Advantage+. Sometimes a slightly less automated approach can be more efficient if Advantage+ isn't working. (Acknowledging the potential rumour about manual targeting changes). | Depends on platform updates and what options remain. |
That rumour about manual targeting potentially going away is concerning, and it highlights a shift towards automation that not everyone is happy with, especially if the automation isn't performing. Platforms push these changes to simplify things and potentially increase spend, but it can make life harder for advertisers who rely on precise targeting.
Ultimately, if Advantage+ really isn't working after trying to optimise the things you *can* control (your offer, creative, website), and if manual options disappear, then yes, it might mean Meta is no longer the right platform for your business goals or unit economics. It forces you to re-evaluate if your target audience can be reached profitably there anymore, or if you need to look at alternative channels.
These issues can be complex to unpick, especially when dealing with platform changes and automated systems that feel like black boxes. Having someone with deep experience in diagnosing ad performance issues and navigating platform shifts can make a big difference in figuring out exactly why things aren't working and what concrete steps you can take, or if it's time to look elsewhere.
We've dealt with similar scaling and performance challenges across various platforms and niches, and sometimes an outside perspective is invaluable.
If you'd like to discuss your specific situation in more detail and get a tailored view on what might be going wrong and how to fix it, we offer a free consultation call. It might help clarify your options and give you a clear path forward.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
