From scattered ads to structured growth: a 3-month Meta deep dive

Hey, it’s Arik.

I’ve said this before but it’s worth repeating: scaling profitably on Meta isn’t about finding the perfect ad. It’s about understanding momentum, nailing structure, and testing with intent.

Let me show you what I mean.

We recently took over the ad account of one of our long-term email clients. They’re in the automotive niche (can’t name them here, but let’s just say they’ve built a strong community around their product).

We were brought in at the end of July, and here’s how the account performed over the last three months, and what we did to get there.


July: Raw performance
Before we touched anything, the brand was already running ads, but the account was unstructured. Creatives were scattered across campaigns, testing wasn’t isolated, and winners weren’t being scaled intentionally.

Still, here’s what July looked like:

Total Spend: $35,104
Total Revenue: $68,437
Total Purchases: 362
Average ROAS: 1.95


August: Building a testing engine
Our first priority was to create a testing and scaling infrastructure. We launched a new campaign with two ad sets:

Champions Ad Set → All their top-performing ads, cleanly isolated.
New Ads Ad Set → New creatives we built based on their winners and what we saw working for competitors in the same space.

This setup let us keep the account stable while testing fresh angles without disrupting performance.

August results for that campaign alone:
Total Spend: $6,919.84
Total Revenue: $19,424.97
Total Purchases: 109
Average ROAS: 2.81

We didn’t even build new concepts from scratch yet. These were layout- and copy-based iterations from what already worked.


September: Compounding improvements
In September, we didn’t launch any new optimizations until the very end of the month.

The system we put in place in August continued to hold its own. It gave the account a stable baseline and kept performance strong, all while we worked behind the scenes on our next wave of creative.

September results:
Total Spend: $42,082.27
Total Revenue: $81,536.00
Total Purchases: 463
Average ROAS: 1.94

But wait," you might say, "ROAS went down from July!"

Yes, and that's okay because CPA also went down.

Even without new launches, revenue and purchases continued to increase. And we were in testing mode, pushing creative velocity without compromising returns.

If you’re only watching ROAS, you’re going to misread your account.

What this brand has now is a system. Not a set of ads, not a handful of videos, but a system.


What’s next: Creative iterations + funnel improvements
We’re now entering the next phase of the strategy, where we’re doubling down on what’s working even more!

We’ve built dozens of new creative variations from the winners:

• Same creative → different hook and copy
• Same copy → different creative asset
• Same everything → different headline

We’re also introducing high-converting, advertorial-style landing pages designed to match each ad’s angle and audience intent. These will help reduce drop-off and raise AOV, which unlocks even more profitable scale.

The entire creative feedback loop is built for learning: test → measure → iterate → scale.

What this means for your Meta account:
If you’re serious about scaling Meta profitably, here’s what this case study should remind you of, and exactly how to apply it:

1. ROAS is just one piece of the puzzle.
Too many brands anchor every decision to ROAS. It’s important, yes, but it’s reactive.

What you really need to be watching are:
• CPA: If your CPA is stable or dropping, you’re in a good spot to scale.
• MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio): Zooms out across all channels to tell the whole story.
• AOV: Small AOV bumps through offers, bundles, or landing page upgrades can 2x your scale ceiling.

If you’re only looking at ROAS, you’re missing half the picture.

2. Structure your campaigns like a system, not a slot machine.
If your Meta account looks like a patchwork of random CBOs, you’re flying blind.
Set up your campaigns like this:

• A scale campaign with your “champion” creatives only
• A dedicated testing campaign with completely separate budgets
• Clear naming conventions so you can actually extract insights

This makes your ad account not just easier to manage, but more valuable as a source of feedback.

3. Create variation with intent
Launching 10 completely different creatives at once makes it impossible to know what’s working.

Start with what’s winning, and build versions:
• Same creative, new hook
• Same layout, new copy
• Same copy, new footage
• Same everything, new headlines

That’s how you identify control variables and build creative learnings you can scale with.

4. Match your funnel to your creative.
If you’re running raw UGC at top of funnel, don’t send traffic to a corporate-feeling homepage. If you’re educating on features, don’t drop them on a product page that assumes intent.

Pair your best ads with the right landing experiences:
• Educational angles → advertorials
• Direct product ads → PDP or hybrid landers
• Offer-focused creatives → offer pages or bundles

Your best ads will die fast if your funnel doesn’t continue the story.

5. You don’t need dozens of ads, you need a flywheel.
You need 1 or 2 winners that you can build a system around:

• Test → Learn → Improve → Relaunch
• Use analytics to build hypotheses (CTR, scroll depth, hold rate, exit rate)
• Repurpose angles across formats and placements

Once you’ve got one working, don’t move on, double down.


See you next Thursday,
Arik