Running Meta ads that just aren’t landing with your ideal customers?
If you’re staring at a dashboard filled with low CTRs, poor conversion rates and sky-high CPAs, don’t panic, but don’t keep doing the same thing either.
Scaling Meta ads isn’t just about tweaking your budget or turning off the underperformers. It’s about getting emotionally smarter with your creatives. Because people don’t buy with logic… they buy with emotion.
Here’s your no-fluff, repeatable system to get better results fast.
1. Find Your 1-3 Core Emotions
Before you even open Ads Manager, ask yourself this:
Why do people really buy from me?
It’s rarely just “free delivery” or “sustainable materials.” It’s more likely…
✨ Confidence: “I feel like me again”
🧘 Calm: “This saves me so much stress”
💪 Empowerment: “I’m finally in control of X”
Dig into reviews, DMs, FAQs, customer surveys. Wherever your customers speak their feelings and pull out the emotional reasons they clicked buy. Think about ads that you have be served that you have engaged with in some way.
Choose 1 to 3 emotions that align with your brand and customer desires. These become your creative hooks to test.
2. Create One Static Image Ads Per Emotion
Keep it simple: you’re looking to test fast and get clarity.
For each emotion, create:
- A punchy headline that speaks directly to that feeling
- A strong image that supports the emotion, but is still relevant to the brand
- Short, clear body copy (no waffling)
That gives you 3 static ads in total. There is no need for fancy video edits at this point. If you can test more creatives, than create 3 ads per emotion, giving you 9 ads.
3. Run the Test for 7–14 Days
Put the ads live and let them run without interference. It’s time to sit on your hands and let Meta’s algorithm work it’s magic. Your goal here isn’t perfect results. It’s direction. Look at your CTR, Conversion rate and CPA.
CTR (Click-Through Rate): Are people stopping the scroll?
For a cold audience, a 1% CTR (link click-through rate) is a solid benchmark. If it’s sitting below that, it’s likely your creative isn’t stopping the scroll or your messaging isn’t resonating.
Common reasons for low CTR:
- Your hook isn’t clear or emotionally compelling
- The image or video doesn’t visually connect with the audience
- Your copy doesn’t align with the stage of the funnel.
Conversion Rate: Are clicks turning into sales?
A 2–4% conversion rate is typical for an eCommerce site from paid traffic, though this can vary based on price point, product type, and customer journey. If your ads are getting traffic but few sales, the issue usually lies on your landing page, offer, or customer confidence.
Common culprits for low conversion:
- Slow page load times or broken links
- Product pages lacking reviews, trust signals, or urgency
- A mismatch between ad promise and landing page content
🛠 Fix it: Start by checking your landing page experience. Does it continue the emotional story from the ad? Does it feel trustworthy, fast, and friction-free to buy from? Do you product pages have customer reviews? Do you have multiple payment options? Check that you aren’t expecting customers to create an account before checking out.
CPA (Cost per Acquisition): Are you profitable?
CPA is the bottom line metric. It tells you how much it costs to acquire one customer. If your CPA is higher than your average order value (AOV) or leaves little margin, then even “good” ads aren’t sustainable.
What’s a good CPA? It depends on your numbers. Work backwards from your profit margins:
If your AOV is £60, and you can afford to spend £20 to get a sale, then that’s your target CPA.
But if you’re hitting £35-40 per acquisition, something needs to change.
🛠 Fix it:
Look at where your budget is being spent (cold vs warm audiences). You can see this in Ads Manager by clicking on Breakdown > Demographics > Audience Segments.
Test lower-cost creative formats (static over video or UGC, for example).
Try bundling or post-purchase upsells to boost AOV and offset ad spend. And most importantly: test cheaper emotions. Some angles convert better and cost less to get a click and sale.
💡 Tip: Use CBO (Campaign Budget Optimisation) to let Meta allocate spend based on performance.
4. Iterate the Winners into More Engaging Formats
Once you’ve found the top emotional angle(s), it’s time to take that message up a notch.
Turn your top 1–2 winning static ads into:
- 📹 Short-form video ads (you or a brand ambassador)
- 🎞 GIF-style looped visuals
- 🖼 Carousel ads showing use cases, transformations or testimonials
This is where you add energy, personality, and motion without changing the emotional hook.
Members only: The Creating Founder Content masterclass replay by Alice Loveday will help give you creative ideas for this.
5. Scale with UGC, Video and Beyond
At this stage, you’ve got proven messages and proven creative formats. Now’s the time to go all-in.
💡 Here’s how to scale:
- Optional: Get UGC creators to recreate your winning ad format in their own words.
- Ideally, you will be testing creatives in a separate “Testing” campaign, so that you can then duplicate your winning ads into an Advantage+ Sales Campaign.
- Put more budget behind those winning ads.
Keep iterating what’s working, and pausing what isn’t. It’s not about reinventing the wheel. It’s about finding the emotion in your offer and amplifying it.
Final Thoughts
Too many brands focus on how their ads look instead of how their customers feel. If you want Meta ads that actually convert, emotion isn’t a bonus. It’s the strategy. If in doubt… TEST it!
✅ Start with emotion.
✅ Test with static creatives.
✅ Scale what resonates.
That’s how you turn underperforming campaigns into high-performing money-makers 💥
Want help building a test-and-scale system like this for your brand? Check out the Ad Answers membership where eCommerce businesses get personal ad strategy and hands-on support to help them grow. [Let’s talk.]
