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The Art of Creative Testing: How to Take Your Meta Ad Spend from 6 Figures to 7
Marco Lange
September 05, 2024
👋 Hey readers,
Welcome to the 36 new people that signed up in the last 7 days.
This week, we cover the art of Creative Testing. Specifically how we setup our client ad accounts to creative test and find new winners quickly.
Here’s a breakdown:
🧱 Media Buying Structures to scale creative testing
Why your media buying setup matters in 2024
How we plan all our creative tests
Our exact structure WITH RECENT SCREENSHOTS broken down
How To Setup Your Ads For Success
What metrics should I care about?
Unsure on when to kill creatives? Here’s a decision tree
🫵 1 FREE Ad Template Weekly
💾 FREE Weekly Ads Swipe Files
👩🎨 Next Issue: Types of Creatives you should be running
Let’s get into it: If you’ve been getting fucked by Meta’s algorithm for the last few months, you’re not alone. I’ve been playing this game for over a decade now, and let me tell you, Meta has kicked me in the teeth more times than a dad trying to assemble IKEA furniture at midnight.
One of our winning ads moved into a scaling campaign from this year.
But here's the thing—it doesn’t have to be a battle you keep losing. With the right approach to creative testing, you can take that six-figure ad spend and push it into seven figures, and you won’t even need a chiropractor after.
Creatives Are Your Weapon, But the Battlefield Matters
You can have the best creative on earth — hell, it could be so good it makes your mom cry — but if you’re running it through a trash campaign structure, it’s game over. Good creatives die young in bad setups… I’ve buried a few to many at this point…
We do all our Creative Testing Planning in ClickUp with our Creative Strategist, Sr. Media Buyer & Jr. Media Buyer
So, rule number one: the battle is won before you even enter the Meta Ads Manager. Planning is where the real action happens. You can’t just slap things together in a campaign and pray Meta sorts it out. That’s like throwing a dart while blindfolded & riding a bull and hoping you hit a bullseye.
How we plan it out:
Use ClickUp. We like to link our creative database to campaign planning so everything’s seamless. If ClickUp feels too fancy, even a Google Sheet will do the job.
The more work you do outside of Meta, the better your results. Trust me on this one — good planning makes Meta’s mess manageable.
Structure: The Backbone of Success
We’ve tried everything, from throwing every creative into one ADV+ campaign and letting Meta figure out the mess (spoiler: Meta doesn’t “figure it out”) to Cost Cap campaigns that only wasted our time and money. But after years of tweaking and testing, here’s what we found actually works:
Here you can see a live view at our creative testing campaign in Meta from Jan through August 2024
The Only Structure That Matters:
You need a Single Creative Testing Campaign per product line. Whether you're pushing supplements for energy, sleep, or beauty, each line gets its own campaign — ABO only. If you try to get Meta to handle it dynamically, you’re going to have a very bad day.
Each ad set? Simple. Call them SET 1, SET 2, and keep counting. Hit 99? Start a new campaign.
4-6 creatives per ad set. Not 10, not 2. Meta needs a little direction. Too many, and it’s confused. Too few, and you’re not testing enough.
Every creative should have 3 primary texts and 2 headlines. Update quarterly if necessary, but don’t get too precious about constant tinkering.
Don’t bother grouping creatives by angle. It’s total nonsense. Group them by what’s ready to roll and slap the angle in the ad name. You can track everything with your fancy ass tools later.
So, What’s the Playbook?
“But how do I decide what to keep running?” you ask? Here’s the decision tree:
One creative hogging the budget but performing like a 90s dial-up connection? Shut it down.
Spent 2x your BEP (Break Even Point) and still no CPA or ROAS love? Turn it off.
Had a creative that killed it last week but is now lying face down in the dirt? Drop the budget, let it breathe for a few days, then push it hard when it wakes up.
Got creatives that didn’t get enough spend but look promising? Or ones that rocked but didn’t spend enough? Retest those. Keep a running list, but make sure you dupe them into a new ad set so your learnings pass on.
You’ve got to be ruthless here. If it’s not working, cut it loose. If it’s showing promise, double down.
Metrics That Matter (and the Ones That Don’t)
Everyone loves to drool over meaningless metrics like hook rates or three-second views. Newsflash: You’re wasting your time if you’re focusing on that nonsense. Here’s what really matters:
CPA (Cost Per Acquisition)
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
Outbound CTR (Click-Through Rate)
Outbound CPC (Cost Per Click)
That’s it. Keep it simple. These are your north stars. If your ROAS and CPA are 15% worse than your target? Time to move on and find the next winner. If they’re under 15%, tweak and test again.
Low CTR? Rewrite the script and make it punch harder on the emotional benefit.
High CPC? Add a stronger CTA, trim the fat on the ad length, or give it a music overhaul. Something that gets attention, ideally without getting sued.
Found a Winner? Here’s What to Do Next
Got a creative that’s making you money? Fantastic. Now, don’t just sit around waiting for the right moment to scale. Push those budgets right away.
In fact, some of our biggest budget-eating campaigns in our 7 figure ad accounts are in creative testing. Don’t worry about best practices that people like to throw around: “don’t scale more than 20%” that’s all horse shit. Chad scale.
The Bottom Line
The blueprint is simple: Follow this structure, and you’ll go from spending six figures a month on Meta Ads to cracking seven. It’s not rocket science, but it does take consistency, relentless testing, and a refusal to settle for “good enough.”
