Stop Judging Creatives by ROAS at First Sight đ đŸ
The key metrics you shouldnât ignore before deciding to cut a creative too soon.
TL;DR:
Donât Kill Too Soon: ROAS isnât the full story. A creative can âfailâ at conversion but still fuel your funnel.
Engagement Signals: Check hook rate (>30%), hold rate (>10%), and CTR (>1%) to see if people care enough to stay and click.
Purchase Intent: Look at cost per add-to-cart (vs. average) and add-to-cart rate (5â10%), early actions often predict later conversions.
Interaction Quality: Organic comments, shares, and product questions matter more than generic reactions. They reveal genuine interest and trust-building.
The Takeaway: Analyse creatives holistically. A low-ROAS ad can be your top-funnel hero, feeding scale, awareness, and future revenue.
If youâve interacted with us at any of our events, you already know, weâve been shouting from the rooftops about one thing: creative testing is everything.
Itâs the engine behind efficient spend, scalable growth, and predictable performance. Still, even with that message broadcast widely, a common question keeps coming back:
Should you kill a creative just because it has low ROAS?
Short answer: not immediately.
ROAS is a vital signal, but it only tells you what happened at the last step of the funnel. It doesnât explain whether the creative is building awareness, generating intent, or enriching retargeting pools, all of which matter enormously in African markets where purchase journeys frequently need more touchpoints and more trust-building than in other regions.
The trap is simple: if you judge everything by short-term ROAS, you risk cutting the very ads that feed the rest of the funnel. And once you remove that oxygen, your mid- and bottom-funnel assets often lose the scale and efficiency they relied on.
Case study: over $70,000 in revenue saved
On an account we managed that spent just over $275,000 per month on Meta across several African markets, we had a strict breakeven ROAS target of 1.7. The rule was blunt: creatives below that threshold were paused. During one optimisation cycle, a creative came in at 1.3 ROAS which meant it should have been cut immediately.
But before killing it, we dug deeper. Hook and hold rates were excellent; CTR was unusually high; cost per add-to-cart was well below the account average. The only weak metric was conversion rate. Reviewing the creative explained why. It was a UGC-style street interview, the kind of creative built to spark curiosity and start conversations, not drive an instant purchase.
We decided to give it more room. A few weeks later, the creative had spent $117,000 and closed at a final ROAS of 1.9. In short, a creative that almost got axed ended up unlocking over $70,000 in additional revenue.
Why did this creative perform so well?
Although its initial ROAS wasnât great, the ad was serving a top-funnel role that complemented the accountâs MOFU and BOFU creatives. It created indirect but powerful effects: it widened brand discovery by reaching entirely new audiences; it drove social engagement, comments, reactions and organic shares that acted as social proof; and it fed retargeting pools with users who showed interest even if they didnât convert immediately.
Over time those effects lowered acquisition costs and allowed the creative to become a dependable long-term asset capable of supporting scale at an acceptable ROAS.
How to analyse engagement metrics:
These metrics tell you whether the creative is actually doing its job at the top of the funnel, stopping the scroll, holding attention, and generating forward movement.
Hook rate (aim for >30%)
Hold rate (aim for >10%)
CTR on outbound link (aim for >1%)
If users are watching, engaging, and clicking, the creative is strong even if ROAS hasnât caught up yet. That usually means youâre dealing with an audience mismatch, a funnel sequencing issue, or simply a creative that belongs higher up the funnel.
To assess purchase intent:
These metrics show whether the creative is nudging people toward consideration and early-stage action.
Cost per item added to cart (compare against your account average)
Add-to-cart rate (aim for 5â10%)
If add-to-cart signals are healthy but conversions are weak, your problem isnât the creative. Itâs friction. Pricing. Trust. Checkout flow. Delivery concerns. Killing the creative wonât solve any of these but fixing your funnel or landing page will.
To observe interaction depth:
This is where you see how people are truly responding to your message especially in markets where comments act as trust signals.
Organic comments and shares
Quality of interactions (e.g., real product questions vs. generic emojis)
When people ask about sizing, colours, delivery, availability, or material quality, itâs not just engagement, itâs intent. These are the kinds of signals analytics dashboards donât always quantify but heavily influence whether a creative should stay or go.
So the next time a creative comes in with low ROAS, donât rush to cut it. Zoom out. Look at what itâs doing across the entire journey. Some creatives scale. Some educate. Some build trust. Some prime the audience. Growth comes from understanding which role each creative plays, not from expecting one asset to do everything.
Low ROAS doesnât always mean failure. Sometimes it just means the creative is doing a different job, one your performance strategy still depends on.
Conclusion
The basic rule on Meta, cut creatives that donât show results, is sensible because it protects performance. But in practice, especially across Africaâs diverse markets, you must think beyond a single metric.
A creative that âfailsâ on ROAS today can be one of your most valuable investments tomorrow when itâs feeding awareness, trust, and retargeting pools that make conversions cheaper and scale possible.
Performance analysis needs nuance: donât let a single figure become the prosecutor. Read the signals. Understand the role each creative plays. And when in doubt, dig a little deeper, thatâs where scale lives.
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