The nine website checks: what a lead from your ad sees on a phone
Our free benchmark report opens your website on a phone and checks nine things. Here is what each one is, why it matters to someone who just tapped an ad, and how to fix it.
Notes from the work · Tag
#benchmark-playbooks
A four-week creative test plan for Meta ads, built from 18,920 ads
How many ads to launch, which kinds to test first, and how to judge them at the end of the month without fooling yourself.
Product demo and problem, then fix: two formats that bring cheaper leads
Two of the lower cost ad looks in our data are also two of the easiest to script. Here is how to make each one, and how to tell if it is working.
Fixing headline-only ads, and the feature list that costs nearly as much
Headline-only ads cost $34.35 per lead in our data, 83% more than before-and-after. Feature and benefit lists were close behind. Here is how to rebuild both into ads that show instead of tell.
The phone-shot UGC playbook: why the cheap-looking ad keeps winning
Phone-shot ads became winners at more than twice the rate of high-production ads in our data, and at a lower cost per lead. The group is small. Here is how to test it without a crew or a budget.
How to open an ad: what the first line is worth in cost per lead
The way an ad opens changed its cost per lead more than any other label we tracked, from $14.30 to $73.48. Here is what each opening did, which groups are too small to trust, and how to test your own.
The before-and-after playbook: the cheapest look in our data, made honestly
Before-and-after ads brought the lowest cost per lead of any look we labeled. The group is small, so here is how to test one properly, and how to make it without stretching the truth.
Winner rate vs cost per lead: which number to follow, and when
Some kinds of ads bring cheap leads but rarely scale. Others scale often but cost more per lead. Here is how to read both numbers and pick the one that fits the job in front of you.
Reading cost per lead without fooling yourself
Cost per lead is the most useful number in a lead-gen account and the easiest one to misread. Here is how to compare it fairly, and how to tell a real difference from a lucky week.
Grade every ad twice: once for Meta's pick, once for yours
Meta decides which ads get the money. You decide which ads get the leads you can afford. In our data those two picks agree less than half the time, so every ad needs two grades.
Where your Meta ad money really goes, and when to refresh a winner
Nearly half of all the money in 18,920 Meta ads went to the 6.2% that became winners. Here is how to manage that concentration, spot a tiring winner and replace it before it fades.
Most Meta ads barely run. How to judge one in its first week
Two of every three Meta ads we graded spent under $100 in their whole life. Here is how to read a new ad early without cutting a winner before it starts.
How many new Meta ads should you launch a week?
Accounts that launched four or more new ads a week found about one winner a month. Accounts under one a week found about one a quarter. Here is how to pick your pace.
See your own locations in it.
Book a walkthrough with David Steel. Bring last month's lead count and one location you are worried about.