Have you noticed your Meta ads’ performance dropping over time? You’ve started with a strong ROAS, but then one day, the number of people clicking your ad decreased, and your cost per click and cost per result kept rising. When this happens, it could indicate creative fatigue.
What is creative fatigue in Meta?
Imagine you’re scrolling through your Facebook or Instagram feed during your free time, watching funny videos, catching up on what your friends are doing, when an ad appears asking you to buy a product or enquire about a service.
The first time, you might pay attention. The second time, maybe you’ll still notice it. But after seeing the same ad over and over again, you’re much more likely to scroll straight past it. That’s essentially what creative fatigue is.
Creative fatigue is when people have seen your ad so many times that they become less likely to engage with it. As a result, your click-through rate can drop while your cost per click and cost per result will start to increase.
It’s important to keep in mind that, unlike Google Ads, where people are actively searching for certain products and services, Meta Ads usually interrupt your audience while they’re doing something else. If your creative is not engaging or if people have seen it so many times that it starts to feel repetitive, you are much less likely to get the results you’re looking for.
What are the causes of creative fatigue?
Creative fatigue can happen for different reasons, and how quickly it sets in will depend on your location, audience size and targeting.
One common cause is overexposure. If your audience is too small, they will see your ad more often. For example, a plumber in Hobart will likely need to rotate creatives more often than a plumber in Sydney because their audience sizes are very different.
That leads us to the second problem. A lot of people still run Meta Ads with just one creative. If you only have one ad running, Meta has very little creative variety to work with. That means the platform can’t test and compare different formats and messaging to see which ones perform best. Therefore, it can’t optimise the campaign to its full potential.
Which metrics in Meta Ads can indicate creative fatigue?
The easiest way to spot creative fatigue in Meta is to analyse your campaign’s performance and compare it with the previous period, when it was performing well.
To do so, have a look at the following metrics:
- Ad frequency is higher: If it’s way too high, your audience is seeing your ad too many times.
- Low CTR: A low click-through rate indicates that fewer people are interested in your ad.
- Higher CPC: You noticed that you’re paying more per click.
- Higher Cost Per Result: You have been paying more for the results you’re getting in your campaign.
How to avoid creative fatigue in Meta?
There are a few ways to avoid creative fatigue in Meta.
- Always run different creatives within the same campaign. There’s no set number of assets you need to include in a Meta Ads campaign, because it depends on budget and audience size as well. But make sure you add creative variety so Meta can test it. Try different formats such as short-form video, carousel ads, a testimonial and static images. Make sure you’re giving Meta enough variety to test across different placements.
- Whenever possible, expand your audience. The principle is simple: the smaller your audience is, the faster the same people will see your ads. Broadening your targeting can give Meta a larger pool of people to show your ads to.
- Refresh your creatives before your performance drops too far. Make sure you don’t wait til last minute to give your Meta ads campaign the refresh it needs. It’s much easier to prevent fatigue than to recover once performance has already begun to decline.
Meta is also pushing further the AI-powered advertising features. That means you can select creative variations with their Meta Advantage+. However, if you decide to use it, keep an eye on Meta labels for AI-generated content for transparency.
Get more results from your Meta Ads
Creative fatigue is real, but it shouldn’t be confused with poor ad performance caused by other factors. If your campaigns aren’t delivering the results you want, it may be time to get some help. Get in touch with 42 Digital, and we can discuss a strategy that works for your business and goals!