Know your break-even ROAS before you spend another dollar on Google
Google Ads appears to be adding a calculator that turns your profit margin into a break-even target. You can do the same math on a napkin today, and you should.
Notes from the work · Section
Playbooks
Step by step: what to change, in what order, and why.
Meta now turns your photos into video ads. Judge them by cost per lead.
Video from static images in Advantage+ creative is now generally available. It is a cheap way to get more video into your account. Whether it earns a place depends on one number, not on how slick it looks.
Stop paying Meta to find customers you already have
Meta opened its Customer Lifecycle Strategy setting to every advertiser on October 6. Here is what it does, what is still a test, and how to use your customer list so your new-customer budget goes to new customers.
Starting Monday, Google can put your website's deals into your ads
From October 12, Google Ads can find a promotion on your website and add it to your Search and Performance Max ads on its own. Eligible accounts are switched on by default. Here is how to check, and how to turn it off.
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.
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.
The four questions an AI agent asks your website
Can it get in, can it understand you, can it do something, and can it finish? A plain guide to what makes a local business website agent ready, with the points each fix is worth.
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.