Business Context
You are the Account Executive for a large DTC retailer spending $4.8M per quarter on Meta Ads across Facebook, Instagram, and Reels placements. The client says performance has deteriorated over the last 6 weeks and is considering shifting 20% of budget to another channel.
Metric Scenario
Compared with the prior 6-week period, spend is up from $1.10M to $1.25M (+14%), impressions are up 18%, CTR fell from 1.8% to 1.5%, landing page view rate after click fell from 82% to 74%, purchase conversion rate from landing page view fell from 4.6% to 3.9%, and blended ROAS declined from 2.9x to 2.2x. Frequency increased from 2.7 to 4.1. CPM rose from $11.20 to $12.80, while CPC increased from $0.62 to $0.85. Existing customer purchases are flat, but new customer purchases are down 19%. The client launched 12 new creatives, expanded into Reels, and changed the website checkout flow during the same period.
Requirements
- Define the primary KPI you would use to diagnose the client challenge and explain why.
- Decompose the KPI into the major drivers across media delivery, on-platform engagement, site conversion, and retention/new-vs-existing customer mix.
- Identify the top 3 hypotheses for the decline and specify which metric movements support each one.
- Prioritize what you would investigate first and what you would tell the client in an initial readout.
- Recommend 3 concrete actions and the success metrics you would monitor after changes are made.
Data Available
- Meta Ads Manager campaign/ad set/ad-level delivery data
- Meta Pixel and Conversions API event logs
- Breakdown reports by placement, audience, creative, geography, and device
- Website funnel events: landing page view, add to cart, initiate checkout, purchase
- CRM export with new vs existing customer flag and 30-day repeat purchase behavior
