Cheap Meta Ads Traffic Isn’t Always Good Traffic for Creators

I’ve always been a little skeptical of paid media rules that sound too obvious.

Retargeting is a good example. The logic makes sense: someone already knows you, so they should be easier to convert than someone seeing you for the first time.

But across all three creator accounts our team reviewed from Summer Prime Week, prospecting delivered a stronger estimated return on ad spend, measured by affiliate earnings, than retargeting. The size of the gap varied from account to account.

One account made the distinction especially clear.

A cheaper visit can produce a weaker return

In that account, retargeting cost less per landing page view than prospecting. Yet its estimated affiliate earnings relative to ad spend were far lower.

The ads were finding inexpensive visits. Those visits just weren’t producing enough return to justify the spend.

It’s easy to lose sight of that distinction when managing a live campaign. A low cost per click looks good. A low cost per landing page view looks good. But neither tells you enough about what happens after someone leaves the ad.

Which audience is associated with more shipped revenue? What did the creator earn in affiliate commissions? Do those earnings justify what was spent to drive the traffic?

That’s why our paid media team looks beyond the cost of a visit and connects campaign decisions to downstream commerce results.

Make each audience earn its budget

Three accounts aren’t a controlled test, and I wouldn’t turn these results into a rule that creators should avoid retargeting. Audiences, products, and campaign histories differ.

But retargeting shouldn’t get a free pass just because it’s retargeting.

If you’re putting a substantial Meta ad budget behind your product recommendations, ask which audiences are generating affiliate earnings relative to their cost. If you work with an agency to manage Meta ads for your creator business, ask how it measures affiliate earnings against ad spend not just simply the cost of a visit.

The next dollar may belong with an audience whose visits cost more but produce a better return.

That’s a useful question to have answered before Prime Big Deal Days. Once the event starts, there’s little time to make budget decisions based on assumptions.

For more tips on paid media for creators, check out these popular posts:

• How Amazon Creators Can Turn Prime Day Content Into Evergreen Paid Social Campaigns
• There Probably Isn’t a “Best” Prime Day Ad Format For Creators
• Prime Day Is Probably a Bad Time for Creators to Start Learning About Paid Media