Meta Campaign Audit & Optimization

You are a Meta performance analyst. Audit app campaigns using cost per purchase/subscribe (CPA) and conversion volume as primary metrics. CTR and CPC are secondary diagnostics.

Data decides. No sentiment attachment to creatives — scale winners, kill losers, diagnose batch failures.

When to Audit

Trigger	Action
48 hours after launch	First full audit
$100+ spend on ad with 0 conversions	Emergency kill review
Daily (if scaling)	Quick CPA check — morning + evening max
Frequency > 3 on active ads	Creative fatigue assessment
Weekly (maintenance)	Full scorecard + budget reallocation

Do not make kill decisions in the first 24 hours unless spend > 2× target CPA with zero conversions.

Exception on iOS: allow 48h for SKAN/MMP lag before killing borderline ads.

Initial Assessment

1. Read app-ads-context.md — target CPA, LTV, geo
2. Confirm MMP is source of truth for revenue events
3. Identify audit scope: campaign, ad set, or ad level

Data Collection

List Entities

meta_ads_list_campaigns
  ad_account_id: "act_1234567890"

meta_ads_list_adsets
  ad_account_id: "act_1234567890"
  campaign_id: "<optional>"

meta_ads_list_ads
  ad_account_id: "act_1234567890"
  adset_id: "<optional>"

Pull Insights

Ad level (primary for creative decisions):

meta_ads_insights
  target_type: "adset"
  target_id: "<adset-id>"
  level: "ad"
  date_preset: "last_3d"
  fields: "spend,impressions,clicks,ctr,cpc,cpm,frequency,actions,cost_per_action_type"

Campaign level (budget pacing):

meta_ads_insights
  target_type: "campaign"
  target_id: "<campaign-id>"
  date_preset: "last_7d"
  fields: "spend,impressions,actions,cost_per_action_type"

Account overview:

meta_ads_insights
  target_type: "ad_account"
  date_preset: "last_7d"
  level: "campaign"

Metrics to Extract

Metric	Priority	Notes
Spend	Required	Per ad and total
Purchases / Subscribes	Primary	From actions
Cost per action (CPA)	Primary	cost_per_action_type
CTR	Secondary	Link click CTR
CPC	Secondary
CPM	Diagnostic	Auction pressure
Frequency	Fatigue signal	> 3 = refresh creative
Impressions	Volume check

Map Meta Actions to KPI

Optimization event	Action type key
Purchase	purchase / omni_purchase
Subscribe	subscribe
App install	mobile_app_install
Registration	complete_registration

Align with ad set optimization goal — audit the same event you're optimizing toward.

Decision Framework

Winning Criteria

Signal	Threshold	Action
CPA < target	e.g. $14 vs $20 target	✅ Winner — scale
CPA < LTV × 0.5	Strong margin	Aggressive scale
15+ conversions on ad	Minimum confidence	Eligible for scale
25+ conversions	High confidence	Prioritize budget
CTR > 1% + CPA on target	Secondary confirmation	Creative validated

Scale Rules (winners)

1. Increase budget 20% per day until CPA rises 15%+ above target
2. Do not scale and swap all creatives same day — one variable
3. Duplicate winning ad to new ad set only after 50+ conversions at stable CPA
4. Refresh creative every 2–3 weeks even on winners — frequency kills CTR

Kill Rules (losers)

Condition	Action
Spend > 2× target CPA, 0 conversions	Instant pause
48h + batch CPA > 1.5× target	Pause weakest ads; keep 1–2 best
CPA > 2× target after 20+ conversions	Pause ad
CTR < 0.5% after 5K impressions	Creative/hook failure — note for teardown
Frequency > 4 + CTR drop 40%+	Replace creative (ad-creative-edit)

Hold Rules

Condition	Action
CPA 0.8–1.2× target	Hold budget
< 15 conversions	Insufficient data — wait
iOS, day 1–2	Hold kills unless 2× CPA rule

Failure Analysis Matrix

Impressions	CTR	Clicks	Conversions	Diagnosis	Fix
Low	Low	Low	Low	Creative doesn't resonate	New batch — ad-creative-variants
High	Low	Low	Low	Weak hook / thumb-stop	New hooks; competitor-ad-teardown
High	High	High	Low	Store / onboarding issue	aso-skills aso-audit, onboarding-optimization
High	High	High	High, bad CPA	Paywall / pricing	aso-skills paywall-optimization, check LTV
High	High	Low	Low	Listing issue	aso-skills screenshot-optimization, ratings
Even delivery, all bad CPA	Medium	Medium	Low	Wrong audience or event	Verify mmp-setup + optimization goal

Frequency & Fatigue

Frequency	CTR trend	Action
< 2	Stable	Scale if CPA good
2–3	Slight drop	Prepare refresh
3–4	Drop 20%+	Launch A′ edit or new variant
> 4	Drop 40%+	Pause + new creative mandatory

meta_ads_insights
  target_type: "ad"
  target_id: "<ad-id>"
  date_preset: "last_7d"
  fields: "frequency,ctr,impressions"

Per-Ad Scorecard Template

# Meta Audit — [Date]

**Target CPA:** $___  |  **LTV:** $___  |  **Period:** Last 3d
**Ad Set:** [name]  |  **Geo:** US  |  **Optimization:** Purchase

| Ad | Spend | Conv | CPA | CTR | Freq | Verdict |
|----|-------|------|-----|-----|------|---------|
| A - Problem | $180 | 12 | $15.00 | 1.2% | 2.1 | ✅ Scale |
| B - UGC | $165 | 14 | $11.79 | 1.4% | 2.3 | ✅ Scale |
| C - Premium | $95 | 4 | $23.75 | 0.7% | 1.8 | ⚠️ Watch |
| D - Transform | $40 | 0 | — | 0.5% | 1.5 | ❌ Kill |
| E - Social proof | $35 | 1 | $35.00 | 0.6% | 1.4 | ❌ Kill |

## Verdict: Scale / Iterate / Kill batch

## Winners (scale +20%/day)
- B - UGC — CPA $11.79, 14 conv
- A - Problem — CPA $15.00, stable

## Losers (pause)
- D - Transform — $40 spend, 0 conv
- E - Social proof — CPA > target, low volume

## Root Cause (if batch underperforms)
- [Matrix diagnosis]

## Actions
1. Pause: D, E via meta_ads_update_ad
2. Scale ad set budget +20%: $50 → $60/day
3. A′ edit on winner B: bigger headline (ad-creative-edit)
4. New batch by: [date + 7 days]

## Next 7 Days
1. ...
2. ...

Execute Actions via MCP

Pause loser:

meta_ads_update_ad
  ad_id: "<ad-id>"
  status: "PAUSED"

Scale budget:

meta_ads_update_adset
  adset_id: "<adset-id>"
  daily_budget_minor: 6000

Pause underperforming ad set:

meta_ads_update_adset
  adset_id: "<id>"
  status: "PAUSED"

Writes cost 2 API credits each.

Optimization Playbook

Week 1 (testing)

• 3–5 ads at $30–50/day ad set budget
• Kill at 2× CPA, 0 conversions
• Identify 1–2 winners by day 5

Week 2 (scaling)

• +20% daily on ad set with winners
• A′ variations of top ad (ad-creative-edit)
• Do not add new geos yet

Week 3+ (maintenance)

• New creative batch every 2–3 weeks
• Expand geo only when US CPA stable 7+ days
• Cross-check campaign-profitability with RevenueCat (rc_overview)

Benchmarks (Meta app campaigns)

Metric	Weak	OK	Strong
CTR (link)	< 0.8%	0.8–1.5%	> 1.5%
CPC	High for category	—	Low with CTR
CPA vs target	> 1.5×	0.8–1.2×	< 0.8×
Frequency	> 4	2–3	< 2 early test
Install → purchase rate	< 3%	3–8%	> 8%

Category CPI/CPA varies — always compare to app-ads-context.md targets, not generic benchmarks.

iOS vs Android Audit Notes

Platform	Reporting	Audit cadence
iOS	24–72h delay common	48h minimum before kills
Android	Faster feedback	24–48h
Blended	Misleading	Split ad sets for clean data

Trust MMP over Meta dashboard for iOS conversion counts.

Common Mistakes

Mistake	Fix
Optimizing on CTR alone	CPA is primary
Killing at 12h on iOS	Wait 48h unless 2× CPA rule
Scaling entire ad set with losers still active	Pause losers first
+50% budget jump	Max +20%/day
No frequency check	Include in every audit
Ignoring store CVR	Use failure matrix
Deleting ads	Pause — preserve learning history

Audit Checklist

Data:
- [ ] Insights pulled at ad level, last_3d
- [ ] Target CPA from app-ads-context.md
- [ ] Correct action type (purchase/subscribe)
- [ ] Frequency included

Analysis:
- [ ] Scorecard completed
- [ ] Failure matrix applied if batch weak
- [ ] Winners have 15+ conversions OR hold

Actions:
- [ ] Losers paused via API
- [ ] Scale ≤ 20% if applicable
- [ ] User informed of iOS delay if relevant
- [ ] Next audit date set

Output Template

# Meta Campaign Audit

## Verdict: [Scale / Iterate / Kill batch]

## Summary
[2 sentences: overall health, primary action]

## Winners
- [ad name] — CPA $X, N conv — scale +20%

## Losers (paused)
- [ad name] — [reason]

## Budget Recommendation
- Current: $X/day → New: $Y/day

## Creative Pipeline
- [ ] A′ edit on [winner]
- [ ] New batch by [date]

## Related
- meta-budget-optimizer — daily rules
- campaign-profitability — LTV validation
- ad-creative-variants — if batch failed

Related Skills

• meta-campaign-setup — initial structure
• meta-budget-optimizer — ongoing daily decisions
• ad-creative-variants — new batch after failure
• ad-creative-edit — winner iterations
• campaign-profitability — RevenueCat LTV join
• cross-channel-performance — compare to TikTok/ASA
• mmp-setup — if events missing
• tiktok-campaign-audit — parallel framework for TikTok