Hey {{ First Name | Founder }},
There is a metric that can tell you your Meta Ads are heading for trouble before ROAS starts to droop.
It's called CPMr.
And if you're running a brand that has been in market a while, it's worth paying attention to.
What Is CPMr?
Most people know CPM. That's simply the cost of showing your ads 1,000 times.
The problem is that CPM doesn't tell you whether Meta is reaching new people or just showing your ads to the same people over and over again.
That's where CPMr comes in.
CPMr is your cost to reach 1,000 unique people.
It's effectively CPM adjusted for frequency.
If CPM stays flat but CPMr keeps rising, it's usually a sign that Meta is having to show your ads to the same people repeatedly because it's running out of fresh audiences.
Why this is usually a mature brand problem
If you're spending $50 a day and have plenty of untapped audience, this probably isn't something to worry about.
But if you've been advertising for years, have a large customer database, and are spending significant budgets every month, it becomes much more relevant.
Over time, Meta can get stuck in a loop.
It keeps finding conversions from the same warm audiences, and ROAS looks decent enough.
But underneath the surface, you're paying more and more to find genuinely new customers.
What to do if CPMr starts rising
If you see CPMr trending upwards over several months, there are a few things I'd look at:
1. Refresh Creative More Often
Creative is usually the first place I look.
New creative gives Meta new ways to reach people and can help break out of audience fatigue.
2. Tighten Exclusions
If Meta is leaning too heavily on existing customers, exclude:
Recent purchasers
Email subscribers
Website visitors
This forces the algorithm further up the funnel.
3. Increase Creative Diversity
Don't just make more ads.
Make different ads.
Different hooks.
Different creators.
Different angles.
Different formats.
The goal is to appeal to audiences you aren't currently reaching.
The Key Takeaway
Don't obsess over your CPM number.
Different industries have different costs and that's completely normal.
Instead, watch for drift.
If your CPMr is steadily increasing, it's often a sign that your audience pool is narrowing and Meta is relying too heavily on the same people.
And by the time ROAS starts falling, that problem has usually been building for weeks or months.
Jessie x
PS. If you want help digging into your CPMr trend or building out a fresh creative testing plan, that's exactly the kind of thing we work through inside my coaching program, Ecomm Rockets. We also have an incredible guest speaker presenting 3 sessions across July - I’ll announce more this week 👀
