What is creative optimisation on Meta, and why does it matter for brands and advertisers?

Creative is the biggest lever for performance on Meta Ads. 

Sure, you could scale budgets and tweak your targeting. But the fact is: Meta’s algorithm rewards good ads that hook and convert. 

As a Melbourne digital marketing agency with years of experience in paid advertising, we’ve found that across Facebook and Instagram, it's creative that best helps get more eyes on your brand – driving new customer acquisition and generating incremental revenue. 

With users seeing thousands of ads daily, fatigue sets in fast. 

Meta’s own internal research suggests that most ads begin to decline in performance after 7–10 days, especially if no creative refreshes or audience shifts are introduced.

Fresh, high-quality creatives keep performance consistent AND costs efficient. 

Strategic creative testing and optimisation can significantly improve click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates (CVR) and ultimately, your return on investment / ROAS.

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How to optimise Meta Ads?

For starters, you’ll need to look at the data.

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So, when is it time to turn an ad off?

When we consider turning off or replacing a creative, it’s usually because:

• CTR drops below what we (or digital marketers in general) are happy with.
  
  • Benchmark typically sits at 1% or over, but it depends on the creative, the campaign objective or on the percentage decline week on week. 
• ROAS falls below what is profitable or our target.
• Frequency increases, over 3 for new audiences or over 8 for existing audiences.
• CPM increases with no improvement in conversions
  
  • This is a sign that Meta is penalising the account for old / poor engagement ads.
• Thumbstop ratio drops significantly over time.
  
  • It’s no longer stopping people in the feed because they’ve seen it enough.‍
• Ad fatigue sets in, with revenue or engagement declining. Ad stops spending.

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Through continuous monitoring of ad performance, the best practice is to then rotate new creatives before fatigue hits – maintaining momentum and ensuring our advertising dollars are spent efficiently and that we get traffic in the most cost-effective way.
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There are exceptions. Sometimes, if a creative is still driving purchases, we’ll weigh up whether the lower CTR or higher CPM is worth the revenue coming in. Or if the CTR is super high, maybe it serves as an awareness piece we keep in market as long as it doesn’t hog an exorbitant budget.

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Why can’t ads run forever?

Creative Fatigue: Meta Ads’ algorithm shows your best performers more often — over time, the audience gets oversaturated and overexposed to the same material, which is why diversified content is important for brands looking to tap into multiple demographics.  

Audience Blindness: Even top creatives lose effectiveness when repeatedly shown to the same users. People get bored. It’s a principle as simple as that. 

‍Platform & Trends Evolve: What works this month may not work next month. Attention spans and platform behaviour shift rapidly, and there’s nothing cringier than setting live a trend that expired three months ago. The world’s moved on, honey.

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Why can’t we re-implement old creative?

Recycling past winners is a shortcut for a sugar hit of performance, but often results in underperformance quicker than usual. Why?

• Quicker Decline: Our digital marketing experts (and agency partners) have found that the longevity of an old ad reduces dramatically when compared against fresh creative. CTRs tend to drop quicker, whilst CPMs rise way faster.
• Pre-Fatigued Audiences: Facebook remembers user interaction history. An old creative may still be associated with previous engagement fatigue.
• Context Changes: The market, competition, and audience mindset may have shifted since the original ad ran, compromising ad relevance and user engagement.
• Algorithm Memory: Facebook’s delivery system already ‘knows’ how this creative performed. Historical performance stays in the ad platform, after all. This may restrict impressions if results weren’t strong the last time it ran.‍
• Opportunity Cost: Reusing old creative can delay the process of testing new angles or formats that might scale better.

Instead, analyse past winners for patterns (incl. hooks, visuals, offers, copy) and rebuild them with fresh wrappers or new concepts.

Best practices for creative refresh and testing.

• Test one variable at a time (e.g. hook, CTA, format)
• Use a blend of UGC, branded, and high-production assets within your ad account
• Rotate in new creatives every 1–2 weeks, or based on fatigue signs
• Set rules or alerts to monitor performance drops
• Maintain a creative testing roadmap and archive of winners.

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We couldn’t call ourselves a data-driven performance marketing agency without these roadmaps, templates and best practices ready for reference across ALL industries.

Chat with your account manager to access a bespoke one for your brand. 

And if you aren’t a client of ours, click here for a free account audit and get onboard.

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What types of content should we use where?

Not all ad formats are created equal. Time and place plays a part too, and whilst different accounts can expect different things, a general rule of thumb is as follows:
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1. Branded Content: Builds trust, but not always clicks.

Branded content elevates perception, communicates quality, and tells the deeper story.

It’s essential for:

• Website hero banners
• Landing pages
• Post-purchase email flows
• PR Content & OOH (Out-of-Home Advertising)
• Awareness campaigns (TOFU sorta vibe)

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But branded ads often underperform in paid social when directly compared to lo-fi creatives. Why?

• They look like ads. People scroll past them.
• They build emotional resonance, but lack urgency.
• They're often slower-paced, with storytelling that takes time to unfold.

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2. Lo-Fi / Native Creative: More often than not, does convert.

These are made to feel native to the platform (TikToks, Reels, Stories) and are optimised for:

• Hooking in the first 1–2 seconds
• Driving immediate action (e.g. clicks, sign-ups, purchases)
• Scaling through fast iteration and testing

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Lo-fi doesn’t mean off-brand. It means the creative:

• Feels real, not rehearsed
• Mirrors content users already engage with
• Gets to the point, and fast‍
• Is measured by results, not aesthetics

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Which is Better? You Need Both.

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Keen to understand how your creative mix can be optimised or iterated upon? Chat with us.