The Setup
In January, an ecom account we manage was running graphics, unboxing videos and testimonials. All decent creative. The best ad in the account was none of them. It was the founder, talking to camera, explaining why they started the brand.
There was no fancy edit and no big concept. Just a person explaining why the brand exists. Here’s what the numbers said, and what I’d check in your own account.
The Numbers
Hook rate is the percentage of people who watch past the first 3 seconds of a video. The founder ad held 59% of viewers past that point. The account average was 17%.
That gap carried through to revenue. The founder ad returned a 4.88 ROAS. Most of the rest of the account sat at around 2.
Meta noticed. Three ads took roughly 74% of the spend, because the algorithm will push budget toward whatever people respond to.
The Highest CTR Ad Wasn’t The Winner
This is the part I’d want any founder to read twice. The ad with the highest click-through rate in the account (3.79%) converted worse than the founder ad.
It got more clicks and made less money. If we’d picked winners on CTR alone, we’d have backed the wrong ad.
A click only tells you someone was curious. It doesn’t tell you they bought, or that they were the right person to be clicking. The founder ad attracted fewer clicks from people who were more likely to buy, and that’s a better trade.
What Happened When We Scaled It
We spent roughly three times the previous month’s budget. Purchases went from 151 to 764. CPA still came in 34% below the benchmark, which we based on the 90 days before we started.
Scaling usually pushes CPA up. Here it came down, which tells me the account had found something people actually wanted to watch, not just a lucky week.
Why I Think It Worked (And Where I’m Guessing)
I can’t prove the reason, so treat this as my read, not a rule. A founder explaining why they started the brand answers the question a cold audience has before they’ll buy: who are these people and why should I trust them? Graphics and unboxing videos show the product. The founder ad shows the person behind it.
It also doesn’t look like an ad. People scroll past things that look like ads. A person talking to camera looks like content, so more of them stay.
What To Check In Your Own Account
- Sort your video ads by hook rate, not CTR. If your best-held ad isn’t the one getting the most spend, find out why.
- Look at where the spend is going. If three ads are taking most of it, those three are your account. Ask what they have in common.
- Judge the click-heavy ads on what happens after the click. Compare CTR against purchase conversion, not against other CTRs.
- Test a founder or team video if you haven’t. It’s cheap to make, and it won’t suit every brand. But if you’ve never tested it, you don’t know.
The Takeaway
The ad that wins in your account often isn’t the one you’d have picked. The only way to find out is to test different types of creative and let the numbers decide, then back whatever people actually watch.