Frequency is the average number of times one person has seen your ad. Once it climbs past 3.0 — and especially above 3.5 — the law of diminishing returns kicks in hard. The people most likely to buy have already made their decision. You're now paying to annoy the same audience repeatedly, and Meta's algorithm is starting to penalise your relevance ranking in response.

• My campaign frequency in Ads Manager is above 3.0 over a 7-day window
• I haven't refreshed my creative (images, copy, or video) in the last 3–4 weeks
• My cost-per-click (CPC) has risen by more than 15% over the past fortnight
• I'm running to the same saved or custom audience without rotation or exclusion lists

A week-over-week increase of 10–20% in your Cost Per Lead (CPL) or Cost Per Purchase isn't random variation — it's a reliable signal of audience saturation. The prospects most predisposed to convert have already done so. Meta is now working harder to find buyers in a pool that's increasingly resistant. Left unchecked, your CPL will continue to rise until the campaign becomes unviable.

• My CPL or cost per purchase has increased by 10% or more in the last two weeks
• My total ad spend is consistent or growing, but results are staying flat or declining
• I haven't expanded my audience targeting or tested a new audience segment recently
• I'm using a manual bid strategy without reviewing it against current market CPMs

When your click-through rate (CTR) falls while your impressions stay the same or grow, your audience has seen your ad — and stopped caring. This is classic creative fatigue. Meta's algorithm will continue to serve your ad because you've set the budget, but it's progressively showing it to lower-quality portions of your audience. A declining CTR below 0.9% on cold audiences is a red flag demanding immediate creative intervention.

• My link CTR has dropped more than 20% from its peak over the past 14 days
• I'm running the same primary image or video creative for more than 4 weeks
• My 3-second video view rate or thumb-stop ratio has declined noticeably
• I have no active A/B test running against my current best-performing creative

Clicks without conversions is one of the most confusing (and expensive) failure modes. The ad is doing its job — it's generating interest. But somewhere between the click and the form, the funnel is broken. The problem is usually a mismatch between what the ad promises and what the landing page delivers, or you've accidentally drifted into targeting an audience that's curious but not ready to buy.

• My landing page conversion rate has dropped below 2% despite healthy click volume
• The headline and offer on my landing page differ from the ad that drove the click
• My ad set targeting has broadened recently (Advantage+ audience expansion switched on)
• My landing page load time is above 3 seconds on mobile (tested recently)

Meta's algorithm actively rewards accounts that test, learn, and iterate. When an account runs the same creative for more than 4–6 weeks without introducing new variants, it enters what experienced media buyers call a "slow death spiral" — CPL creeps up, relevance dips, and the campaign quietly underperforms against the auction. Worse, the business owner often doesn't notice because the numbers move gradually, not dramatically.

• I cannot recall the last time I launched a brand-new creative into an active campaign
• I have no structured creative testing calendar or testing cadence in place
• My top-performing ads have been "winning" for more than 6 weeks without a challenger
• My Quality Ranking in Ads Manager shows "Average" or "Below Average" on active ads