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New Meta ad account — $500+ CPMs, should I go broad or layered, and ATC→IC→Purchase or straight to Purchase?
Posted by on November 28, 2025 at 10:31 amHey everyone — I’m running a Shopify skincare brand and I’ve been stuck trying to figure out two major things that seem to divide everyone running Meta ads:
- Should new accounts optimize gradually (ATC → IC → Purchase) or go straight to Purchase?
- Should new accounts start with broad targeting or small layered audiences?
I’ve tested both directions but I still can’t tell which is actually better for a clean, untrained pixel. My CPMs have been brutal — usually $200–500, sometimes even $800+, even with solid creatives (CTR 5–15%) and verified setup.
⚙️ Quick Context
- Brand new ad account, minimal spend history.
- Domain verified, pixel + CAPI fully connected.
- Shopify store loads fast, no policy issues.
- Tried both Purchase and ATC optimization.
- Tested broad (60M) vs layered (100k–400k) audiences.
- Still seeing high CPMs from day one of every campaign.
I’ve reached out to Meta support, but they give the usual “increase budget or improve creatives” response, which doesn’t address the root issue. So I want to hear from people who’ve actually been through this.
🎯 Debate #1 — Gradual Funnel vs. Straight to Purchase
💭 Viewpoint 1 — Train the pixel step by step
✅ Pros: Builds event data faster on new pixels.
❌ Cons: Might ‘teach’ Meta to find people who only add to cart, not buy.💭 Viewpoint 2 — Go straight to Purchase from day one
✅ Pros: Focused on your real goal from the start.
❌ Cons: Meta might struggle to find buyers with low event density and spend more inefficiently.🧭 Debate #2 — Broad vs. Layered Targeting on a New Account
💭 Viewpoint 1 — Go Broad (millions of people audience size)
✅ Pros: Easier scaling, long-term data efficiency.
❌ Cons: On new accounts, CPMs can skyrocket and spend gets scattered with no clear pattern.💭 Viewpoint 2 — Go Layered (100k–400k audience size stacked interests)
✅ Pros: Tighter targeting, cleaner early data, often lower CPM.
❌ Cons: Smaller audiences can fatigue quickly and deliver inconsistently.🔍 What I’m Trying to Find Out
For those of you who’ve actually launched new ad accounts or new stores recently (especially in skincare, beauty, or DTC):
- Do you start with Add to Cart / IC optimization before Purchase — or just go straight to Purchase from day one?
- Did you notice a difference in CPMs or learning speed between the two methods?
- When starting fresh, has broad targeting or layered small audiences worked better for you?
- Have you noticed that one method helps build account trust faster than the other?
🧾 TL;DR
Relatively Fresh ad account (4k total spend), verified pixel + domain, but CPMs are sky-high ($200–500+).
Trying to figure out what actually works better for a clean pixel:- Gradual optimization (ATC → IC → Purchase) vs. straight to Purchase.
- Broad audiences (millions) vs. layered small audiences (100k–400k).
Would love to hear real results from people who’ve tested both — not just theory. 🙏
I’ll share back my findings after testing both approaches so we can make this thread a solid reference for others stuck in the same “new account CPM trap.”
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1 Reply
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It is Black Friday week, everything is more expensive right now. Plus Christmas is around the corner.
Picking one option over another won’t guarantee you have low CPMs as every ad account is different. You should work on making better ad creative that targets different people. Your ad creative is an input in the ad auction. Just picking interest target or just picking broad targeting will not get your CPMs down if your ad creative is the issue.
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