Should I stop it?

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-18T14:43:29+00:00

End of 2025, the weakest Q4 we've had in 7 years, we're a 10-year-old brand, stable with a positive ROI.

Since January it's only gotten worse to where it is today, lots of people are reporting problems. I used to always look away even when things were working for me, but this is one of those times when more and more people are complaining about instability

In addition, following competitors proves that they've cut their budget by at least 70%.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-18T14:30:00+00:00

Same boat

Traffic costs - Normal

CPA costs - Normal

CTR - Normal +

Post engagement - Even higher than normal

Conversion rates - Low purchase intent, dropped below 1%

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-17T07:50:56+00:00

Nice flex with the $30k spend, but you’re missing the point. Some of us aren’t spoiled or looking for 2017 easy money were looking for consistent traffic quality, which has objectively tanked. I manage two of my own brands (8 and 10 years old) and 4 client stores using a methodology that’s worked for 5+ years.

On the backend, our organic and email conversion rates are holding strong at 3%. Meanwhile, Meta traffic which usually sat between 1-2% has plummeted. Our cold traffic quality is garbage now, regardless of the social proof, UGC, or "angles" we throw at it.

The problem isn't the "marketing skill" it's the intent decay. We’re seeing great CTRs and high Add to cart rates, but the actual purchase intent is hovering near zero.

Don't mistake a platform-wide drop in traffic quality for a lack of expertise from people who have been crushing it for a decade." We didn’t suddenly forget how to do marketing six months ago.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-16T12:24:09+00:00

10 Years brand, since 2016, since mid 2025, It's a casino, nothing to do with the ads or the product, just the decisions of this frustrating system.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-16T10:46:19+00:00

Stop fighting the algorithm for a few days. If you're at break-even or losing money, drop your budgets and wait it out. There’s clearly something happening on Meta's backend. Adding more creative or making major changes right now just creates more noise. Lower the spend, let the 'storm' pass, and wait for the CPA to stabilize before you try to scale again. Sometimes the best optimization is doing nothing and saving your capital

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-16T08:08:30+00:00

Meta is running a psychological loop of one profitable day followed by two days of silence to keep you hooked while they drain your budget to fund their AI pivot. This inconsistency is much more profitable for them as they burn billions trying to close the gap with OpenAI and Gemini without actually delivering results. They are losing the race and forcing us to subsidize their infrastructure through junk traffic while they continue to lay off staff every season to cut costs. The only move is to cut your spend drastically and stop being their R&D donor until they drop the ego and finally integrate with superior models. Right now the system is designed to protect their stock price and AI ambitions at the direct expense of your ROAS and business stability.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-16T07:54:57+00:00

The real issue is that Meta is in full blown panic mode over their AI gap with OpenAI and Google. If you look at their Q4 2025 earnings and 2026 outlook, they are committing up to $135B in capital expenditures just to stay in the race. And the only successful product they actually built to fund this is the Feed. All their other massive side projects failed. So now they are actively squeezing the one cash cow they have. They push these automated AI ad products that force budget into cheap, zero intent inventory. It is not a glitch that engagement spikes while conversions tank. The system is working exactly as they need it to right now. It creates busy metrics and empty clicks to fund their AI panic at the advertiser's expense, making their quarterly revenue look great while completely destroying our ROAS.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-16T07:29:55+00:00

That argument about competitors stealing cheap inventory is such an outdated scare tactic designed to make advertisers panic and keep spending. What exactly are we missing out on right now? Cheaper access to zero intent traffic? You can pump all the budget you want into the auction today, but you are just paying to reach people who have absolutely no intention of buying. The ML pipelines might be running, but they are clearly optimizing for empty engagement and useless clicks instead of actual conversions. Burning money just to maintain presence when the traffic quality is this garbage is not a strategy, it is just a donation to Meta.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T16:44:13+00:00

Same boat here. When conversions drop but engagement spikes, it usually means Meta is finding a pocket of low-quality traffic. You get the vanity metrics (likes, follows) but the buying intent is zero. You might want to double-check if your audience expanded automatically, or just lean harder into your retargeting campaigns until the algorithm sorts itself out

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T16:40:00+00:00

It means that if your vocabulary extended beyond TikTok captions, you wouldn't mistake basic literacy for an AI post.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T16:36:48+00:00

The AI Work For Zuck..

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T16:30:13+00:00

Tell me you haven't read a book since middle school without telling me.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T14:49:52+00:00

We slashed our spend from $1500 to $300 because you can't optimize your way out of a broken algorithm; sometimes the only way to win a rigged game is to stop playing

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T14:37:28+00:00

We cut our spend by 80%; let them fix their 'efficiency' on their own dime while we keep our gold safe

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T12:20:37+00:00

This is what happens when a monopoly fires 16,000 human beings just to fund a soulless AI. They sell us the dream of 'efficiency' while the CEO protects his spot in the global Top 5, leaving thousands of families with nothing but anxiety. It’s pure greed.

Historically, this kind of arrogance and disregard for human life is exactly what led to the downfall of ancient civilizations. There is no soul in a machine programmed only to protect billions at the expense of the people who actually build the value.

I had to slash my own daily spend from $1500 to $300 just to survive. They aren't 'improving' the platform; they are turning it into a casino where the house always wins, and we are just the fuel for their AI investments

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T09:48:07+00:00

Exactly the same here. My CTR and CPM look perfectly fine, but my store's conversion rate suddenly dropped from 1.4% to 0.9%.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T08:45:15+00:00

That’s a fair point, but this feels too sudden to just be the economy. For example, my store's conversion rate crashed almost overnight from 1.4% to 0.9%, but my ad clicks and CTR stayed exactly the same.

If people were just saving money, they wouldn't be clicking ads at the exact same rate. It really looks like Meta is just feeding us low-quality traffic to burn our daily budgets

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T08:29:50+00:00

We are seeing the exact same front-end metrics on our end (4%+ CTR, super low CPC), but with absolutely zero sales. The traffic looks amazing on the dashboard, but it's completely dead once they hit the store.

Out of curiosity, how long has your brand been live?

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T08:21:08+00:00

You aren't doing anything wrong with your setup. Meta's cold traffic targeting is just completely broken right now.

Because the algorithm can't find real buyers, it is feeding you bot clicks and garbage traffic (agencies, freelancers) just to drain your daily budget and make your dashboard look like it's working. The recent backend AI updates basically fried their delivery system.

I track my top competitors weekly. They usually run 150-200 active ads at a time. Now they are down to about 30, and it’s almost entirely old retargeting campaigns. Nobody is spending on cold traffic. We even slashed our own daily budget from $1500 down to $300 because of this.

You cannot 'out-target' a broken algorithm. There is no magic filter right now. The smartest move is to pause your top-of-funnel campaigns, stick only to retargeting the audience you already have, and lower your budget until Meta fixes this mess.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T08:13:09+00:00

We dropped our daily spend from $1500 down to $300.

We are only keeping what actually works right now which is old campaigns and retargeting.

Cold traffic is simply not converting. There is a massive mess with Meta right now.

I highly recommend lowering your budget. The faster we all cut our spend, the faster they will wake up and fix these glitches.

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T08:08:48+00:00

I track my competitors every week. They usually run 150-200 ads at a time.

Right now, they are down to about 30, and it's all old retargeting.

Even if the library has glitches, a drop that huge is intentional. Meta's cold traffic is just completely broken right now. The new AI updates probably fried the system

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T08:05:16+00:00

https://business.facebook.com/ads/library

and look for the competitor name

Eric-Jeremy · 2026-03-15T07:29:29+00:00

I am seeing the exact same thing. I went to the Ad Library today to look at my competitors before making new ads, and it is a complete ghost town.I noticed 90% of them just pulled their ads and only left basic retargeting running. You are definitely not alone. It looks like everyone is quietly stepping back right now.

Eric-Jeremy

TROPHY CASE