How to Identify Which Elements or Ads Are Actually Working

Does a high-ROAS ad mean it's performing well? Not always. Understanding what works in paid media is about knowing what story the numbers are telling — and figuring out why. That’s the difference between someone who simply manages campaigns and someone who leads with vision.

When an ad performs well, it’s usually because creative assets, offer, and audience are aligned. But you won’t reach that conclusion by just looking at ROAS. You need to look deeper.

Hard metrics tell you what is happening: ROAS, CPA, AOV. These guide decisions. But soft metrics explain why it’s happening: hook rate, thruplays, retention by segment, CPC, CTR, frequency, among others. These allow you to evolve creatives, improve storytelling, or rethink your approach.

Example: a good ROAS but poor video retention might mean the ad is declining. It still converts, but it could be on its way down. Or, if the hook rate is high but thruplays drop sharply, the content probably doesn’t deliver on what it promises in the first few seconds. In that case, you don’t need to change everything — just refine the narrative.

Another common signal: high CTR but high CPA. The ad is generating enough interest, but it’s not convincing people. Maybe it’s the offer, maybe the targeting, maybe friction on the landing page. What matters is having soft metrics available to cross-analyse and figure it out.

Ignore soft metrics, and you optimise half-blind. Ignore hard metrics, and you might improve something that won’t scale the business. Both coexist. Hard metrics decide whether something deserves budget. Soft metrics decide whether it deserves creative attention.

A team that understands this doesn’t just know how to scale what’s working. They know how to design ads that have a higher chance of working. Because they’re not just putting out fires with cold numbers — they’re studying patterns to extract valuable, contextual insights.

Save this if it helped you see your decisions more clearly.