Five creatives, four numbers each, and a decision to make before lunch. Here is the order to read them in, and the traps in each one.
Start at cost per lead, not CTR
CTR measures interest, CPL measures money. A reel can hold a high click-through rate and still deliver leads at twice the price of a plain photo, because the people it attracts are the wrong people. Rank by CPL first; use CTR to explain the ranking, not to make it.
In this month, the ranking by CPL and the ranking by CTR disagree, which is the normal case. First visit reel wins on both. Spring promo has the most leads and the third-worst CPL, which usually means budget rather than brilliance.
Check the denominator before you believe the number
Three leads at 12.28 is not a verdict, it is a rounding error with an opinion. Before pausing anything, ask whether the creative had enough spend to be judged. A rough floor: at least ten leads, or spend equal to three times your target CPL, whichever is larger.
Zero leads and healthy CTR usually means the form or the offer, not the creative. Check the lead form before you blame the video.
What each number is quietly telling you
- High CTR, high CPL: the creative attracts the wrong audience, or the landing step leaks.
- Low CTR, low CPL: a narrow, well-qualified audience. Do not scale it too fast; it usually breaks.
- Falling CTR week over week at the same spend: fatigue. Rotate before the CPL follows it up.
- Spend concentrated in one creative: the algorithm made a choice for you. Ask whether you agree with it.
Turning a read into a change
Two moves cover most Tuesdays: shift budget toward the cheapest lead source, and duplicate the winner into a new audience rather than editing the one that works. Both are one sentence in the chat, and both arrive as a card you confirm.
Then write down why, in one line, under the change in Relay. The version of you reading it next month will be grateful.