Launching Paid Ads from Scratch
Collagen Ecommerce Brand | 4-Week Validation
From zero data to a validated funnel in 4 weeks
New brand • New pixel • Small Daily Budget
Key Outcomes
Generated initial sales from cold traffic
Built a working conversion funnel within 4 weeks
Strong on-site engagement and add-to-cart behaviour
Identified clear bottleneck preventing scale
Established a structured relaunch plan
A UK-based collagen brand with no previous ad activity, a brand new Meta ad account and pixel, and a small daily budget.
There were no structured offers, limited product page clarity, and no data to guide decision-making.
The goal was simple: launch ads and quickly understand what was actually working.
What We Started With
The Challenge
• No historical data or optimisation signals
• Limited budget restricting early learning
• No clear offer to support conversion
• Uncertainty around performance and ad spend
Stock constraints also meant scaling needed to be handled carefully.
What I Did
-
Paid Ads & Strategy
• Set up and launched Meta ads from scratch
• Used Add to Cart optimisation to generate early data
• Transitioned to Purchase optimisation once conversions were established
• Identified creative engagement (CTR) as the key constraint
• Managed expectations around the learning phase of a new pixel -
Ecommerce & Conversion
• Restructured product collections for clearer navigation
• Created a bundle offer to increase average order value
• Refined product page messaging for clarity and conversion
• Advised on pricing for a new product launch
• Reviewed packaging and provided feedback on clarity, layout, and consistency
• Acted as a commercial sounding board across product, pricing, and positioning decisions -
Tracking & Systems
• Implemented improved tracking (including Microsoft Clarity)
• Introduced wholesale functionality to streamline supplier management
• Initial sales generated from cold traffic
• Strong add-to-cart and conversion behaviour
• Commercially viable cost per purchase at low spend
• Funnel validated as commercially viable
Results
The product and website were working.
The bottleneck was ad engagement.
Once users reached the site, conversion was strong.
The limiting factor was getting more people to engage with the ads.
Improving creative is the key to unlocking scale
Key Insight
Paid ads are currently paused due to stock constraints.
The relaunch plan focuses on:
• Improved creatives based on performance insights
• Stronger offer structure (bundles)
• Consistent budget to support optimisation
What Happens Next
Within 4 weeks, the brand moved from:
No ads and no data
to
A validated acquisition funnel with a clear path to scale
Summary
Want help getting your ads to actually work?
If you’re running ads but not seeing results, I can identify what’s holding performance back and fix it.