Same budget, pointed at SQLs from the brands that run launches

What we reviewed.

Your Meta account, Aug 6 to Nov 3, 2026, plus today's settings. SQLs are Meta's count of the SQL stage it receives; your HubSpot count gets lined up first.

What's working: the pieces we build on.

From your Meta account, last 90 days and today's settings. SQLs are Meta's count.

What's holding your SQLs back.

Eight findings. The first two are the ones your team feels most: the ads, and how often the same people see them.

Each finding shows what we looked at, what we found, how it's set up today, and what we'd change.

Creative

1Every SQL came from a video. One generated 14 of 25.

What we looked atAds Manager at the ad level, Aug 6 to Nov 3, 2026: every ad in your Leads campaigns, with its image or video still, its copy, Amount spent, Impressions, 3-second video plays, Link clicks and "salesqualifiedlead" conversions.

Generated your SQLs

Video still

Video still

Video still

Video still

Generated none

Animated

Animated

Static

Your ads' images and copy, from your Meta account. Video stills show one frame. Hook rate is 3-second video plays divided by impressions, our math.

What we found, in detail

• In your Leads campaigns, videos took 85.5% of the amount spent and generated all 25 SQLs. Animated graphics and static images took 14.5% and generated none. It rests on 25 SQLs, and the videos ran in the ad sets with the strongest audience, so we read it as direction, not proof.
• "[Video]-[Chuck Sperry]-[V1]-[Demo]" took 95% of its ad set and generated 14 of your 25 SQLs. Its hook rate is 42.2%, against 30.8% for every video in the Leads campaigns. In its ad set, link CTR fell from 3.0% in early August to 1.2% to 1.6% in most weeks since late September. The ad is wearing out.
• The five sneaker Test Groups ran animated graphics only. The two with the most amount spent had hook rates of 19% and 18%, and none of the five generated an SQL.
• The scripted creator videos are newer and have had about 2% of all amount spent in the account: too little to read yet.
• 98 ads ran, but three took half the amount spent, and 81% went to ads created before August.
• Placements point the same way: Instagram Feed and Reels generated 14 of the 25 SQLs on 38% of the Leads amount spent. Vertical 9:16 video for Reels and 4:5 for the feeds are the formats to build more of.

How it's set up today

Ad type	Ads	% of Leads amount spent	Hook rate	SQLs
Videos with an artist, a brand partner or a creator	12	68.5%	32%	20
Other videos	11	13.4%	30%	5
Scripted creator videos	6	3.6%	31%	0
Animated graphics	15	11.2%	26%	0
Static images	13	3.4%	n/a	0
All Leads ads	57	100%	31%	25

Leads campaigns only, Aug 6 to Nov 3, 2026, so every ad optimized for the same event. Ad type is our read of each ad's image or video. % of amount spent and hook rate are our math; SQLs are Meta's count of "salesqualifiedlead".

What we'd change

Build more of what works: videos with a real artist, brand team or creator and real launch results, cut for 9:16 and 4:5. New concepts every month for each industry and each job, 3 to 5 live ads in every ad set, and a refresh before the winner wears out.

Surround Sound Creative™ICP + Jobs-To-Be-Done Specificity

Frequency

2Your target list saw five ads, up to 13 times a week.

What we looked atAds Manager at the ad set and ad level, Aug 6 to Nov 3, 2026, week by week (full weeks, August 10 to November 1). Columns: Reach, Impressions, Frequency and Amount spent, for every ad set that uses your target account list, plus each ad's image.

5.1 to 13.3

frequency in every full week, 12 weeks running, in the two busiest ad sets kept to your list

61.6 and 65.8

frequency over 90 days in the same two ad sets

10 to 15

frequency over 90 days: our benchmark for being remembered

Your two most-shown ads

Static

Static

Your ads' images, from your Meta account. Frequency is Meta's column: impressions divided by reach.

What we found, in detail

• Three Traffic ad sets keep to the list (Advantage+ audience off). The two busiest reached 2,065 and 2,174 people over 90 days, at a frequency of 61.6 and 65.8.
• Both run the same five static ads, each a survey stat about collectors. The most-shown, "[Static]-[V1]-[57% of Fans]-[Collectible Blog]", reached 1,972 people at a frequency of 49.5: the same people saw the same ad about 50 times in 90 days.
• The four Leads ad sets on the same list run with Advantage+ audience on, which lets Meta go past it: they reached 25,620 to 117,397 people.
• Everywhere else, weekly frequency runs about 1 to 3, because broad audiences keep reaching new people. Frequency climbs where the audience is small and the ads are few: your target list today, and the new retargeting audiences next.

How it's set up today

Ad set name	Campaign objective	Advantage+ audience	Ads	Reach	Frequency
"[EQL]-[Traffic]-[Contact List]-[Report Access]"	Traffic	Off	5	2,174	65.8
"[EQL]-[Traffic]-[Contact List]-[Collectibles Blog]"	Traffic	Off	5	2,065	61.6
"[EQL]-[Traffic]-[Contact List]-[UGC Video]"	Traffic	Off	4	1,243	7.5
"[EQL]-[SQLs]-[TAL]-[Chuck]"	Leads	On	10	29,168	2.4
"[EQL]-[SQLs]-[TAL]-[McFarlane]"	Leads	On	4	75,166	1.9
"[EQL]-[SQLs]-[TAL]-[General]"	Leads	On	6	117,397	1.9
"[EQL]-[SQLs]-[TAL]-[Zula]"	Leads	On	6	25,620	1.4

All 7 use the custom audience "hubspot-crm-exports-collectibles-2026-tal-contacts". Reach and Frequency cover Aug 6 to Nov 3, 2026. Ads is the number of ads that spent in the window.

What we'd change

One home for the list, with budget sized to it: a frequency of 10 to 15 over 90 days. Three to five ads rotating in it, and new ones every month, so no single ad carries the frequency.

The Reach Ratio™One Size Fits None

More SQLs

3Traffic campaigns took 57% of spend, with no way to count SQLs.

What we looked atAds Manager at the campaign, ad set and ad level, Aug 6 to Nov 3, 2026. Columns: Campaign objective, Performance goal, Attribution setting, Amount spent, Landing page views by each ad's destination page and by Placement, and "salesqualifiedlead" conversions.

The two ads with the most amount spent

Static

Static

Sneaker playbook article

69.4%

Shopify App Store listing

26.4%

Collectibles demo page

1.3%

Collectibles report

1.1%

Collectible playbook article

1.1%

Get a demo page

0.5%

Product launches demo page

0.2%

Share of landing page views by the page each ad sends people to, last 90 days. Green: demo pages.

What we found, in detail

• A Traffic campaign set to link clicks or landing page views asks Meta for the most clicks or page loads it can get for the budget. With a 1-day click attribution setting, a site that sends Meta page views only, and no Meta pixel on the Shopify listing, a later SQL can't be credited to these campaigns.
• Instagram Reels delivered 88% of all landing page views in the account. 98% of landing page views went to pages other than a demo page.
• One ad, "[Static]-[V3]-[Playbook]", took 88% of the amount spent in "[EQL]-[Traffic]-[Contact List]-[Static]" and sends people to the sneaker playbook article.
• In 90 days, Meta credits the 7 Traffic ad sets with 1 "lead" conversion and 0 SQLs. That's Meta's count, and the setup could hardly have credited more.

How it's set up today

Campaign name	Performance goal	Attribution setting	% of amount spent	SQLs
"[KCC]-[EQL]-[Traffic]-[Sneaker Guide]-[Contact List + LAL]-[Static]"	Maximize number of link clicks	1-day click	31.7%	0
"[KCC]-[EQL]-[Shopify]-[Traffic]-[Lists + LAL]"	Maximize number of landing page views	1-day click	15.7%	0
"[KCC]-[EQL]-[Traffic]-[Collectibles]-[Contact List + LAL]" (5 ad sets)	Maximize number of link clicks	1-day click	9.9%	0
All three			57.3%	0

Campaign objective: Traffic. All 7 ad sets have exited the learning phase on their goal (read November 6). % of amount spent is our math; SQLs are Meta's count of "salesqualifiedlead".

What we'd change

Most of this budget moves to demo intent. Content keeps a narrower job: brand audiences only, the performance goal set to landing page views, every article pointing to the matching demo page, and success read by how many readers come back to book.

PPC Temperature CTA Matching

Where the growth is: the same budget, pointed at what works.

Share of amount spent and Meta's count of SQLs by area, last 90 days. Collectibles counts its demo campaign (28% of spend, 22 SQLs) and its Traffic campaign (10%, 0 SQLs). Your collectibles demo ads generated SQLs at about a third of the account's average cost per SQL.

What we do first, and what it moves.

Finding numbers point to Where You Stand. Every move is judged on SQLs in HubSpot.

Your target account list keeps optimizing for SQLs: its people are already known to you, and the ad sets built on it generated 22 of your 25. New brands start one step earlier, on an event Meta sees often enough to learn from, and move toward SQLs as volume grows (the path on the Your Goal tab).

Fans out, brands in.

Your team's fan pages exclusion stays. The brand-or-fan question already on your collectibles report form becomes the next exclusion list, and it goes on every form, with a question about the kind of business running the launch.

Meta's own guidance: one ad set reaches its learning minimum sooner than several that overlap (Meta for Developers, April 2026). Frequency gets watched every week: prospecting runs about 1 to 3 today, and retargeting and your list can carry more, with budget sized to each.

One goal, counted one way.

Your goal from our call: more and better-quality demo requests from brands, and bigger deals. SQLs are where that shows up: fans don't become SQLs, and every deal starts there.

Learning stabilizes at about 50 events a week. You get about 2 SQLs.

Meta says the learning period "stabilizes with a minimum of 50 events over a 7-day period," ad set by ad set (Meta for Developers, April 2026). Below that, an ad set still delivers and still learns; it just doesn't exit the learning phase. Learning status read November 6.

Plus your Meta pixel on the Shopify App Store listing, and ad links that keep their tracking on the way in.

Spend steps up only after a mark holds two weeks running.

Performance unlocks each step, never the calendar.

Where this goes, past the first quarter.

Direction, not a forecast: each step depends on the marks we set together.

What we'll watch, and why we still like it.

Today, three ads took half the amount spent, and your target list saw the same five ads up to 13 times a week. More ads, built for each audience and job, bring frequency down and give Meta more to learn from. Your designer's work stays in the mix, with ours as added capacity and a test against it.

The mix of videos, statics and GIFs is flexible month to month, following what performs.

The ad decides who sees it.

Meta says more varied ads can drive better results for advertisers (Engineering at Meta, December 2024). How we apply it: with broad audiences, the creative steers who sees each ad.

Mockup concepts, here to show what different types of ads could look like. Everything in them gets tested: the message, the job to be done, the call to action and the offer. Each row is one job EQL does for the people who run launches. Across the row, the same job in different formats and designs. These are static concepts; video concepts follow the same jobs, built on the format of your best ads.

Job 1Trust your biggest release to a proven platformFor global brands and chains running big releases.

Job 2Run drops on the store you already haveFor independent brands and shops on Shopify.

Job 3Give real customers a fair shotFor any brand or shop whose launches draw bots.

Mockup concepts only. Every number and quote in them comes from eql.com, and final ads go through your review. Your designer's work stays in the mix, tested alongside ours.

Each round of new ads pulls the lever with the most left to give, and fresh ads keep frequency from carrying the load.

A page built to book the demo.

An example of the direction, not the page we'd build. It shows the elements we see move conversion rates higher. Its proof, ratings and logos are illustrative. Click or tap the page to see it full size.

1. 1One page, one actionNo site menu. Every button asks for the demo.Landing Page Anatomy
2. 2The headline the ad promisedThe page picks up where the ad left off.
3. 3Step one asks about the launchEasy first answers about the launch and the kind of business, contact details after.Breadcrumb Technique™
4. 4Proof right next to the formRatings, logos and numbers where the visitor decides.Social Proof Above The Fold
5. 5Answers for the people who scrollBenefits, a customer quote and common questions, then the ask again.
6. 6The call booked on the spotAfter the form, a calendar instead of a wait.Thank You Page Next Steps

Mockup concept only. Pages get built and tested with you, around your real proof.

Mockup concepts. Ads that carry the page's headline, so the visitor lands on exactly what the ad promised.

Matching the ad to the page is one of the simplest ways to lift the share of visitors who book.

Sized to your spend and traffic: a focused market sends a modest number of demo visits, so dedicated page(s) and steady testing fit better than a heavier testing calendar. Sneakers come first: sneaker demo ads land on the general contact page today, while collectibles already has a demo page generating SQLs.

Every demo request a better page adds is also one more conversion Meta learns from, so the page feeds Meta's optimization too.

Demo pages and testing are part of Option 2. In Option 1, your team builds the pages, and we bring the brand-or-fan question, the tracking and message match, and check each page before ads point at it.

Two options. We recommend the second.

We recommend Option 2: the biggest gap sits between the click and the demo. Pages built to book the call close it, and every demo request they add is one more conversion Meta learns from.

Creative volume and the mix of statics, GIFs and video get sized with you, and the mix shifts month to month with what performs.

Paid media management is the greater of its flat fee or 10% of monthly ad spend. Landing pages, CRO, creative, and ad spend are separate. No setup fee.

The first quarter, lane by lane.

Between signing and kickoff, we get access to your Meta account and HubSpot and line up how each one counts SQLs.

The event Meta optimizes for steps toward SQLs when the volume holds, never on a date.

How we work together.

• A dedicated reporting dashboard
• A dedicated Slack channel, and email
• A dedicated project our team manages your work in, so launches stay on time and tracked

Who's behind your program.

Your dedicated growth team

Your strategist team

You talk to the people doing the work, with no game of telephone.