u/ExcitingPressure9132

Hi r/FacebookAds,

I'm running Meta ads for a supplement brand (NAD+ formula targeting women 40+, US market, $59-147 price point) and I'm stuck in an extended learning phase with zero purchases after roughly $1,000 in total spend since late March 2026.

Campaign history:

• Started late March 2026
• First two campaigns were misconfigured (wrong objective, Link Clicks instead of Purchase) and abandoned early
• Multiple learning phase resets due to billing interruptions and campaign edits
• Currently on third proper campaign with correct Purchase optimization throughout

Current campaign setup:

• Objective: Sales
• Optimization event: Purchase
• Budget: $50/day
• Audience: Women 40+, US only, Advantage+ broad
• Ad format: Native long-form lifestyle image ads with long first-person primary text (Spencer Pawliw style)
• Destination: Homepage

Currently active/preparing ads:

Ad	Status	Spent	CPC	CPM	CTR all	Unique Outbound CTR
Acceptance	Preparing	$127.56	$0.46	$12.98	17.17%	2.77%
Burn out	Preparing	$13.90	$1.16	$44.84	11.29%	4.80%
The Absence 2	Active	$237.28	$0.63	$8.23	24.36%	1.51%

Previously ran but paused:

Ad	Spent	CPC	CPM	CTR all	Unique Outbound CTR
The Stranger 2	$13.01	$0.16	$7.99	16.88%	5.13%
The Dismissed	$125.91	$0.69	$11.38	21.42%	1.87%

What I've observed:

• CPMs are unusually low ($8-13) for women 40+ US with purchase optimization, suggesting Meta isn't reaching buyer-intent audiences
• Clarity session recordings (166 total) show the vast majority of paid sessions have 0 clicks and leave in under 10 seconds
• Zero add to carts across entire campaign history
• Pixel confirmed firing for PageView, ViewContent, InitiateCheckout but zero Purchase events because zero sales
• Advantage+ creative enhancements confirmed OFF on all ads
• Recently narrowed from fully broad to Women 40+, US to help Meta find the right audience
• Two ads currently showing "Preparing" status after audience change yesterday

My specific questions:

1. Are the low CPMs ($8-13) with purchase optimization a known symptom of the cold start problem, or does this suggest something structural is wrong?
2. With zero purchase events and multiple learning phase resets, is there a realistic path forward at $50/day or is this unrecoverable without seeding the pixel?
3. Does zero add to cart activity despite reasonable CTR metrics suggest a landing page problem, a traffic quality problem, or both?
4. Given 166 Clarity recordings with near-zero engagement, what does this typically indicate?

Happy to share more details. Thanks in advance.