Why eCommerce Brands Stall Despite Higher Ad Spend | Krista Karpan

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Spending more on Meta ads while revenue stays flat? Krista Karpan, Co-Founder & CEO of Milked Media, explains why eCommerce brands plateau and how to diagnose it using MER, year-over-year data, and creative testing.

Mr. Will and Krista cover how Milked Media drives growth for fashion, jewelry, beauty, and home brands across paid social, email, Google, and creative, plus the early decisions that turned a small agency into an award-winning performance marketing business.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

- Diagnose a plateau with year-over-year data. Month-over-month comparisons are distorted by seasonality.
- Meta attributes on a 1-day view, 7-day click window. High-ticket products like fine jewelry have longer purchase cycles, so platform ROAS undercounts.
- MER (total revenue divided by total ad spend) removes attribution from the equation. If Meta shows growth but Shopify revenue is down, something is broken.
- Brands that stop launching new or limited-edition products end up relying on sales and train customers to wait for discounts.
- Broad targeting plus diverse creative outperforms lookalikes and interest targeting. Creative angles, like mom-focused messaging, are how you reach specific audiences.
- Meta's Andromeda algorithm favors creative volume, creative diversity, and partnership ads.
- For partnership ads, a creator's on-camera skill matters more than follower count.
- Human-made creative performs better at the top of the funnel. AI-assisted creative can work at the bottom.

CONNECT WITH KRISTA
Milked Media: https://www.milkedmedia.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristakarpan/ 

CONNECT WITH MR. WILL
www.bellavix.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willhaire/ 

Watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/6cLgg-r_qtQ

Selling on Giants is a podcast about the people, strategies, and decisions shaping eCommerce across Amazon, Walmart, DTC, and the broader digital marketplace. If this episode helped, follow the show and leave a rating.

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