Most accounts are mismeasured, not underperforming
When a client tells us the ads are not working, the first thing we check is not the creative. It is whether the numbers describing the creative are true. In the majority of audits we run, they are not.
The usual culprits
Duplicate pixels firing twice. Conversions API sending events the pixel already sent. Attribution windows set to a length nobody chose deliberately. Offline conversions never imported, so the channel that closes deals looks like the channel that wastes money.
A sane order of operations
Verify the events. Reconcile platform-reported conversions against what actually landed in your CRM or order system. Only once those two agree should you start judging campaigns — and only then is it fair to blame the creative.
Why this matters more than any optimisation
Every optimisation decision is a comparison. If the numbers being compared are wrong, you are not optimising — you are choosing at random and feeling productive about it.