5 Proven Tactics for Optimizing Ad Spend and Boosting ROAS

Struggling to control ad spending while achieving your performance goals? You’re not alone. As digital advertising costs rise yearly, stretching marketing budgets to maintain or improve ROAS (return on ad spend) becomes increasingly challenging.

The thing here is that you don’t necessarily have to increase your ad budget. Instead, you can resolve a list of small issues that will result in an impressive compound effect.

Let’s get started. 

Tip #1: Unify and expand your data sources

Algorithms in ad platforms like Facebook Ads, Google Ads, and LinkedIn Ads thrive on high-quality data. The more comprehensive data you feed them, the better they can optimize your campaigns. However, marketers often underestimate the nuances of data sharing and conversion tracking, which can significantly impact campaign performance and ROAS.

Let’s break it down with an example from a recent Improvado webinar. 

The event was advertised on Facebook and directed users to a registration page hosted on Livestorm. The PPC campaign setup seemed straightforward: the registration link was added, ads were launched, and traffic started flowing. But here’s what went wrong:

1. No conversion data sharing: Due to setup limitations, Facebook couldn’t track when users registered on Livestorm (though Livestorm offers Conversion Pixels, they are only available in higher-tier packages). 
2. Impact on algorithm performance: Facebook’s machine learning algorithm relies on conversion data to find similar audiences and optimize ad delivery. Without this feedback loop, the platform couldn’t effectively adjust targeting or ad delivery.

The result? A less efficient social media campaign than it could have been and wasted marketing spend.

This highlights a critical insight:

What you can do about this:

Platforms need as much relevant data as possible to learn effectively. Sync conversion events and audience interactions across all touchpoints.

1. Set up comprehensive conversion rate tracking. Configure events on both your website (e.g., through tools like Google Tag Manager) and within the advertising platform (e.g., Facebook Pixel or Google Analytics).
2. Test and validate the setup. Before launching your campaign, take advantage of the option to check your conversion setup. You can send test conversions to ensure events are being recorded and shared correctly.
3. ‍Aggregate data across platforms. Platforms are limited to their own ecosystem. By consolidating data from multiple platforms, you can get a complete picture of campaign performance and uncover actionable insights that individual platforms might miss.

⚡️ Pro tip

“Unlike relying solely on individual platform algorithms, Improvado aggregates data from all your digital marketing campaigns to improve ad spend tracking, and identify trends and opportunities that platform-specific tools can’t see."

Roman Vinogradov

VP of Product at Improvado

Tip #2: Expand audience sizes for better CPMs

Marketers often rely on hyper-targeting, narrowing down audiences with multiple precise parameters. While this strategy may work in specific scenarios, it increasingly leads to higher CPMs (cost per thousand impressions) and can limit campaign potential.

In some cases, broadening your targeting can provide platforms with the data they need to learn and optimize faster. Expanding your target audience size doesn’t mean sacrificing quality—it helps platforms operate more efficiently, lowering CPMs and maximizing the impact of your campaigns.

What you can do about this:

1. Broaden targeting parameters. Relax some constraints on demographics, interests, or behaviors to include a larger pool of potential customers. You can also create separate campaigns with expanded audiences and monitor performance metrics to compare effectiveness against hyper-targeted campaigns.
2. ‍Use the power of lookalike audiences. Platforms like Facebook allow you to build lookalike audiences based on your existing lead data, enabling you to scale while retaining relevance. But to fully activate this power, you need to feed platforms more data. Hence, see item 1.

⚡️ Pro tip

“While Improvado doesn’t directly adjust audience settings, it supports audience expansion by providing the tools you need to analyze and refine performance across platforms:

1

Consistent UTMs: Larger audiences often span multiple platforms. Improvado ensures consistent UTM monitoring, enabling you to gather detailed performance data from Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and beyond.

2

Cross-platform data integration: With larger audiences spread across platforms, consolidating performance metrics becomes essential. Improvado unifies this data and makes it easier to spot trends and opportunities.

3

Actionable insights: Improvado analyzes your campaigns, identifying the most effective combinations of audience, banner, message, offer, and landing page. These insights help you build high-performing, lead-generating combinations.

With Improvado, you can streamline audience testing, refine your messaging, and identify the combinations that generate the best results. Once you’ve found your “winning formula,” you can scale confidently and repeat the process to discover new high-performing formulas.”

Roman Vinogradov

VP of Product at Improvado

Tip #3: Refine naming conventions and UTM parameters

UTM parameters are essential for accurate campaign tracking and performance analysis across different channels. While most marketers consistently use the standard UTM fields—source, medium, and campaign—many overlook platform-specific dynamic parameters. 

These dynamic tags, like {{placement}} in Meta, automatically populate with specific values (e.g., "Instagram_Stories" or "Facebook_NewsFeed") when a prospect clicks the link. Missing these dynamic parameters limits your ability to analyze campaign performance in detail. For instance, while determining "Which platform performed better?" you might miss insights like "Which placement within the platform drove the most conversions?"

Different platforms offer their own dynamic tags, and adding them to your tracking strategy provides a new level of insight.

Additionally, consistent naming conventions are critical. Without them, data silos and inaccuracies can emerge, making it difficult to identify high-performing channels or ad placements and leading to wasted budgets.

How to improve UTM tagging

1. Standardize naming conventions. Establish a clear and consistent format for UTM parameters across your organization to ensure data accuracy and easier analysis. For example:

• Campaign: [Brand]_[Objective]_[Region]_[Quarter]
• Content: [AdType]_[Version]_[Placement]

2. Use all relevant parameters. Incorporate all UTM fields to maximize tracking granularity:

• Source: Where the traffic is coming from (e.g., Facebook).
• Medium: The type of traffic (e.g., PPC, email).
• Campaign: The specific campaign name (e.g., Crisponix_Reactivation_NA_Q4).
• Content: Distinguish different ads or links within the same campaign (e.g., Banner_V2_ATF).
• Term: Use for paid search campaigns to capture keywords (e.g., "Discount_Codes").

3. Include dynamic parameters. Take advantage of platform-specific dynamic tags, such as {{placement}} in Meta, which automatically populate with values like "Instagram_Stories" or "Facebook_NewsFeed." Dynamic parameters provide additional insights into the performance of specific placements and strategies. If you’re using Improvado, there’s no need to manually add or maintain dynamic tags. Simply select the data type you want to analyze, and the connector gathers all possible data from the platform. What’s more, Improvado captures data beyond what’s available in a platform’s UI. For example, in GA4, certain parameters not visible in the UI are transmitted via the API. With Improvado, you can retrieve and analyze these hidden parameters to unlock additional insights for campaign optimization. ‍
4. Validate and monitor UTM tags: Regularly check that tags are consistent and accurately reflect campaign details before launch.

⚡️ Pro tip

“If you’re working in a large organization with multiple teams, UTM inconsistency can quickly snowball into hours of manual corrections. With Improvado’s Marketing Data Governance, you can set up a unified framework for UTM parameters, ensuring everyone follows the same conventions. If someone accidentally uses incorrect or incomplete tags, Improvado highlights the issue and flags it before the campaign goes live.”

Roman Vinogradov

VP of Product at Improvado

Tip #4: Set and enforce campaign rules

Running ad campaigns without clear rules is like driving without a GPS. You may get where you’re going, but you’re bound to take a wrong turn. Without well-defined guidelines for budget pacing and performance metrics, you risk overspending or allowing underperforming ads to drain your budget.

How to implement basic campaign rules

1. Define your benchmarks: Set clear targets for metrics like CTR (click-through rate), CPC (cost per click), CPA (cost per action), CPL (cost per lead), CPM, or pacing (e.g., “CPA must not exceed $15” or “Pacing must be 80% or higher”).
2. Regularly monitor metrics: Use platform dashboards or export data to identify campaigns exceeding thresholds.
3. ‍Act quickly: Pause, adjust, or reallocate the budget from campaigns that aren’t performing to ensure your ad spend is optimized.

⚡️ Pro tip

“Improvado’s Marketing Data Governance lets you automate the entire process. It includes many pre-built rules and templates, along with numerous variations of:

• Avg. CPC/CMP/CPA etc. is at or below $X
• Pacing is X% or higher
• Pacing is not “ASAP”

Roman Vinogradov

VP of Product at Improvado

Tip #5: Avoid overspending on low-quality traffic

Many ad platforms enable extended placements through their networks by default. These networks, like Facebook’s Audience Network, aim to expand reach by displaying ads in third-party mobile apps or partner sites. 

While this traffic can help increase impressions at a low cost, it typically doesn’t generate the same level of engagement or conversions as primary placements. The caveat is that because these placements are inexpensive, auctions are easy to win—meaning a significant portion of your budget could be unintentionally reallocated there.

How to optimize your placements

1. Review campaign settings: During campaign setup, carefully review and customize placement options to ensure alignment with your goals.
2. Test placement strategies: Run separate campaigns to evaluate the effectiveness of extended networks versus primary placements.
3. Monitor budget allocation: Regularly review your performance metrics to ensure that your budget is focused on the placements delivering the best results.
4. Focus on core placements: Platforms’ main placements often provide the most relevant audience engagement. Ensure these are prioritized for better ROI (return on investment).

⚡️ Pro tip

“If you’ve encountered situations where your budget was unintentionally spent on extended placements—or want to avoid this altogether—Marketing Data Governance has a pre-built rule for that: Audience Network placement is excluded.

Activate it, and it will notify you if extended placements are included in a campaign’s settings, ensuring your budget stays aligned with your goals.”

Roman Vinogradov

VP of Product at Improvado

Improvado Marketing Data Governance: The pro solution for optimizing ad spend

As you’ve seen from the tips, manual ad spend optimization is possible. After all, this is how marketers have been doing it in spreadsheets for decades. But the question is: how much time and effort will it take? Tasks like cross-checking UTM parameters across thousands of ad accounts can take days or even weeks.

Marketing Data Governance automates these processes, completing them in seconds and allowing your team to focus on marketing strategy rather than repetitive work. It serves as your control tower for campaign compliance and consistent performance, empowering you to:

• Set rules and KPIs such as “CPA must not exceed $15” or “All campaigns must use a consistent UTM structure.”
• Monitor compliance in real time to ensure campaigns stay on track and your ad spend data can be trusted.
• Receive instant alerts when something deviates from your standards so you can address issues before they impact performance.

Built with large organizations in mind, Marketing Data Governance ensures a cohesive approach across multiple teams or branches, reduces errors, and maximizes campaign performance and ad spend. With over 200 pre-built rules based on proven best practices, you can start optimizing immediately, leveraging the expertise of top advertisers.

If you’re ready to see it in action, we’re just one click away.

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