From a Broken Ad Account to ₹35L/Month in 6 Weeks
Two freelancers. Eight months. The same result each time: ROAS starts at 2-3x, declines within 30 days, and goes flat. When we inherited this skincare brand's ad account, it was the most chaotic account structure we had seen in years. 23 campaigns. A policy violation from 4 months ago is still sitting unresolved. Audiences cannibalizing each other. And a founder who was close to writing off paid ads entirely. We had 6 weeks to prove her wrong.
The Brand
A skincare brand with a focused range: cleanser, toner, SPF moisturizer, Vitamin C serum, and a night mask. Products priced between ₹599 and ₹1,499. The formulations were solid and the brand had strong organic engagement on Instagram and a loyal base of users who loved the products. The problem was entirely in paid acquisition.
Monthly revenue was stuck at ₹3.5L-₹4.5L despite the brand spending ₹1.8L-₹2.2L on ads each month. That's a ROAS of roughly 1.8-2x. Barely breaking even on acquisition cost.
What We Found in the Account
The account audit took 2 days. Here is what we found, in order of severity:
1 policy violation from 4 months ago, still active a flagged ad had never been removed, and it was suppressing the entire account's delivery quality score without the previous freelancers knowing
23 campaigns 17 of them paused with incomplete learning history, 6 active but all targeting overlapping audiences
- No separation between cold, warm, and hot audiences all campaigns were set to 'Traffic' or 'Reach' objectives, not Purchases
- Pixel had received fewer than 80 purchase events per week for the last 3 months chronically stuck in learning mode
- Zero UGC. All creative was brand photography. Good photography, but not converting on cold audiences for skincare.
- No retargeting structure at all 100% of budget going toward cold acquisition, zero spend on warm or hot traffic.
A policy violation you don't know about can silently suppress your entire ad account's performance for months. Always audit before assuming the ads themselves are the problem.
Week 1: Fixing Before Growing
Week 1 was entirely remediation. We did not spend a single rupee on ads in week 1.
First: the policy violation. We identified the flagged ad, removed it, submitted an account review request, and got the flag lifted by day 3. Account quality score improved immediately.
Second: we paused all 23 campaigns. Archiving, not deleting historical data is valuable.
Third: we built the new account structure on paper before touching the account. 3 campaigns, clean audience separation, clear objective alignment, and zero audience overlap.
Fourth: we briefed 6 UGC creators for skincare content. Specifically: before/after results, routine integration, and ingredient explanation videos. 12 videos, 10-day turnaround.
Week 2: Relaunch
We launched the new account structure in week 2 with the brand photography as a placeholder while UGC was in production.
- Campaign 1 (Cold): Interest-based targeting skincare, natural beauty, K-beauty, women 22-40 metro India. Objective: Purchases. Budget: ₹12,000/day.
- Campaign 2 (Warm): Engagers and video view audiences from the brand's Instagram. Running review and testimonial-style content. Budget: ₹4,000/day.
- Campaign 3 (Retargeting): Product page visitors + add-to-cart abandoners. Offer-based creative. Budget: ₹4,000/day.
Week 2 revenue: ₹3.2L. ROAS with the brand photography placeholder was 2.8x. An immediate improvement just from the structural fix and policy violation removal.
Week 3: UGC Goes Live
12 UGC videos launched in week 3. The before/after format hit 5.2% CTR on day 1 of running. ROAS in week 3 jumped to 3.9x. Revenue for the week: ₹6.1L.
We immediately scaled the cold campaign budget from ₹12,000/day to ₹20,000/day. ROAS held.
Weeks 4, 5, and 6: Scaling
- Week 4: Revenue ₹8.4L. Budget ₹27,000/day. We launched a hero bundle offer: SPF + Vitamin C serum together at a discounted combo price. AOV went from ₹820 to ₹1,380 on buyers who saw the combo creative.
- Week 5: Revenue ₹11.2L. We introduced 4 more UGC videos ingredient-focused content that worked well in the warm retargeting layer. ROAS climbed to 4.6x.
- Week 6: Revenue ₹15.5L in a single week. That's a ₹62L annualized run rate, or approximately ₹35L/month if the final 2 weeks of the month run at the same pace.
The Final Numbers
6 weeks total. ₹47.2L in revenue. ₹10.7L in ad spend. 4.4x ROAS. 3,880 orders. CPP ₹241.
Week 6 revenue run rate annualized: ₹35L+/month.
This brand went from barely breaking even on paid ads to 4.4x ROAS in 6 weeks. The product hadn't changed. The prices hadn't changed. The brand hadn't changed. The account had changed. That was all it took.