Meta Says Your Ads Are Losing Money, but MER Says Otherwise. Who's Right?
When Meta reports your ads are losing money but blended MER looks healthy, the answer is to investigate. Privacy changes mean platforms can't see what they used to, so treat MER as the main signal of business health.
Here's a scenario: Meta says your ads are losing money. Your blended MER says the complete opposite. Who's right?
A) The ads aren't paying off, cut spend.
B) The business is healthy, keep going.
The answer is C: Investigate.
The truth is, your ads are most likely working, it's just harder to tell which ones exactly. That's why you need to dig a little deeper.
In recent years, with privacy policies increasing, the platforms simply can't see what they used to. So channel-level ROAS keeps drifting, even when sales are climbing.
So how do you investigate?
Here are a few ways:
MER is the star. Stop treating any single platform's number as the truth. Look at blended MER as the real signal of business health.
Don't try to match the data, rather craft the story. Each platform (GA4, Shopify, Meta, Google, etc.) will show its own attributed sales. Don't get stuck on why they're different; look for the story. Do you have more overall sales? Are they coming from new customers or repeat? What other business signals can you see?
Run The Profit Path Audit. Let TAG investigate and find EXACTLY where your sales are coming from. Then, we'll plan for smarter growth with confidence.
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Anat Yaniv is the founder of TAG Marketing Services, a fractional marketing agency for growing D2C and e-commerce brands. With 20+ years in retail and e-commerce at Victoria's Secret, Gap, Etsy and Depop, she helps brands grow sales 2–4X with data-backed marketing.
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