# ADS AUDIT — EU VARIANT

> **Region:** European Union, United Kingdom, EEA (Norway, Iceland, Switzerland)
> **Currency:** EUR (Eurozone), GBP (UK), other (CHF, SEK, NOK, DKK, PLN)
> **Primary platforms:** Meta (FB+IG), Google (Search+YouTube+PMax), TikTok; LinkedIn for B2B
> **Key regulations:** GDPR, ePrivacy Directive, Digital Services Act (DSA), Digital Markets Act (DMA), DSGVO (Germany), UK GDPR + DPA 2018, LGPD-equivalents
> **Major attribution platforms:** Triple Whale, Northbeam, GA4 + Looker Studio (heavy adoption due to GDPR-friendliness), Polar Analytics

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## HEALTHY BENCHMARK RANGES (EU/UK, 2025-2026)

### Meta Ads (Eurozone — DACH, France, Italy, Spain, Benelux)

| Metric | Poor | Average | Good | Excellent |
|--------|------|---------|------|-----------|
| **CPM (Conversion)** | >€30 | €15-30 | €10-15 | €5-10 |
| **CTR (link click)** | <0.7% | 0.7-1.3% | 1.3-2.0% | >2.0% |
| **CPC** | >€2.50 | €1.20-2.50 | €0.70-1.20 | <€0.70 |
| **CPL (B2C)** | >€20 | €10-20 | €5-10 | <€5 |
| **CPL (B2B mid-market)** | >€180 | €70-180 | €35-70 | <€35 |
| **CPA (DTC e-com, AOV €50-100)** | >€55 | €30-55 | €18-30 | <€18 |
| **ROAS (DTC, prospecting)** | <1.5x | 1.5-2.5x | 2.5-3.5x | >3.5x |
| **ROAS (DTC, blended)** | <2.2x | 2.2-3.0x | 3.0-4.0x | >4.0x |
| **Frequency (cold)** | >4.5 | 3-4.5 | 2-3 | <2 |

### Meta Ads (UK)

UK CPMs sit ~10-15% above Eurozone average due to mature market.

| Metric | Average | Good |
|--------|---------|------|
| **CPM (Conversion)** | £14-22 | £8-14 |
| **CPC** | £1.30-2.50 | £0.80-1.30 |
| **CPL (B2C)** | £10-18 | £5-10 |

### Google Ads

| Metric | Poor | Average | Good | Excellent |
|--------|------|---------|------|-----------|
| **CPC (Search non-brand, EUR)** | >€4 | €2-4 | €1-2 | <€1 |
| **CPC (Search non-brand, GBP)** | >£3.50 | £1.80-3.50 | £0.90-1.80 | <£0.90 |
| **CTR (Search non-brand)** | <3% | 3-5% | 5-8% | >8% |
| **Quality Score** | <5 | 5-6 | 6-8 | 8-10 |
| **CPA (DTC e-com)** | >€70 | €40-70 | €22-40 | <€22 |
| **ROAS (PMax DTC)** | <2x | 2-3x | 3-4.5x | >4.5x |

### TikTok Ads

| Metric | Poor | Average | Good | Excellent |
|--------|------|---------|------|-----------|
| **CPM (EUR)** | >€12 | €8-12 | €5-8 | €4-8 |
| **CTR** | <0.8% | 0.8-1.5% | 1.5-2.5% | >2.5% |
| **CPC** | >€1.80 | €1-1.80 | €0.60-1 | <€0.60 |
| **CPA (DTC, AOV €40-80)** | >€45 | €25-45 | €15-25 | <€15 |
| **ROAS (Spark Ads, prospecting)** | <1.2x | 1.2-2x | 2-3x | >3x |

### ROAS targets by business model (EU)

| Model | Break-even ROAS | Healthy ROAS | Scale ROAS |
|-------|-----------------|--------------|------------|
| **DTC e-com (40-50% margin, post-VAT)** | 2.2-2.7x | 3.0-4.0x | 4.0x+ |
| **DTC e-com (60-70% margin)** | 1.7x | 2.5-3.5x | 3.5x+ |
| **B2B SaaS** | LTV/CAC ≥3:1 | 4-5:1 | >5:1 |
| **Local service** | 4-5x first-touch | 5-8x | 8x+ |
| **Course / info-product** | 1.8-2.2x | 2.5-3.0x | 3.0x+ |
| **Dropshipping** | 4-5x (post-VAT) | 5-6x | 6x+ |

> **VAT consideration:** DTC ROAS in EU should account for 19-25% VAT (varies by country). Net-of-VAT ROAS is the operating-margin-relevant number.

---

## COMMON RED FLAGS (EU)

### GDPR / Consent (the #1 EU failure mode)

1. **No Consent Mode v2 implemented** — Google Ads conversions undercount 30-60% for users who deny cookies. Consent Mode v2 + modeled conversions are mandatory.
2. **Missing CMP (Consent Management Platform)** — Cookiebot, OneTrust, Usercentrics, Iubenda. Without CMP, GDPR fines up to 4% global revenue.
3. **Pixel firing before consent** — illegal under GDPR. Tag must wait for explicit consent.
4. **CAPI with non-hashed PII** — passing email/phone unhashed via CAPI violates GDPR. Must SHA-256 hash.
5. **Lookalike audiences from non-consenting users** — Meta's pre-2023 LAL pools are tainted; rebuild from post-CMP first-party lists.
6. **TikTok event collection without consent** — same logic; TikTok Pixel must respect CMP.

### Attribution

1. **Longer attribution windows** — EU buying cycles are 30-50% longer than US (lower impulse purchase rate). 7-day click vs. Meta's default 7d may understate ROAS — consider 28-day click view in reporting.
2. **GA4 + BigQuery export** is more standard than Triple Whale in EU, especially DACH/Nordic markets.
3. **Multi-currency confusion** — auditor must normalize to one currency for cross-platform comparison.

### Meta-specific (EU)

1. **DSA (Digital Services Act) ad transparency** — political/sensitive ads must be in Meta's Ad Library with extended metadata. Audit creative for accidental classification.
2. **EU-restricted targeting categories** — health, religion, political views, sexual orientation cannot be used as detailed targeting. Audit ad sets for violations.
3. **DMA gatekeeper rules** — Meta cannot share data across FB/IG/WhatsApp without explicit consent. CAPI integrations must respect this.

### Google-specific (EU)

1. **No Enhanced Conversions for Web** — GDPR-compliant version requires hashed PII; many EU advertisers skip it. Result: 15-25% under-reported conversions.
2. **Performance Max + GDPR** — PMax can't access certain audience signals in EU; expect 10-15% lower performance vs US.
3. **Local currency ad accounts** — running EUR account for UK customers (or vice versa) creates conversion noise.

### TikTok-specific (EU)

1. **TikTok data residency questions** — under DPA scrutiny in Ireland, Netherlands, UK. Brand safety review required for sensitive verticals.
2. **Lower TikTok adoption** in some EU markets (DACH, Italy, Eastern Europe) — benchmarks lower than US/UK.

### Compliance / Vertical-specific

1. **Alcohol, tobacco, gambling, financial services** — country-specific restrictions (Germany BZgA rules, France Loi Évin, UK ASA). Audit creative + targeting.
2. **Health/wellness claims** — EU food safety regulations (EFSA) + UK ASA prohibit unsubstantiated claims. "Detox," "cures," "100% natural" often non-compliant.
3. **Cookie banner pre-checked** — illegal under GDPR. Banner must default to "all rejected."

---

## REGION-SPECIFIC AUDIT RULES

### Tracking peculiarities (EU)

- **Consent rate** typically 40-65% (vs US ~85%). Audit must compare cookied vs. modeled conversions.
- **Pixel deduplication** with CAPI: dedupe key (event_id) mandatory; without it, double-counting inflates apparent ROAS.
- **GTM Server-Side** is increasingly mandatory for EU compliance + tracking quality. Stape EU data-residency option preferred.
- **Cross-domain tracking** for multi-country stores (e.g., shop.brand.de + shop.brand.fr) must be configured explicitly.

### Privacy / Consent

- **GDPR** — explicit consent required before any tracking. Banner with rejected default.
- **ePrivacy Directive** — covers cookies specifically, even non-tracking ones.
- **DSA / DMA** — affects ad libraries, transparency, gatekeeper data sharing.
- **UK GDPR** — almost identical to EU GDPR but UK ICO enforces separately.
- **Country-specific addenda** — DACH stricter (Germany, Austria, Switzerland), Nordic strict, Southern EU more lenient in practice but same legal text.

### Bid strategy maturity

Same as US framework, but expect 30-50% more conversions needed before exiting Learning Phase due to consent-modeled noise.

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## EU-SPECIFIC QUICK WINS

1. **Implement Consent Mode v2 + modeled conversions** — recover 15-30% of "lost" GDPR-blocked conversions in reporting.
2. **Switch to first-party data lookalikes** — rebuild LAL from post-CMP customer lists.
3. **Add country-specific landing pages** — language + currency match increases conversion 20-40%.
4. **Audit ad library for DSA compliance** — political/sensitive classification can suppress reach.
5. **Reconfigure attribution windows** — extend to 28-day click for B2C DTC, 90-day for B2B SaaS.

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## DROPSHIPPING IN THE EU

### EU-specific dropshipping rules

| Check | Pass criteria | Severity |
|-------|---------------|----------|
| EU warehouse / IOSS registration | Avoid customs delays + VAT collection at sale | Critical |
| Shipping <10 days within EU | EU 3PL or supplier with EU stock | Critical |
| 14-day right of withdrawal clearly stated | EU consumer law mandate | Critical |
| Imprint / Impressum (German + Austrian sites) | Legal requirement, name + address visible | Critical |
| GDPR-compliant checkout (no pre-checked boxes) | Audit checkout flow | Critical |
| VAT correct per destination country | Reverse-charge or IOSS scheme | Critical |
| Translations beyond machine-translated | Native or pro-translated copy | High |

### EU dropshipping benchmarks

- **Winning product CPA**: €18-30 for AOV €40-70.
- **Mature winner ROAS**: 2.5-3.5x (post-VAT, post-fees).
- **Customer service response** in local language: <24h.
- **Refund window**: 14 days minimum (legal); some markets expect 30 days.
- **Email/SMS revenue contribution**: 20-30% (lower than US due to consent friction).

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## OUTPUT NOTES (EU)

- Use EUR for Eurozone, GBP for UK; if multi-currency, normalize to EUR for aggregate.
- State VAT-inclusive vs. VAT-exclusive ROAS clearly.
- Quote benchmarks per country tier where possible (DACH+Nordic = premium tier; Southern + CEE = mid tier).
- Flag GDPR/CMP issues as Critical regardless of business performance — legal risk dwarfs short-term metrics.
- Reference major EU events (Black Friday/Cyber Monday, German Schlussverkauf, French Soldes Jan/July) when comparing historical periods.
- ROAS gaps between Meta-reported and Shopify-reconciled often reach 30-50% in EU (vs 15-25% US) due to consent loss; this is normal, not a tracking failure.
