Meta Ads Benchmarks for Beauty and Skincare Brands 2026: CPA, ROAS, CPM, Hook Rate and Monthly Trend (12 DTC Brands)
A good Meta CPM for a beauty or skincare brand in 2026 is under $39.44, the median across 8 brands from 8 January to 7 September 2026. The middle half paid $22.20 to $49.61. That's the highest median of any vertical shown, and beauty makes it back by converting 3.45% of link clicks, the best rate shown. Median CPA was $51.45 and first-purchase ROAS 1.09 across 12 brands in the 12 months to 28 October 2026. Median hook rate: 38.0% (8 brands). Source: MHI Meta Benchmarks, DTC, October 2026 edition, read from MHI Media's warehouse of client Meta ad accounts on 29 October 2026, data settled to 28 October 2026.
Every figure on this page is a median across the Meta ad accounts of 12 beauty and skincare DTC brands, read from MHI Media's warehouse of client ad accounts on 29 October 2026 with data settled to 28 October 2026. Facebook and Instagram only; no Google, TikTok, email or organic. A brand is one client with all of its Meta ad accounts added together, included in a window if it spent at least £3,000 (about $4,000) there and recorded at least 30 purchases. The windows are the 90 days from 31 July to 28 October 2026 and the 12 months from 29 October 2025 to 28 October 2026, a week later than the hub's windows, so the figures differ slightly from the hub's beauty table. Each metric is a ratio of sums over the window for one brand, each brand counts once, the median is the middle brand and the interquartile range (IQR) is the 25th to 75th percentile. Money is USD at £1 = $1.3289 (multiply by 0.7525 for GBP). The vertical rule, the metric definitions and the spend-weighted figure are set out in the methodology on the benchmarks hub.
CPA, ROAS, spend and purchases run to 28 October 2026. CTR, CPM, CPC and conversion rate come from an impressions archive and exist for 8 January to 7 September 2026 only (31 July to 7 September 2026 inside the 90-day window); frequency runs to 3 August 2026 only; placement 8 June to 13 July 2026 only. Of the 12 beauty brands, 8 have enough archive cover for those delivery metrics, which is why their cells carry n = 8, and the archive matched 98% of the group's 12-month spend. Purchases are Meta's purchase event under each account's default attribution setting, and ROAS is Meta-attributed first-purchase revenue divided by spend. Not measured: blended or lifetime revenue, profit, repeat purchase, other channels, 7-day or 30-day frequency, or the second and third orders that a beauty brand's economics rest on.
Meta ads benchmarks for beauty and skincare brands: 90 days and 12 months to 28 October 2026
The median beauty and skincare brand paid $51.45 per purchase at a 1.09 Meta-attributed first-purchase ROAS over the 12 months to 28 October 2026, and $57.71 at 1.00 over the 90 days to the same date (12 brands), on a median order value of $59.50 and $60.43. In GBP at the warehouse rate, the 12-month CPA is £38.72 and the CPM £29.68.
| Metric | 90 days: median (IQR) | 90 days: spend-weighted | 90 days: n | 12 months: median (IQR) | 12 months: spend-weighted | 12 months: n |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CTR (link) | 2.17% (1.20% to 3.10%) | withheld | 8 | 2.18% (1.29% to 2.61%) | 2.41% | 8 |
| CPM | $41.63 ($22.09 to $50.71) | withheld | 8 | $39.44 ($22.20 to $49.61) | $44.19 | 8 |
| CPC (link) | $1.74 ($1.54 to $1.93) | withheld | 8 | $1.74 ($1.53 to $2.00) | $1.84 | 8 |
| Conversion rate (purchases / link clicks) | 3.68% (3.12% to 3.82%) | withheld | 8 | 3.45% (2.85% to 4.03%) | 4.03% | 8 |
| CPA (cost per purchase) | $57.71 ($45.74 to $66.59) | $52.34 | 12 | $51.45 ($46.52 to $58.31) | $46.77 | 12 |
| ROAS (Meta-attributed first-purchase revenue / spend) | 1.00 (0.78 to 1.30) | 1.02 | 12 | 1.09 (0.90 to 1.38) | 1.13 | 12 |
| Frequency (daily, campaign level) | not available (archive ends 3 Aug 2026) | not available | not available | 1.46 (1.41 to 1.51) | 1.46 | 8 |
| AOV (purchase value / purchases) | $60.43 ($48.06 to $64.67) | $53.50 | 12 | $59.50 ($50.01 to $62.98) | $52.79 | 12 |
Source: MHI Meta Benchmarks, DTC, October 2026 edition (benchmark cuts, 29 October 2026).
This table is the whole beauty story. $39.44 a thousand is the dearest CPM of any vertical we publish, and the account survives it because 3.45 of every hundred clicks buy, the best conversion rate of any vertical shown, so the purchase still lands under the all-brands median of $59.52 over the same 12 months (82 brands). The catch is the order it buys. A $59.50 AOV against a $51.45 CPA is a 1.09 first-order ROAS, and over the summer it was 1.00 flat, so the median beauty account is paying for its first order with its first order. Frequency says the auction is behaving: 1.46 a day with a tight IQR. The hub's Table B carries the same cut to 21 October; this one runs a week later and adds AOV.
Monthly CPA and ROAS for beauty brands, February to October 2026
Across the beauty brands qualifying each month, median CPA climbed from $42.50 in February 2026 to $63.72 in October 2026 (1 to 28 October) while median Meta-attributed first-purchase ROAS fell from 1.34 to 0.90, on 8 to 11 brands a month.
| Month | Qualifying beauty brands | CPA: median (IQR) | ROAS: median |
|---|---|---|---|
| Feb 2026 | 8 | $42.50 ($34.07 to $49.36) | 1.34 |
| Mar 2026 | 8 | $45.78 ($37.92 to $52.77) | 1.15 |
| Apr 2026 | 9 | $53.43 ($47.41 to $63.20) | 0.99 |
| May 2026 | 9 | $56.14 ($52.68 to $61.72) | 0.99 |
| Jun 2026 | 9 | $55.99 ($45.85 to $61.20) | 1.09 |
| Jul 2026 | 10 | $54.46 ($42.94 to $69.06) | 1.04 |
| Aug 2026 | 10 | $53.65 ($43.15 to $69.80) | 0.98 |
| Sep 2026 | 11 | $60.43 ($46.28 to $68.71) | 0.94 |
| Oct 2026 (1 to 28 Oct) | 11 | $63.72 ($56.21 to $71.93) | 0.90 |
Source: MHI Meta Benchmarks, DTC, October 2026 edition (benchmark cuts, 29 October 2026).
Read this as a trend across the beauty brands active each month rather than a same-brand trend: the set grew from 8 to 11, and the hub's fixed-panel method cannot be applied to beauty. Even so, the direction held for eight months. CPA rose by about half, ROAS dropped from 1.34 to 0.90, and the October IQR ($56.21 to $71.93) sits entirely above February's median. Part of this is the season, since the all-brands CPA on the hub also rises from spring, and part is brands joining the sample later at a higher cost. What I would do with it: stop comparing October against your own February and compare against the October row. At $63 and 0.90 you are the median beauty brand this month; at $45 and 1.3 you are where the vertical was in spring, and that is a position to protect.
Beauty funnel benchmarks: hook rate, landing page view, add-to-cart and checkout rates
The median beauty brand's video ads held 38.0% of impressions for 3 seconds between 8 January and 7 September 2026, the highest hook rate of the verticals shown, and 26.3% of its landing page views became an add to cart against 15.2% for the median DTC brand (8 beauty brands; 60 brands overall).
| Measure | Beauty and skincare: median (IQR), 8 brands | All DTC brands: median, 60 brands |
|---|---|---|
| Hook rate | 38.0% (33.3% to 40.6%) | 30.5% |
| Video ad-day share of matched spend | 79.7% (74.7% to 84.5%) | 70.0% |
| Link CTR on video ad-days | 2.63% (1.43% to 3.18%) | 2.04% |
| Link CTR on non-video ad-days | 1.23% (0.87% to 1.59%) | 1.40% (57 brands) |
| Landing page view rate | 89.6% (87.0% to 90.9%) | 84.5% |
| Add-to-cart rate | 26.3% (9.2% to 38.0%) | 15.2% |
| Checkout rate | 45.3% (31.9% to 70.7%) | 42.2% (59 brands) |
| Purchase rate | 39.5% (34.5% to 48.1%) | 46.8% |
| Purchases / landing page views | 3.75% (3.08% to 4.72%) | 3.03% |
| Purchases / link clicks | 3.45% (2.85% to 4.03%) | 2.44% |
Source: MHI Meta Benchmarks, DTC, October 2026 edition (benchmark cuts, 29 October 2026).
Beauty wins the top of the funnel and the product page, then gives some of it back at checkout. The hook is 38.0% against 30.5%, 89.6% of clicks land, and a quarter of landing page views go into the cart. Then 39.5% of checkouts become a purchase, against 46.8% for the median brand. So the leak in a beauty account comes late: price, shipping, payment options, or the moment someone compares the basket with a retailer's price. Two cautions. These are Meta's pixel and Conversions API events, and shops fire add-to-cart and checkout differently, so treat the cart and checkout steps as indicative; and the add-to-cart IQR (9.2% to 38.0%) is wide enough that event setup is part of the spread. The all-brands funnel with percentiles is on the funnel benchmarks page.
Video vs image ads for beauty brands: CPA and ROAS by format
Video took 54% of beauty ad spend over the 12 months to 28 October 2026 and image 16%, and image had the lower median CPA, $46.63 against $61.21 for video, with the higher median Meta-attributed first-purchase ROAS, 1.14 against 0.98 (9 brands).
| Format | Share of beauty spend | CPA: median (IQR) | ROAS: median (IQR) | n |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Video | 54% | $61.21 ($47.37 to $62.73) | 0.98 (0.80 to 1.22) | 9 |
| Image | 16% | $46.63 ($43.35 to $50.08) | 1.14 (0.90 to 1.33) | 9 |
| Unknown (no format metadata) | 30% | $57.64 ($46.76 to $70.79) | 0.85 (0.72 to 1.03) | 8 |
Source: MHI Meta Benchmarks, DTC, October 2026 edition (benchmark cuts, 29 October 2026).
Same finding as the hub's Table C1 a week earlier, and the same shape across all brands on the video vs image benchmarks: statics buy the purchase cheaper and video takes the bigger share of the spend. I would not read it as a reason to cut video. In beauty the video does the hooking (38.0% above) and the static often closes someone the video warmed up, and Meta's attribution hands the static the credit. What I would do: if under a fifth of your beauty spend is on statics, build five this week, product on a plain background and a before and after, and let them compete in the same ad set as the video. The static vs video post covers how we brief them. The 30% Unknown slice is ads created after the archive ends with no format metadata, and its $57.64 CPA mostly reflects how new those ads are. Carousel is under the 8-brand bar for beauty in both windows.
Prospecting vs retargeting in beauty accounts
Prospecting ad sets took 75% of beauty spend over the 12 months to 28 October 2026, at a median CPA of $53.72 and a median Meta-attributed first-purchase ROAS of 1.05 (9 brands) and a median CPM of $39.25 (8 brands); retargeting took 4% of spend and its cells are not reported (fewer than 8 brands).
| Audience | Share of beauty spend | CPA: median (IQR) | ROAS: median (IQR) | CPM: median (IQR) | n (CPA and ROAS / CPM) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prospecting | 75% | $53.72 ($48.85 to $58.90) | 1.05 (0.85 to 1.25) | $39.25 ($23.01 to $51.41) | 9 / 8 |
| Retargeting | 4% | not reported (fewer than 8 brands) | not reported (fewer than 8 brands) | not reported (fewer than 8 brands) | under 8 |
Source: MHI Meta Benchmarks, DTC, October 2026 edition (benchmark cuts, 29 October 2026).
The median beauty brand puts 0.2% of its classified spend behind a named retargeting structure, and the upper quartile sits under 1.8% (9 brands, 12 months to 28 October 2026). That is close to zero and I think it is right: broad prospecting under the Sales objective already finds the warm people, and a separate retargeting budget mostly pays twice for the same purchase. The prospecting row is the account. $53.72 a purchase and 1.05 ROAS on three quarters of spend sits within a couple of dollars of the whole-account figure in the first table, so there is no pocket of cheap retargeting purchases propping the number up. The remaining 21% of spend sits in ad sets created after the archive ends with no naming signal, so it cannot be classed; treat it as unclassified spend. The hub's Table C2 carries the prospecting delivery metrics to 21 October.
Facebook vs Instagram for beauty brands
The median beauty brand put 26.3% of its placement-report spend on Instagram between 8 June and 13 July 2026, with the middle half of brands between 22.7% and 32.2% and a pooled share of 27.6% (8 brands). That five-week window in summer 2026 is the only period with a placement report, so neither the 90-day nor the 12-month window can be split by placement, and purchases carry no placement field, so there is no CPA, ROAS or conversion rate by placement.
The hub's Table C3 carries the full beauty split for the same 8 brands and window: Facebook took 73% of spend at a median CPM of $33.22 and Instagram 27% at $47.64, with Instagram's median link CTR higher at 2.59% against 1.85%. I would not restrict a beauty account to Instagram by hand. Advantage+ placements already put the money where the cheaper result is, and the Instagram thousand cost about $14 more in this data. Frequency, for completeness, sits in the first table: 1.46 a day, 8 brands, 8 January to 3 August 2026, which reads lower than the 7-day figure in Ads Manager.
What this means for your beauty account
If your Meta-attributed first-purchase ROAS sits at 1.0, you are the median beauty brand (1.00 over the 90 days and 1.09 over the 12 months to 28 October 2026, 12 brands). At a $59.50 median order and a $51.45 median CPA, the first order pays for the ads that bought it and little else, so beauty runs on the second and third order, which Meta cannot see. Work out your break-even ROAS from contribution margin with the break-even ROAS post and put your repeat rate next to it; if the repeat order arrives outside your cash cycle, the median position is a loss.
CPM is the problem and conversion rate is the strength. If your CPM sits above $49.61 (the 75th percentile, 8 brands, 8 January to 7 September 2026), test broad audiences, open placements and more statics before anything else. If your conversion rate sits under 2.85% (the 25th percentile) on a typical CPM, the loss is after the click: product page, offer, price. If your CPA climbed since spring, check Table L3 before you change anything, because the vertical median went from $42.50 to $63.72 over the same months.
What I would test first is statics, since image took 16% of beauty spend at a $46.63 median CPA against $61.21 for video (9 brands), then checkout, since a 38.0% hook rate means the ad has done its job and a 39.5% purchase-from-checkout rate against 46.8% for all brands points at price, shipping and payment. The skincare strategy guide and the hair care guide cover the creative side, the Icy Bear case study shows what first statics did for an oral care brand in its first month, and our beauty and skincare Meta ads page explains how we run these accounts.
If you are comparing agencies, our guide to Meta ads agencies for DTC brands sets out the options and who each one suits, and our guide to DTC ad creative agencies does the same for creative partners.
FAQ
What is a good ROAS for a beauty or skincare brand on Meta ads?
Across 12 beauty and skincare brands, the median Meta-attributed first-purchase ROAS was 1.09 over the 12 months to 28 October 2026 and 1.00 over the 90 days to the same date, with the middle half of brands between 0.90 and 1.38 over 12 months. A ROAS of 1.0 puts a beauty brand at the vertical median. Whether that is good depends on your contribution margin and repeat purchase rate, which Meta does not report.
What is the average CPA for skincare and beauty Facebook ads in 2026?
The median CPA across 12 beauty and skincare brands was $51.45 (£38.72) over the 12 months to 28 October 2026, with the middle half between $46.52 and $58.31, and $57.71 (£43.43) over the 90 days to the same date. Month by month, the median across qualifying beauty brands rose from $42.50 in February 2026 to $63.72 in October 2026 (1 to 28 October), on 8 to 11 brands a month.
What is a good CPM for a beauty brand on Meta ads?
Under $39.44 beats the median. Beauty and skincare brands paid a median CPM of $39.44 (£29.68) between 8 January and 7 September 2026, with the middle half between $22.20 and $49.61 (8 brands), the highest of any vertical shown in the October 2026 edition. Over 31 July to 7 September 2026 the median was $41.63. The same brands converted 3.45% of link clicks, which is why their CPA still came in under the all-brands median.
Do video or image ads perform better for beauty brands on Meta?
Across 9 beauty and skincare brands over the 12 months to 28 October 2026, image ads had a median CPA of $46.63 and a first-purchase ROAS of 1.14 against $61.21 and 0.98 for video, while video took 54% of beauty spend and image 16%. CTR, CPM and carousel cells are not reported for beauty (fewer than 8 brands). Beauty video still hooks best: 38.0% of impressions held for 3 seconds (8 brands, 8 January to 7 September 2026).
What are the hook rate and add-to-cart rate benchmarks for beauty ads?
Across 8 beauty and skincare brands between 8 January and 7 September 2026, the median hook rate was 38.0% (3-second video views divided by impressions on video ad-days), with the middle half between 33.3% and 40.6%, against 30.5% for all 60 DTC brands. The median add-to-cart rate was 26.3% of landing page views (middle half 9.2% to 38.0%) against 15.2% for all brands. Beauty's purchase-from-checkout rate, 39.5%, sat below the all-brands 46.8%.
Sources
- MHI Meta Benchmarks, DTC, October 2026 edition, MHI Media; hub post with methodology, 22 October 2026
- MHI Media warehouse of client Meta ad accounts, benchmark cuts edition, read-only extract 29 October 2026, data settled to 28 October 2026
- Meta Business Help Centre, Ads Manager metric definitions for 3-second video plays, link clicks, landing page views, adds to cart, checkouts initiated and purchases, Meta Platforms