Solved: Budget for New Facebook ABO Campaign and Creative Testing

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your ABO campaign. It sounds like you're in the early stages, which is an exciting but crucial time to get things right from the get-go. I'll share some actionable advice and point out the areas to improve. I’ve included a table at the end summarising the key advice.

We'll need to look at your conversion volume...

Right, so first off, 15 conversions is a really small number to be working with. Algorithms need a good chunk of data to learn effectively. It’s like trying to bake a cake with only a teaspoon of flour, innit? The more data you can feed it, the better it'll be able to identify patterns and optimise your ads. At the moment, I'd say the algorithm won't be able to effectively target potential customers.

Think about it this way: each conversion gives the system a little more insight into who's likely to buy your product. With only 15, it's basically flying blind. You'll want to focus on getting that number up before you start pouring too much money into your campaigns. It might be more worthwhile to pause the ads until you are able to get more conversions.

I'd say you should rethink your ad set budget...

With such a low conversion count and an AOV (Average Order Value) of $43, I'd suggest starting with a very modest daily budget per ad set. Something in the range of £5-£10 (or about $6-$12) might be a sensible starting point. The point here isn’t really about immediate sales, but about gathering data and learning what works for your audience. I think you will just be burning through money otherwise. A lower budget gives you time to asses the performance and optimise.

Starting too high can be a costly mistake, especially with limited historical data. It's better to creep up slowly and keep a close eye on performance metrics. We aim to collect more information without wasting money. If you are getting the conversions cheaply then you can start scaling the budget slowly.

You probably should focus on a longer-term strategy...

This is all about the long game init? It’s more beneficial to focus on building a solid foundation and gathering data than chasing quick wins. Don’t expect overnight success; paid advertising is a marathon, not a sprint. Focus on optimising your ads, targeting, and landing pages to improve conversion rates, then scale your budget gradually as you see results. One useful test might be to pause the ads and focus on organic strategies.

And I would also look at the sales process. What is the customer journey like? How can you remove friction? How can you give the users more confidence when making a purchase? Looking at these issues might provide you with a boost in revenue that will lead to more conversions.

You'll need to split test everything...

Make sure you are split testing your ads and targeting options within the same campaign. This'll help you find out what works best so you don't have to guess. One of the most important things that will affect your ad performance is targeting. Getting the right target audience is imperative for ad success. Next to that, the ads will affect your performance. Having good ads is a must. I’d say you want to change only one variable at a time, this way you can asses what ads perform best.

So, when you split test, what do you test? Look at the performance metrics. Where do people drop off? Do you have really low CTRs and high CPCs? -> Your ad copy/product images likely need work. - Do you get visitors to your start page but only a small percentage of product page views? -> You're either getting the wrong type of traffic (look at your ad targeting/keywords) or maybe the products features aren't a good fit. - Do you get lots of product page views but no adds to cart? -> Likely your product photos, product descriptions, or pricing needs work. Maybe a special offer could help. Maybe people aren't ready to buy now and need long-term retargeting.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Getting all of this right takes expertise and time. Lots of businesses find that the best way forward is to work with an agency that knows what they're doing. We've worked with loads of e-commerce businesses. I remember one store launch campaign where we generated 1500 leads at a cost of just $0.29 per lead using Meta Ads. However, paid advertising can be tricky and you need to have someone with the required knowledge to steer the ship in the right direction.

If you'd like to chat further about this, feel free to book in a free consultation – we can take a look at your specific situation and give you some more tailored advice.

Regards, Team @ Lukas Holschuh