Solved: Facebook Ads Campaign Structure for Sales

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your question about structuring your Facebook ads campaign. It's a common sticking point, and honestly, most advice you'll find online overcomplicates it or misses the point entirely. You're right to think carefully about structure, but the real wins come from a systematic approach to testing and understanding what your customers are actually worth to you, not just from how you arrange your ad sets.

Let's get into how I'd approach this to avoid wasting money and find what works as quickly as possible.

Let's rethink your campaign structure...

First off, let's tackle your main concern: duplicating a campaign and having them compete. In reality, this isn't something you need to lose sleep over. Meta's auction system is sophisticated enough to manage audience overlap. If the same person is in two of your audiences, it generally won't show them ads from both your campaigns at the same time and drive your own costs up. It just picks the ad with the highest "total value" at that moment.

The real problem with your proposed approach of duplicating the entire campaign is budget fragmentation and learning efficiency. Each ad set needs to get out of the "learning phase" to perform optimally. To do that, it needs to generate about 50 conversions per week. If you split your budget across two identical campaigns, you're essentially halving the speed at which each one can learn. You'll spend more money and wait longer to get clear results. It's inefficient.

Instead of thinking in terms of duplicating campaigns, we need to think about a structure that lets you test variables methodically inside a single, coherent setup. You have three variables you want to test: audiences, creatives, and landing pages. Trying to test all three at once is a recipe for confusing data and wasted spend. You won't know if a good result was because of the audience, the creative, or the page. You need to isolate the variables.

You'll need a systematic testing method...

The most effective way to run paid ads is to work like a scientist. You form a hypothesis, you test it, you analyse the results, and you iterate. You change one thing at a time so you know exactly what caused the change in performance.

Here's the process I'd follow:

1. Phase 1: Test Your Audiences. This is the most important variable. The best ad in the world shown to the wrong people will fail. Start by testing your different audiences (we'll get into which ones to prioritise in a moment) against your most promising creative. Use the same 1-2 ads across all the ad sets so the only major difference is the audiance itself.
2. Phase 2: Test Your Creatives. Once you've found a winning audience that's delivering results at an acceptable cost, you then create a new campaign (or ad set) targeting only that audience. Now, you test your four different creatives against each other to see which one resonates most.
3. Phase 3: Test Your Landing Pages. After you've found a winning audience and a winning creative, *then* and only then do you start testing your landing pages. You can do this by creating two identical ads, where the only difference is the final URL. Meta's system will then optimise delivery towards the ad/landing page combination that gets more conversions.

This methodical approach might seem slower, but it's infinitely more effective and cheaper in the long run. You build upon what works, rather than just throwing everything at the wall and hoping something sticks. Here is what that process looks like visually:

I'd say you need to prioritise your audiences properly...

Now, let's talk about the audiences themselves. Your breakdown of "Warm, Lookalike, and Cold" is a decent starting point, but we can make it much more powerful by thinking in terms of a sales funnel. Some people are just becoming aware of you, some are considering a purchase, and some are on the verge of buying. You need to talk to each group differently and, more importantly, you should prioritise your budget on the people most likely to convert.

This is how I structure and prioritise audiences for almost every account, from eCommerce stores to B2B software companies. We'll break it down into Top of Funnel (ToFu - Cold), Middle of Funnel (MoFu - Warm), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu - Hot).

Bottom of Funnel (BoFu): Your Highest Priority

These people are your hottest leads. They've shown clear buying intent. They've visited your website, looked at products, and maybe even started the checkout process. Your first job is to get them back to finish the purchase. This is where you'll almost always see your highest Return On Ad Spend (ROAS). Don't lump all "Warm" traffic together; get specific.

• -> Highest Priority (The "Almost" Customers): People who added a product to their cart, initiated checkout, or added payment info in the last 7-14 days but didn't buy. These are money on the table. Create ads that address potential objections, offer a small incentive (like free shipping), or simply remind them to complete their purchase.
• -> Previous Customers: Don't forget the people who have already bought from you. It's far cheaper to get a repeat purchase than a new customer. You can target them with new products, complementary items, or special loyalty offers. This strategy can be very effective; I remember one of our eCommerce clients, a women's apparel brand, where we achieved a 691% return on ad spend.

Middle of Funnel (MoFu): The Engaged & Interested

This group knows who you are but hasn't shown strong buying intent yet. They've visited your site, watched your videos, or engaged with your social media posts. Your goal here is to build trust and move them down the funnel towards the BoFu stage. They are your next best bet after the BoFu audience.

• -> All Website Visitors (excluding purchasers): A broad but effective group. Show them testimonials, case studies, or different product benefits to what they saw initially.
• -> Video Viewers: People who watched a significant portion (e.g., 50% or more) of your video ads are clearly interested. Retarget them with a more direct call to action.
• -> Social Engagers: People who have liked, commented on, or saved your posts. They are warm to your brand, so give them a reason to click through to your site.

Top of Funnel (ToFu): Reaching New People

This is your "Cold" traffic. They've likely never heard of you before. This is where you'll use Lookalike audiences and interest-based targeting. This is for growth and scaling, and you should only pour significant budget here once you've maxed out your MoFu and BoFu audiences.

• -> Lookalike Audiences (LALs): This is where your plan to use Lookalikes comes in. But don't just create one generic Lookalike. Create them based on your best customers. Start with a 1% Lookalike of your "Purchasers" list. This tells Meta to find people who share characteristics with those who have already given you money. It's the highest quality cold audience you can build. From there, you can test Lookalikes of "Add to Carts," "Initiate Checkouts," and even high-quality website traffic.
• -> Detailed Targeting (Interests/Behaviours): This requires deep knowledge of your ideal customer. Don't target broad interests like "Fashion". If you sell sustainable yoga wear, target interests like "Lululemon," specific yoga gurus, "sustainability," and magazines like "Yoga Journal." Get niche. The goal is to find interests that your ideal customer has, but the general population doesn't. This is where most people go wrong, they target too broadly and waste money on irrelevant clicks.

Here's a visual representation of how these audiences fit into the funnel. You should focus your initial budget at the bottom and work your way up as you prove the model.

We'll need to look at your offer, not just your landing page...

You mentioned wanting to test two different landing pages, which is great. It shows you're thinking about conversion rate optimisation. But here's a bit of a contrarian take based on my experience: the number one reason campaigns fail isn't the ad creative or the landing page design. It's the offer.

You can have the most beautiful, fastest-loading landing page in the world, but if the offer on it doesn't solve an urgent, expensive, and specific problem for your target audiance, it will not convert. Before you spend ages testing button colours and headline variations, you need to be brutally honest about your offer.

What makes a great offer?

• It's Specific: It solves a clear problem for a distinct group of people. "Helping businesses grow" is a terrible offer. "Building a predictable client acquisition system for independent consultants that adds £10k/month in revenue in 90 days" is a great offer.
• It's High Value: The perceived value of what they get should be many times greater than the cost or effort to get it. This could be a discount, a free trial, a bonus, a free audit, or an incredibly useful piece of content.
• It Reduces Risk: People are afraid of making bad decisions. Your offer should have a strong guarantee, social proof (testimonials, reviews), or a try-before-you-buy element to make the decision feel safe.

So, when you're thinking about your two landing pages, don't just think about them as different designs. Think of them as vehicles for two different offers. Maybe Landing Page A has a 10% discount, but Landing Page B has a "buy one, get one free" offer. Or maybe Page A focuses on free shipping, while Page B bundles the product with a free digital guide. Test the core proposition, not just the presentation. I remember one eCommerce client selling subscription boxes where we tested a "first box free" offer against a "50% off your first three boxes" offer. The "first box free" won by a landslide, even though the other offer was technically a better deal for the customer over three months. It was the perceived value and low risk that made the difference.

You probably should calculate what a customer is worth...

This might be the most important piece of advice in this whole letter. Most new advertisers obsess over metrics like Cost Per Click (CPC) or Click-Through Rate (CTR). They're not irrelevant, but they don't tell you if you're making money. The only way to know if your campaigns are truly successful is to understand two numbers: Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Lifetime Value (LTV).

CAC is simple: it's your total ad spend divided by the number of new customers you acquired. If you spend £1,000 and get 20 customers, your CAC is £50.

LTV is the total profit you expect to make from a single customer over the entire course of your relationship. This is the magic number. Once you know your LTV, you know how much you can afford to spend on CAC and still be profitable. A common rule of thumb is that your LTV should be at least 3 times your CAC for a healthy business.

So, if your LTV is £300, you can afford to spend up to £100 to acquire a new customer. Suddenly, a £50 CAC doesn't look so bad—it looks fantastic! This single calculation frees you from the tyranny of trying to get the cheapest possible clicks and allows you to focus on acquiring the *best* customers, even if they cost a bit more upfront.

Calculating LTV can seem complicated, but we can use a simple formula for subscription or repeat-purchase businesses:

LTV = (Average Revenue Per Customer Per Month * Gross Margin %) / Monthly Churn Rate %

Use the calculator below to get a rough estimate for your own business. It could completely change how you view your ad spend.

You'll need a message they can't ignore...

Finally, a quick word on your four creatives. It's great that you have multiple options to test. But make sure they aren't just four variations of the same message. You need to test different angles and hooks to see what truly resonates with your audience's core problems.

Instead of just changing the image or the button colour, try using established copywriting frameworks that are proven to work:

• Creative 1 (Problem-Agitate-Solve): Start by calling out a pain point your customer experiences. Agitate it by describing the frustrations and negative consequences of that problem. Then, present your product as the solution. For example: "Tired of spending hours creating social media content? (Problem) It's frustrating when you know you need to be consistent, but you just run out of ideas and time. (Agitate) Our tool generates a month's worth of content ideas in 5 minutes, so you can get back to running your business. (Solve)"
• Creative 2 (Before-After-Bridge): Paint a picture of your customer's life *before* your product (the frustrating state). Then, paint a picture of their life *after* using your product (the desired state). Your product is the bridge that gets them from one to the other.
• Creative 3 (Social Proof): Use a powerful customer testimonial. A direct quote from a happy customer is often more persuasive than anything you could write yourself. Video testimonials are even better.
• Creative 4 (Feature/Benefit): Take your product's best feature. Don't just state what it is; state what it *does* for the customer. "Our shoes have memory foam insoles" (feature). "Experience cloud-like comfort with every step, so your feet feel energised even after a 12-hour day" (benefit).

By testing fundamentally different messages like these, you'll learn so much more about your customers' motivations than if you just test four similar-looking ads. It's about finding the right message for the right audiance, and rememeber this will likely be different for your ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu campaigns.

This is the main advice I have for you:

I know this is a lot to take in, so I've put the core recommendations into a table to give you a clear, actionable plan to follow. This is the exact framework we use to build and scale campaigns for our clients.

Getting this stuff right—the strategy, the methodical testing, the financial modeling—is what separates the campaigns that break even from the ones that transform a business. It's complex and time-consuming, and it's where professional expertise can make a massive difference. We've seen these principles in action countless times, for instance, with a medical job matching software client, where a structured approach helped us reduce their Cost Per User Acquisition from £100 down to just £7.

If you'd like to walk through your specific business and have us put together a tailored strategy for you, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can look at your website, your offer, and help you map out the exact campaigns you should be running.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh