TLDR;
- The old rule of scaling budgets by 20% every few days is outdated for modern platforms like Advantage+. It's better to make a more confident, larger jump and let the algorithm adapt.
- True scaling isn't just about increasing the budget (vertical scaling); it's about finding new audiences and creatives to expand your reach (horizontal scaling). Relying on one campaign is risky.
- Your cost per purchase will inevitably rise as you scale. The real question isn't how to keep it low, but how high you can afford for it to go. You need to understand your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) to determine your true profitable CPA ceiling.
- This letter includes an interactive calculator to help you estimate your LTV and determine a sustainable Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), giving you the confidence to scale aggressively.
- Creative fatigue is the biggest killer of scaled campaigns. You must have a robust system for constantly testing new ad creatives to feed the algorithm and keep performance high.
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! It sounds like you've got some absolutely fantastic initial results there – a 13.5 ROAS is brilliant, and you should be pleased with that start. It's smart to be cautious about scaling, as this is where most people trip up.
I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience. The common advice you hear about scaling slowly is, frankly, a bit dated and can often do more harm than good with modern campaign types. I'll walk you through a more robust way to think about growing your ad spend that goes beyond just tweaking the daily budget.
We'll need to look at the myth of slow budget scaling...
First things first, let's address your direct question about the '20% every 2 days' rule. In my opinion, this is one of those pieces of received wisdom that gets passed around forums but doesn't really hold up under scrutiny anymore, especially with Advantage+ campaigns.
This rule comes from an older era of Facebook advertising, where the algorithm was much more sensitive. Making small, frequent changes was a way to avoid shocking the system and resetting the 'learning phase'. The idea was to gently nudge the budget up without the algorithm panicking. However, today's machine learning is far more sophisticated. An Advantage+ campaign, which is already performing this well, has a very clear idea of who your customer is. It's built to handle fluctuations and scale.
In fact, fiddling with the budget every couple of days can be counterproductive. You're creating constant instability, never quite letting the campaign settle into a new, higher level of spending. It's like trying to get a car up to motorway speed by just tapping the accelerator repeatedly instead of applying firm, steady pressure. You might get there, but it's an inefficient and jerky ride.
A better approach? Be more confident. If you want to get to $60/day from $20/day, I'd suggest making a more significant jump. For instance, double it to $40/day. Yes, your CPA will likely wobble for a day or two as the algorithm adjusts to the new pressure to find more customers. This is normal and expected. It needs to explore slightly broader audiences to spend the new budget. But it should stabalise within 2-3 days. Once it's stable, you can make the next jump to $60. This method gets you to your target spend faster and with fewer disruptions.
The key is to monitor it closely after the jump, but don't panic at the first sign of a higher CPA. You're looking for the new average after a few days, not the immediate reaction.
I'd say you need to think beyond just budget...
Relying on one single campaign, no matter how good it is, is a fragile strategy. This is what we call 'vertical scaling' – just pumping more money into one asset. It works, but only up to a point. Eventually, you'll hit a ceiling where the cost per purchase skyrockets because you've saturated the core audience and the algorithm is forced to find much less suitable buyers. You need to prepare for this by also thinking about 'horizontal scaling'.
Horizontal scaling means expanding your efforts outwards, not just upwards. It’s about building more pillars to support your business, instead of just making one pillar taller and more precarious. How do you do this?
- -> New Audiences: Even with Advantage+, you can guide the algorithm. You could duplicate your successful campaign and give it a different audience suggestion. For example, if you're currently running broad, you could try a version with a custom audience of past purchasers as a signal, or a lookalike audience. You're giving the machine a new starting point to explore.
- -> New Creatives: This is the biggest one. Your current ads are clearly working, but they won't work forever. Creative fatigue is real, and it accelerates dramatically as you increase spend. What works at $20/day might burn out in a week at $60/day. Horizontal scaling means having a pipeline of new ads ready to test.
- -> New Platforms: Once you've started to max out Facebook, you might look at other platforms. We've seen great sucess for eCommerce clients on platforms like Pinterest or even Tiktok Ads, depending on the product. It’s about finding new ponds to fish in.
I remember one subscription box client we worked with. They had a single campaign that was doing okay, but they couldn't scale it. The moment we increased the budget, the ROAS collapsed. The solution wasn't to force more money into that one campaign. We built a multi-layered structure. We had one campaign for prospecting new customers with a variety of creatives, another for retargeting website visitors, and a third campaign specifically for winning back past subscribers. By scaling horizontally across multiple campaigns and audiences, we were able to dramatically increase their total ad spend while actually *improving* their overall ROAS to over 1000%.
You probably should focus on your creative testing process...
As I mentioned, creative is the real engine of scale. You can have the perfect audience and budget strategy, but if your ads are tired and uninspired, you'll fail. At $20 a day, one good ad can last you for months. At higher spend levels, you need a constant stream of new material to feed the algorithm and keep audiences engaged.
You need to think like a content creator, not just an advertiser. What different angles can you take? What different problems does your product solve? What different types of people use it?
Here’s a simple framework you can use:
- Test Different Hooks: The first 3 seconds of your ad are everything. You should be constantly testing new opening lines or visual hooks to grab attention. For every one ad concept, you could create 3-5 variations with different intros.
- Test Different Angles: Don't just talk about features. Talk about benefits. One ad could focus on the quality of your materials, another on the problem it solves, a third could be a customer testimonial. We’ve worked with several SaaS clients who saw fantastic results with simple User-Generated Content (UGC) style videos – just a customer talking to their phone camera. It feels authentic and builds trust.
- Test Different Formats: Don't just rely on single images. Test carousels, videos, slideshows, and collections. Advantage+ works best when you give it a variety of assets to play with. It will figure out which format works best for which person.
You should aim to introduce at least 1-2 new, distinct ad concepts into your campaign every single week. Not just variations, but completely new ideas. This gives the algorithm fresh material to work with and protects you from the inevitable burnout of your current winning ad.
You'll need a solid understanding of your numbers...
This is probably the most important shift in mindset you need to make when scaling. Right now, you're focused on your $2.3 cost per purchase. It's an amazing number, but I can tell you with 100% certainty that it will not stay that low as you scale. It's impossible. As you spend more, you reach less-perfect customers, competition for auctions increases, and your costs go up. This is a fundamental law of paid advertising.
The successful advertiser isn't the one with the lowest CPA; it's the one who knows exactly how much they can *afford* to pay to acquire a customer. This is where calculating your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) becomes non-negotiable.
The LTV tells you the total profit a typical customer will bring to your business over the entire course of their relationship with you. Once you know that number, your perspective changes entirely. Suddenly, a $10 CPA might seem not just acceptable, but an incredible bargain if your LTV is $200. It frees you from the tyranny of chasing an unsustainably low CPA.
Here’s a simplified way to think about it:
LTV = (Average Order Value * Gross Margin * Purchase Frequency) / Churn Rate
It sounds complex, but it's the bedrock of any serious advertising effort. I've built a simple calculator below to help you get a rough idea. Play around with the numbers and see how they impact the maximum you can afford to spend to acquire a customer.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
To sum up, moving from $20 to $60 a day is more than just a budget change; it's a shift in strategy. You've found something that works on a small scale, and now the job is to build a robust system around it that can handle more pressure and volume. Here is the main advice I have for you:
| Recommendation | Why it Matters | Your First Step |
|---|---|---|
| Scale Budget Confidently | Avoids constant algorithm disruption and gets you to your target spend faster and more efficiently than tiny, frequent increases. | Increase your daily budget from $20 to $40 in one go. Monitor performance for 3 days before making the next jump. |
| Begin Horizontal Scaling | Builds resilience and prevents over-reliance on a single campaign, which will eventually hit a performance ceiling. | Duplicate your winning Advantage+ campaign. In the new one, add a custom audience of past purchasers as an 'audience suggestion'. |
| Build a Creative Pipeline | Creative fatigue is the number one reason scaled campaigns fail. You need a constant supply of new ads to maintain performance. | Plan to create and launch two brand new ad concepts (e.g., a testimonial video and a carousel ad) next week. |
| Calculate Your LTV & Affordable CPA | Shifts your focus from an unsustainable low CPA to a profitable LTV:CAC ratio, giving you the confidence to invest in growth. | Use the calculator above with your best estimates to find your approximate LTV. This gives you your "do not exceed" CPA target. |
Scaling successfully is a different skill set from finding that initial pocket of success. It requires more strategic thinking, a robust testing methodology, and a deeper understanding of your business's core economics. It's less about finding a magic button and more about building a machine.
Many business owners find this is the point where getting some expert help can make a huge difference. An experienced eye can help you build that machine faster, avoid common pitfalls, and scale with more confidence.
We offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can take a look at your account together and map out a more detailed scaling strategy for you. If that's something you'd be interested in, feel free to get in touch.
Hope that helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
