Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out! I understand you're looking for a Meta Ads expert to help with your Shopify stores and finding it a bit of a jungle out there. That's not surprising at all, there's a lot of people claiming they're the best. It can be tough to see who actually knows their stuff.
I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience running paid ads for lots of eCommerce businesses. Hopefully this will give you a bit of a framework for what to look for and what a good strategy might look like for your stores. It's not just about finding someone to press the 'go' button on your campaigns, its about finding a partner who understands the whole picture, from the first ad click to the final sale and beyond.
Let's get into it.
You probably should look for the right signs when hiring...
First things first, finding the right person or agency. This is where you need to do your homework, but it's not as complex as it seems if you know what to look for. You're right, everyone says they're the best, but the proof is in the pudding, as they say.
The absolute number one thing I'd look at is their case studies. Don't just glance at them, really look at them. Are they relevant to you? Have they worked with Shopify stores before? Have they worked in niches similar to yours? For example, I remember one campaign where we helped a women's apparel brand get a 691% return on ad spend using Meta Ads. I also recall helping a subscription box client hit a 1000% return, also on Meta Ads. When an agency can show you specific, tangible results for businesses like yours, that's a massive green flag. It shows they're not just guessing; they have a process that works for eCommerce.
You've gotta be realistic with the results, of course. If your niche is super competitive or your products have a lower margin, you might not see a 10x return overnight. A good expert will be honest about this. They won't promise you the world. Tbh in paid advertising, you can't really promise anything with 100% certainty because there are so many variables. If someone guarantees you specific results, I'd be very wary. What they *can* show you is a track record of success and a clear strategy for how they plan to approach your accounts.
Next, get on a call with them. Book an intro meeting or a consultation. This is your chance to pick their brain. See what advise they have for you. A good sign is if they offer some sort of free initial review. For instance, we often do a free consultation where we'll have a look at a potential client's existing strategy or ad account. This is usually super helpful for them because they walk away with actionable insights, and it gives them a real taste of the expertise they'd be getting if they decide to work with us. You're looking for someone who demonstrates deep knowledge, someone who asks smart questions about your business, your margins, your customers, not just someone who talks about clicks and impressions.
And of course, look at their reviews. What are other clients saying? Are the reviews detailed? Do they talk about the experience of working with the agency, the communication, the results? Strong, genuine reviews are definately a good sign.
One last thing on this, and it might sound a bit harsh. If you've seen detailed case studies, you've had a long chat where they've given you free, valuable advice, and you still feel the need to ask for references to call one of their other clients... it might not be a good fit. For us, that can sometimes be a red flag. It signals a deep lack of trust from the very beginning, and a good working relationship has to be built on trust. If you've done your due dilligence and you still don't trust them, it's better to just walk away and find someone you're more comfortable with.
We'll need to look at your Shopify stores' foundations...
Okay, so let's say you've found a potential expert. The next thing a *good* expert will do is look beyond the ad account. I've seen so many businesses pour money into ads, wondering why they're not working, when the real problem is their website. With your Shopify stores, this is absolutely critical. You can have the best ads in the world, but if they send people to a store that doesn't convert, you're just burning cash.
So, a few thoughts here on what to look at on the store side. I'd start by looking at your analytics. Where are people dropping off?
-> Do you have a really low Click-Through Rate (CTR) on your ads? If people aren't even clicking the ad, then the problem is likely your ad creative (the image/video) or your copy. It's not grabbing their attention or speaking to their needs.
-> Do you get lots of clicks to your homepage or a category page, but very few people actually view a product? This could mean you're getting the wrong kind of traffic (a targeting issue in the ads) or the way you're presenting your products on those pages isn't compelling enough. Maybe the layout is cluttered or confusing.
-> Do you get tons of product page views, but almost no "Add to Carts"? This is a classic one. The issue is almost always on the product page itself. It could be your product photos aren't professional enough. For things like apparel, you really need to show the products on models, or at least have very high-quality photos from multiple angles. It could be your product descriptions are weak or non-existent. You need to sell the benefits, not just list the features. Or it could be the price. Is it competitive? Is the value clear? Sometimes a special offer can help nudge people over the line.
-> Do you get lots of "Add to Carts" but very few completed purchases? This points to a problem in your checkout process. Are your shipping costs too high or only revealed at the very last minute? Is the checkout process too long and complicated? Do you require people to create an account? All these little things create friction and cause people to abandon their carts.
Beyond the user flow, the overall impression of your store is huge. Does it look trustworthy? As a new customer, would I feel comfortable putting my credit card details into your website? This is a massive hurdle to overcome. Some things that can help build that trust are:
-> Customer reviews and testimonials, right there on the product pages.
-> Trust badges (like secure payment logos).
-> Clear contact information. A physical address (if you have one), a phone number, an email address. It makes you look like a real business.
-> A professional, clean design. A cluttered, slow-to-load website feels unprofessional and untrustworthy. Poor photography is a massive killer of conversions.
A good ads expert will care about all of this stuff. Because they know that improving the conversion rate on your website by even half a percent can have a bigger impact on your profitability than just trying to get a cheaper click. It makes their job easier and gets you better results.
I'd say you need a solid campaign structure for Meta...
Alright, let's get into the nitty-gritty of the ads themselves. When I audit Meta Ad accounts for eCommerce clients, one of the most common mistakes I see is a complete lack of structure. People are often just boosting posts or running one big campaign targeting a random bunch of interests. That's a recipe for wierd, unpredictable results.
For Shopify stores, you want a proper funnel structure. This means having separate campaigns designed to talk to people at different stages of their buying journey. Think of it as ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu (Top, Middle, and Bottom of Funnel).
ToFu (Top of Funnel) - Prospecting:
This is where you're reaching new people who have never heard of you before. The goal is to introduce them to your brand and products and drive them to your website. The audiences you'd test here are:
-> Detailed Targeting: This is your bread and butter when starting out. You target people based on interests, behaviours, and demographics. The key here is to be specific. If you sell high-end coffee beans, targeting the interest "Coffee" is way too broad. You'll hit everyone from Starbucks drinkers to people who just like the colour brown. You'd be better off targeting interests like "Specialty coffee", "Aeropress", "James Hoffmann", or followers of specific high-end coffee brands. Think about what pages, people, or products your ideal customer *uniquely* likes.
-> Lookalike Audiences: Once you have enough data, these are incredibly powerful. Meta finds people who are similar to a source audience you provide. You should prioritise your lookalikes based on the most valuable actions. A lookalike of your past purchasers is going to be far more valuable than a lookalike of people who just visited your website. I'd test them in this order (once you have at least 100-1000 people in each source audience):
1. Lookalike of highest value previous customers
2. Lookalike of all previous customers
3. Lookalike of people who Added to Cart
4. Lookalike of all website visitors
-> Broad Targeting: This means targeting just by age, gender, and location, with no interest or lookalike layers. It sounds scary, but once your Meta Pixel has thousands of purchase events on it, the algorithm can get very good at finding buyers on its own. I wouldn't start here, but it's definately something to test once you're established.
MoFu (Middle of Funnel) - Warming Up:
This is for people who have shown some interest but haven't taken a high-intent action yet. You're trying to get them back to the site to look closer at your products. You'd retarget audiences like:
-> All website visitors (in the last 30-60 days)
-> People who watched a certain percentage (e.g., 50%) of your video ads
-> People who engaged with your Facebook or Instagram page
You want to exclude anyone who has already added to cart or purchased, because you'll speak to them in the next stage.
BoFu (Bottom of Funnel) - Closing the Sale:
These are your hottest prospects. They're on the verge of buying. Your job is to give them that final nudge. The messaging here can be more direct, maybe with an offer like a small discount or free shipping to overcome their hesitation. You'd retarget:
-> People who Added to Cart but didn't purchase (e.g., in the last 7-14 days)
-> People who Initiated Checkout but didn't purchase
This is where you can recover a lot of potentially lost sales. Setting up this structure with different campaigns for each funnel stage allows you to control your budget, tailor your messaging, and clearly see what's working and what's not. If your prospecting campaigns are failing, you know you have a targeting or creative problem. If your retargeting campaigns are failing, you might have a pricing or trust issue on your site.
You'll need realistic expectations for your costs and returns...
A common question I get is "what should my cost per purchase be?". The honest answer is: it depends. It depends on your product price, your niche, the countries you're targeting, and a dozen other things. But I can give you some rough ballpark figures based on what we see across many accounts.
For eCommerce stores selling to developed countries (like the UK, US, Canada, Australia), your Cost Per Click (CPC) might be somewhere in the £0.50 to £1.50 range. A typical eCommerce conversion rate is around 2-5%. So if we do the maths, you could be looking at a Cost Per Purchase (CPA) anywhere from £10 (£0.50 CPC / 5% conversion rate) to £75 (£1.50 CPC / 2% conversion rate).
| Objective: Sales - Developed Countries (e.g. UK, US) | |
|---|---|
| Low CPC | £0.50 |
| High CPC | £1.50 |
| Low Conversion Rate | 2% |
| High Conversion Rate | 5% |
| Low Expected CPA | £10.00 |
| High Expected CPA | £75.00 |
As you can see, it's a huge range. If your product sells for £20, a £75 CPA is a disaster. If your product sells for £300, it's fantastic. That's why the most important metric for eCommerce isn't CPA, it's ROAS (Return On Ad Spend). If you're spending £1 to make £4 back, that's a 4x or 400% ROAS, and that's generally a healthy place to be.
The job of a good ads expert is to push your metrics towards the better end of that range. How do they do that?
1. Constant Testing: As I mentioned, they'll test different audiences (interests, lookalikes) to find pockets of customers that convert more cheaply. They will also constantly test new ad creatives. Different images, different videos, different headlines, different copy. You never know what's going to resonate until you test it. One winning creative can sometimes cut you're CPA in half.
2. Optimising the Landing Page: We've already talked about this, but it's worth repeating. Getting your website conversion rate up from 2% to 3% is a massive lever. It means for every 100 clicks you pay for, you get 3 sales instead of 2. That's a 50% increase in revenue for the same ad spend. A good expert or agency will give you advise on this, maybe they even have a copywriter they work with who can help improve your product descriptions.
3. Smart Campaign Management: They'll know how to structure the campaigns (like the funnel we discussed), how to allocate budget effectively, and when to scale up what's working and when to kill what's not. This isn't just a "set and forget" activity; it requires daily monitoring and tweaking, especially in the early days of a campaign.
This is the main advice I have for you:
I know that's a lot of information to take in. To make it a bit more straightforward, I've broken down my main recommendations into a simple table for you. This is the process a good expert would likely take you through for your Shopify stores.
| Area of Focus | Actionable Steps | Why It's Important |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Vetting Your Expert |
-> Check for specific Shopify/eCommerce case studies with clear ROAS figures. -> Book an intro call to gauge their expertise and strategic thinking. -> Read their client reviews and testimonials carefully. |
You need a partner with proven experience in your specific business model. Their ability to strategise, not just execute, is what will drive long-term success. You're hiring a brain, not just a pair of hands. |
| 2. Auditing Your Foundations |
-> Analyse your store's analytics to find drop-off points (CTR -> Page View -> Add to Cart -> Purchase). -> Improve product photography and write compelling, benefit-driven descriptions. -> Increase trust signals: customer reviews, clear contact info, professional design. |
Pouring ad traffic onto a "leaky" website is the fastest way to lose money. Fixing your store's conversion rate provides a permanent uplift to the performance of all your marketing, paid and organic. |
| 3. Implementing Ad Structure |
-> Set up separate campaigns for each stage of the funnel: ToFu (Prospecting), MoFu (Warming), and BoFu (Retargeting). -> Prioritise your audiences: Start with specific interests, then build high-quality lookalikes, then retarget warm traffic. -> Tailor your ad message for each funnel stage. |
This structure gives you control and clarity. It allows you to speak to customers appropriately based on their awareness of your brand, which dramatically improves conversion rates and ROAS. |
| 4. Continuous Optimisation |
-> Rigorously test new ad creatives (images/videos/copy) every week. -> Test new prospecting audiences to find new winning segments. -> Monitor performance daily and re-allocate budget to what's working best. |
Ad performance is not static. Audience fatigue is real and what works today might not work next month. Constant testing and optimisation is the only way to maintain and scale your results over the long term. |
As you can see, running successful Meta ads for Shopify is a process. It's about building a solid foundation, having a clear structure, and then relentlessly testing and optimising. It's not a magic bullet, and anyone who tells you it is, is probably not the expert you're looking for.
Hiring a professional helps you navigate this process much faster and avoid the costly mistakes many business owners make when they try to go it alone. It's not just about the technical setup; it's about the years of experience, knowing what benchmarks to aim for, and understanding the strategy behind what makes a campaign truly profitable.
I hope this detailed breakdown has been helpful and gives you a much clearer picture of what to look for. If you'd like to have a chat about your specific stores and how we might be able to help, we'd be happy to offer you that free, no-obligation initial consultation to review your strategy.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
