Solved: Single vs Multiple FB Ad Campaigns for Broad Audience

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your campaign structure. It's a common question, but the whole 'single vs multiple campaigns' debate often misses the real issue. You're right to question your setup, because the way you're splitting your budget is likely costing you a lot of money and preventing you from scaling effectively. Let's get into why consolidating your budget is almost always the right move, especially with the numbers you've shared.

We'll need to look at... why your current approach is broken

Alright, let's be blunt. The strategy of running multiple small campaigns at $30-$50 a day is a relic of an old Facebook ads era. Today, it’s actively working against you. The core of the problem is something called the 'Learning Phase'. For an ad set to perform optimally, Meta's algorithm needs to gather enough data to understand who your best customers are. The benchmark for this is about 50 conversions (in your case, purchases) per ad set, per week.

Let's do the maths. Your CPA is $20. With a $30 daily budget, you're hoping to get 1, maybe 2 conversions a day if you're lucky. That's about 10-14 conversions a week. That is nowhere near the 50 conversions the algorithm needs. This means your ad sets are permanently stuck in the 'Learning Limited' phase, where performance is volatile, CPAs are higher than they should be, and the algorithm is just guessing rather than optimising. You're basically paying Facebook to throw darts in the dark.

The "theory" you mentioned about duplicating campaigns to capture different audiences sounds logical, but it's based on a misunderstanding of how the platform works now. When you use broad targeting, you're already giving the algorithm access to that entire 300m+ audience pool. Its job is to find the pockets of buyers within that massive group. By splitting your budget, you're not helping it; you're tying its hands behind its back. You're giving ten different people £1 each to find a needle in a haystack, when you should be giving one expert £10 to do the job properly. This is probably the biggest reason your perfomance is stuck.

I'd say you... should consolidate your budget for machine learning

So, what's the fix? It's simple, but it requires a shift in mindset. You need to stop micromanaging the machine and start feeding it properly. Here’s exactly what I’d recommend:

1. Pause all your small campaigns immediately. You're just wasting money and collecting fragmented, useless data.

2. Create one single campaign. Set the budget at the campaign level using Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO). Put your full daily budget here, whether it’s $150 or $300.

3. Inside this one campaign, create just one or two ad sets.
-> Ad Set 1: Prospecting (Broad). This will be your main engine. Target USA, maybe set an age range if your course is specific (e.g., 25-55), but leave detailed targeting completely open. No interests. Let the pixel data and the creative do the work. This ad set should recieve the majority of your budget.
-> Ad Set 2: Retargeting (Warm). This is optional to start but good practice. Target people who have visited your website or engaged with your ads in the last 30-60 days. Exclude purchasers. CBO will only give this ad set budget when it's efficient to do so, so you don't have to worry about setting a specific budget for it.

This structure does a few powerful things. First, it gives the algorithm a big enough budget to exit the learning phase quickly. Second, CBO automatically allocates your money to the best-performing ad set and, more importantly, the best-performing ads within those ad sets. It’s an automated testing system. You're letting a multi-billion dollar machine do the heavy lifting for you, instead of trying to outsmart it with a dozen tiny campaigns.

I remember one client selling online courses, similar to your niche. They were struggling with inconsistent results and a high CPA. By moving them to a simplified CBO structure, we were able to provide the stability the account needed to scale, which eventually led to generating over $115k in revenue in just 1.5 months on Meta Ads. The principle is the same: trust the algorithm, but give it the resources it needs to succeed.

You'll need... a better way to think about your numbers

Let's talk about your metrics, because they tell a very important story. A $20 CPA on a $37 AOV gives you a Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of 1.85x. On the surface, that looks profitable. But is it really?

After Meta's fees, payment processor fees (like Stripe or PayPal), and any other costs associated with delivering your course (hosting, customer support time), your actual profit margin is probably incredibly thin, if it exists at all. You're working very hard just to break even. This is a precarious position to be in, because any small increase in ad costs could wipe out your profits entirely.

This is where most advertisers get it wrong. They obsess over lowering their CPA. And yes, a better campaign structure will help lower your CPA. But the more powerful lever is to increase your AOV. If you could get your AOV up to $50, that same $20 CPA suddenly looks a lot healthier (2.5x ROAS). If you could get AOV to $70, you're at 3.5x ROAS and you have a genuinely scalable business.

How do you do that?

-> Order Bump: At checkout, offer a small, highly relevant add-on for an extra $10-$20. A workbook, a short bonus video, a checklist. Something that's a no-brainer for someone already buying the main course.
-> Upsell: After the initial purchase, present a more significant offer. This could be an advanced version of the course, a bundle of other courses, or access to a private community for a monthly fee.

Focusing on AOV turns advertising from a cost centre into a true growth engine. It gives you the breathing room to acquire customers profitably, even on days when your CPA fluctuates. Use the calculator below to see for yourself how powerful this is. Play with the sliders – notice how a small bump in AOV has a much bigger impact on your net profit than a small drop in CPA. It should be a real eye-opener.

This is the main advice I have for you:

To put it all together, here is a clear plan of action. This isn't theoretical; it's the exact process we'd use to stabilise and scale an account like yours. The focus is on simplification, efficiency, and profitability.

Implementing a strategic shift like this can feel daunting, especially when you're used to a certain way of doing things. It requires discipline to let the campaigns run and trust the data, rather than constantly tinkering. This is often where having an expert pair of eyes can make a significant difference, not just in setting up the right structure but in interpreting the results and making the right decisions on creative and offer optimization.

We've helped many businesses move from a state of chaotic, unprofitable advertising to a streamlined, scalable growth model. If you feel you might benefit from some expert guidance in applying these principles to your business, we offer a completely free, no-obligation strategy consultation. We can take a look at your account together and lay out a more detailed roadmap for you.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh