Video summary

21 Facebook Ad Tricks to Improve Your ROAS INSTANTLY

Main summary

Key takeaways

Business

Business-focused summary (Facebook ads ROAS optimization)

Core operating principles (what to do in Ads Manager + measurement)

  • Optimize for the actual purchase conversion event

    • Set the campaign/objective to match the conversion event you truly want.
    • Avoid “proxy” events like Add to Cart or Initiate Checkout as your primary optimization for purchases (purchase-optimized events outperform proxy-event optimization).

  • Use CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization) as default

    • Use CBO so Meta can shift budget to the best-performing ad sets.
    • Tradeoff: overly complex structures push you into manual per-ad-set budget decisions that can “outsmart” the algorithm.
    • Rule of thumb: Use CBO—the speaker notes 99.9% of the time you shouldn’t avoid it.

  • Evaluate performance on 7–14 day windows

    • Don’t judge new ads after 1–2 days; impressions need time to convert.
    • Use short-term views only as “sanity checks.”
    • Main decisions (pause/create/scale) should rely on 7–14 days.

  • Use incremental attribution to evaluate creatives

    • In reporting: Columns → Compare attribution settings → Incremental attribution
    • Goal: judge prospecting creatives by conversions they truly cause (avoid “last-second steal” effects).
    • Example:
      • Incremental conversions drop from 379 → 206
      • Cost per acquisition rises $14 → $26
      • Still described as efficient.

  • Cross-check platform metrics with Shopify (business health view)

    • Track Meta spend vs Shopify purchases/sales side-by-side (blended ROI, not platform-only ROAS).
    • Example:
      • Platform ROI: about 5x ROAS
      • Business blended ROI: 8.5x total ROI
      • Example numbers: $84,000 spend → $727,000 total sales
    • Also monitor daily spend/purchases side-by-side (template referenced as available via their community).

  • Do regular “pixel gut checks” (tracking parity)

    • In Events Manager for Purchase:
      • Compare browser events vs server events
    • Target guideline:
      • Expect about 10% difference (server events typically ~10% higher)
    • Speaker range:
      • 10–15% acceptable; larger gaps imply tracking issues.

Targeting & creative execution playbook

  • Default to broad targeting for cold prospecting

    • Instead of heavy interest-based targeting, build ads around an avatar and let Meta find people.
    • Use inclusions/exclusions only when necessary, but avoid restricting too much.

  • New creative goes into a “new pack”

    • When launching new creatives, put them into a fresh ad set grouped by:
      • Avatar + Concept
    • Aim for about ~4–6 ads per ad set.

  • Iterate on winning concepts (not blanket creative diversity)

    • If a creative is working:
      • duplicate and modify (callouts, backgrounds, headlines, primary text, reshoots, etc.)
    • Start from the winner and expand variations horizontally first, then vertically.

  • Creative is the targeting

    • Meta is claimed to deliver creatives to different audience segments based on creative/offer signaling—more directly than many targeting “levers.”

  • Scale aggressively when above goal

    • Avoid slow +10% step scaling if you’re well above performance targets.
    • Speaker suggests “chunks,” potentially up to ~100% total spend increase when far beyond target.
    • Decision rule:
      • If the target is 2x and you’re getting 4x, you likely have “massive wiggle room.”

  • Evergreen scaling cadence

    • When near steady-state (e.g., 2.3x vs 2x goal):
      • Scale in 20–30% increments every 3–5 days
      • Confirm decisions with the 7–14 day window
    • When far above goal:
      • Scale via larger chunks (compounding occurs via both steady increments and “big moments”).

  • “Rule of 10,000” for new ads

    • For every $10k spend, launch 1 new ad per week.
    • Examples:
      • $10k/month → 1 ad/week
      • $100k/month → 10 ads/week
    • Floor guidance:
      • If struggling: at least 2 ads/week
      • Otherwise: go bi-weekly
        • ~4 ads every 2 weeks or ~6 ads every 3 weeks

  • Quality beats quantity

    • Launching lots of low-quality ads leads to weak engagement/visibility.
    • Prioritize creative quality over creative volume.

Operational tactics & account structuring (“swim lanes”)

  • Use audience breakdowns to steer decisions

    • In Ads Manager: Breakdowns → Audience segments
    • Optimize with spend splits for:
      • new customers vs existing customers vs engaged customers

  • Separate prospecting and retention (“swim lanes”)

    • Run two separate campaigns:
      • New customer acquisition (exclude existing customers)
      • Existing customer retention (use different creatives and different KPIs/frequency management)
    • Scaling goal:
      • Increase new-customer acquisition spend while keeping retention spend steady.

  • Use value rules instead of hard restrictions

    • Configure Value rules in ad set settings to adjust how Meta values actions for optimization.
    • Example:
      • If an age group (e.g., 65+) yields higher LTV, apply a value increase (example: +50% value) rather than excluding them.
    • Benefit:
      • Adjust spend up/down without “axing” segments entirely.

Weekly/seasonality optimization & conversion-rate drivers

  • Day-of-week analysis

    • Meta spends evenly across days when using a daily budget (roughly constant).
    • Shopify conversion/profit varies by day (example pattern):
      • Weekdays: ~1% CVR
      • Weekends: ~1.5% CVR
    • Action:
      • Reduce spend on low-profit days (e.g., -20% baseline weekdays)
      • Reallocate to weekends (net effect described as potentially +33% on better-performing days)
    • KPI goal:
      • Equalize CVR/ROAS conversion rate across days by adjusting budget allocation.

  • Website optimization affects CPMs and ad profitability

    • High CPMs can make profitability hard.
    • Example claimed:
      • CPMs $200 → ~$60 after website adjustments.
    • Mechanism described:
      • Meta reads on-site signals via the pixel; site claims/copy can affect delivery and costs.
    • Recommendation:
      • Optimize landing pages; benchmark competitors and replicate best-performing design patterns (speaker even suggests AI tools like Claude to recreate templates).

Funnel discipline: offer & attribution hygiene

  • Test the offer before blaming ads
    • If performance is weak:
      • Don’t endlessly change creatives/structure while keeping a weak offer.
    • Framing:
      • Product + offer quality is presented as the main driver of sustainable ROAS and scaling.

Frameworks / playbooks explicitly referenced

  • CBO-first account structure (CBO as the default)
  • 7–14 day evaluation window
  • Incremental attribution for creative evaluation
  • Pack-based creative rollout
    • Avatar + Concept grouped into new ad sets
    • 4–6 ads per ad set
  • Creative iteration system
    • Duplicate winners and change elements (callouts/background/headlines/reshoots)
  • Rule of 10,000 (new ads cadence)
    • 1 new ad/week per $10k spend
    • Floor + batching guidance
  • Swim lanes
    • New vs existing customer campaigns separated
  • Value rules
    • Soft weighting vs hard exclusions
  • Day-of-week profit steering
    • Adjust budgets to equalize CVR/ROAS across weekdays vs weekends
  • Tracking integrity checks
    • Server vs browser parity target ~10–15%

Key metrics & target examples mentioned

  • Scale decision examples

    • Target 2x ROAS, achieving 4x → scale aggressively
    • Evergreen:
      • 2x goal → 2.3x actual

  • Incremental attribution example

    • Incremental conversions: 379 → 206
    • CPA: $14 → $26

  • Attribution window emphasis

    • Mentions comparing incremental vs typical:
      • 7-day click / 1-day click / 1-day engage styles
    • Incremental is used for prospecting creative judgment.

  • Pixel parity

    • Expected difference: ~10% (server ~10% higher)
    • Acceptable: 10–15%

  • Website/CPM example

    • CPM $200 → $60

  • Business vs platform ROI example

    • Spend $84k → $727k sales
    • Platform ~5x vs blended ~8.5x

  • Day-of-week example

    • Weekday CVR ~1%
    • Weekend CVR ~1.5%
    • Suggested budget reallocation described as up to +33% on better days

Concrete actions / recommendations (checklist style)

  • Set conversion event optimization to Purchase (not cart/checkout proxies).
  • Default to CBO and simplify budgets at the campaign level.
  • When launching new creatives:
    • create a new ad set pack by avatar + concept
    • include 4–6 ads
    • launch consistently
  • Don’t pause/adjust within 1–2 days; use 7–14 days for decisions.
  • Evaluate prospecting creatives using incremental attribution.
  • Reconcile Meta performance with Shopify totals and daily trends.
  • Run pixel event parity checks (browser vs server) and fix tracking if off.
  • Use broad targeting for cold audiences; limit restrictive targeting.
  • Duplicate and iterate winning concepts instead of reinventing everything.
  • Scale based on incremental new conversions and how far above target you are (aggressive “chunk” scaling when far above).
  • Maintain a new-ads pipeline using the Rule of 10,000 cadence.
  • Separate prospecting vs retention into swim lanes and manage metrics/frequency separately.
  • Use value rules to weight high-LTV segments rather than excluding.
  • Do day-of-week budget adjustments based on Shopify CVR/profit differences.
  • Optimize landing pages to reduce CPM and improve delivery signals.
  • If ROAS is poor, test/validate the offer first before major ad structural changes.

Presenters / sources

  • Presenter: Sam (speaker; from “The Moonlight Ers” / “school community”)
  • Referenced example/brand: AG1
  • Referenced book: Steal Like an Artist
  • Tools mentioned: Magic Brief Motion, Claude (for template/copy assistance)

Original video