Decrease CPA with Meta Advantage+ Shopping Ads (w/ Paul Kovalski & Self)
Learn how Paul Kovalski helped a consumer fintech company decrease their cost per acquisition with Meta's latest ad type.
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Meet Paul Kovalski – Growth Marketing Manager at Self
In 2022, Paul was a Growth Marketing Manager at Self, a consumer fintech startup that helps people build their credit. He was responsible for driving customer acquisition through Self’s Credit Builder tool.
Paul had seen early success using Meta (formerly Facebook) Ads. While on a call, his Meta rep introduced him a new campaign type aimed at driving online sales called Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns.
Although this campaign type was designed for e-commerce companies, their focus on performance coupled with Self’s linear acquisition funnel made it an attractive opportunity for Paul to test.
Paul hoped this new campaign type would improve CPA efficiency by targeting more in-market customers.
How Self Tested Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns
Paul already had experience with Advantage+App campaigns, having used them since they were originally launched as Automated App Ads. The process for testing Advantage+Shopping was similar:
He set his optimization event as Self’s primary KPI: a Credit Builder Account origination
He allocated 20% of Self’s daily Facebook Web spend to the test, ensuring enough budget to get learnings while minimizing risk
They leveraged high-performing ‘champion’ ad creative that they had already seen success with in their historic web campaigns
Self’s Test Results
Advantage+ Shopping campaigns took off and exceeded performance expectations across the board.
Performance improved: 40% decrease in CPA-Purchase
Budget scaled: Doubled daily budget allocation since launch
Time savings: The only optimization in Advantage+ is through creative rotation, greatly reducing time spent in campaign management
Best Practices When Scaling Advantage+ Campaigns
With any new campaign, scale happens incrementally. Paul noticed the following while scaling his Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns:
Beware Time Lag: There will be some amount of time lag between money spent on ads and conversions that come in. Increase slowly, monitor conversions, and make decisions based on your first-party data.
Watch for Diminishing Returns: Advantage+ Shopping campaigns are scalable but, like any campaign, will eventually reach diminishing returns. Once you’ve maximized conversions consider allocating into a new campaign or channel.
Analyze Formats & Placements: Advantage+ Shopping campaigns offer the ability to run multiple ad formats & placements. Monitor how these mixes shift over time and where you are getting the best performance.
How You Can Improve CPA with Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns
Advantage+ Shopping campaigns are another small step towards automated campaign setups. Paul learned a few key principles that you can use in your company:
Stay In-Touch With Ad Channel Reps: Ad channels will continue to release performance-focused products, especially in 2023. Advertisers should stay up to date with all channel reps and ensure they are prioritizing the right tests while always allocating some percentage of ad dollars to high-impact experiments.
Automate & Consolidate When You Identify A+ Creative: Automation and consolidation can work well when coupled with a highly optimized funnel and high-quality creative. The nature of creative reporting in some automated campaigns can leave something to be desired so keep that in mind!
Beware Lack of Audience Control: The lack of audience control could lead to more budget going towards retargeting audiences. Advertisers should consider the incrementality of these executions and develop tests to suss that out.
All in all, Advantage+Shopping and other automated campaigns will eventually become the standard in paid media. Advertisers should learn about them, test them, and find out how they can be effective for their companies.
Paul is currently a Growth Marketing Manager at Self. Connect with him on LinkedIn.