I’ve decided to write out the exact process I use when setting up ads for medium and large online stores with at least 1,000+ products and a monthly revenue of €20,000 or more. This method has been tested across multiple stores and it works. I’ve shared it with others, and they’ve seen results too. It’s worth mentioning that all the stores were “niche-related” – meaning all the products fall under a single category (e.g., women’s shoes, sports equipment, etc.).

The following tips are mainly intended for those who are already familiar with Facebook advertising – I wouldn’t recommend this to complete beginners.

Alright, let’s begin.

We’ll split ad setup into two parts. The first part is main ads, and the second part is supporting ads.

What’s the difference?

Main ads maintain a steady flow of new visitors at a low cost, drive sales, leverage Facebook’s algorithm, and also handle remarketing.

Supporting ads bring in additional revenue that wouldn’t otherwise be generated – they’re much more specific in nature.

We’ll split main ads into prospecting and remarketing.

More specifically:

Prospecting 1.0 and 2.0

Remarketing VC (View Content)

Remarketing ATC (Add to Cart)

Nothing groundbreaking so far, right? Let’s keep going.

At this stage, all ads are created as Dynamic Catalog Sales (featuring all products in the store).

Prospecting 1.0
1.1 Create a campaign with the “Catalog Sales” objective and choose your full product catalog.

1.2 Create an ad set: targeting = broad, conversion event = purchase.

1.3 Create your first ad – carousel format.

⚠️ Important:

Write 3 different ad copies. The copy should be:
Generic statement + store benefits, e.g.,
“Prices on these products are absolutely amazing!”
“Free shipping, installment payments, etc.”

Each copy should start with a slightly different angle. Use your creativity – you don’t need to stick to my wording. For one version, add emojis (like ✅, 😍, etc.), and leave them out in another.

1.4 Duplicate the original ad twice. Now you have 1 ad set with 3 ads (each with a slightly different copy).

1.5 Duplicate this ad set 5 times and set different audiences for each: e.g., LLA VC 10%, LLA 3% (VC, PUR, Facebook + Instagram), Women only, Men only, Interests (brands), Interests (general). Again – use your creativity and think about which audiences have performed best for you in the past.

1.6 Now you have 1 campaign with 5 ad sets and 15 ads.

Prospecting 2.0
2.1 Repeat the same steps as Prospecting 1.0, but this time:

Turn on CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization)

Use Collection ads instead of Carousel

Create only 3 ad sets

⚠️ Note: There are periods where Carousel performs better, and others where Collection works better. Sometimes both work. Facebook seems to go through “seasons.”

Keep testing, maintain balance between formats, and adjust your budget accordingly.

Remarketing VC (View Content)
3.1 Create a new Catalog Sales campaign. Target people who visited your site in the last 30 days, and exclude those who added products to cart (last 30 days).

3.2 Create a carousel ad.

⚠️ Use a more aggressive angle in the copy.

Examples:
“Remember these awesome products?” + store benefits
“These items haven’t forgotten about you…” + store benefits

Create 3 versions of your copy.

3.3 Duplicate the ad twice, changing the copy in each version.

3.4 Use a unique presentation style in each ad set. For example, add a custom badge (“Low Prices”) in one, show products as single items in another.

3.5 You now have 3 ad sets in the campaign, each showing products differently (e.g., single image, added badge, etc.). Again – be creative.

Remarketing ATC (Add to Cart)
4.1 Repeat the exact steps as with VC remarketing.

4.2 In your ecommerce platform (Magento, Shopify, WooCommerce), extend session duration to 10 days so that products stay in the cart longer.

4.3 Target users who added items to the cart in the last 10 days, and exclude those who purchased.

4.4 Follow the same structure as in VC remarketing, but make your copy even more aggressive.

Example:
“Your cart full of amazing products is about to expire…” + store benefits

4.5 Again, each ad set should have its own creative style (e.g., different badge, single image, etc.)

What should you have set up by now?
Prospecting 1.0 – 5 ad sets x 3 ads (carousel)

Prospecting 2.0 – CBO, 3 ad sets x 3 ads (collection)

Remarketing VC – 3 ad sets x 3 ads (30-day window)

Remarketing ATC – 3 ad sets x 3 ads (10-day window)

This is your main foundation. It’s also important to constantly test new audiences (new ad sets) and monitor existing ones. Some may stop performing well. If your copy is good, your Prospecting CTR should be over 4%, and CPC around €0.03. Note: Catalog ads need some time to start performing properly.

Now for Supporting Ads
Since you can’t control which products appear in catalog ads, you also can’t tailor banners or copy to match the specific products shown.

Unlike the main foundation, supporting ads tend to “burn out” faster, but they offer excellent potential for sales.

You can create these within a single campaign, but I recommend creating a new campaign for each product (personal preference).

Supporting Ads
5.1 Choose a single product from the store. Pick it based on seasonality, past sales, gut feeling, or demand. Don’t overthink it – what matters is consistent creation and finding winners.

5.2 Create an ad set with a broad audience (or your preferred audience – I usually start with broad).

5.3 Inside the ad set, create 3 different ads.

5.4 Each ad should have a different creative style:

One with a banner

One with a collage

One with a slideshow/video

As for copy – create up to 3 different versions if you want. These should be enthusiastic and benefit-driven, tailored to the product.

5.5 If an ad set performs well, duplicate it with a new audience. On the original, increase the budget by 15% every 2 days.

If both perform well, keep duplicating with new audiences, while scaling budgets on the older ones by 15% every 2 days.

5.6 (optional) If you’re confident a product will sell, you can start with a CBO campaign with 3 ad sets, each targeting a different audience.

5.7 (optional) You can also create 3 CBO ad sets with Dynamic Creative, which has been working well recently.

Key Point of Supporting Ads
The goal is to constantly introduce new single-product ads and scale the winners.

Scaling happens by duplicating ad sets into new audiences. Think of audiences like slices of a pizza. One ad set = one slice.

For example, Slovenia has a population of ~1,000,000. If you create a broad ad set, you won’t reach everyone. Eventually, frequency rises and people see the same ads repeatedly.

The solution? Keep duplicating winning ads into new audiences – get more slices of the pizza while increasing budgets by 15% every 2 days.

How to Allocate Budget?
Let’s say you start with €100 (adjustable, just an example):

Prospecting 1.0 (5×3 carousel) – ad set = €3.50

Prospecting 2.0 (CBO, 3×3 collection) – €15

Remarketing VC (30 days, 3×3) – ad set = €7

Remarketing ATC (10 days, 3×3) – ad set = €5

+ 3 Single-product ads – ad set = €5–10 (test as many as possible)

I encourage you to add your own twist to this method. And remember – ads are just one part of the buying process. All parts (including the sales page) are equally important. You can read more about that in my previous article.