Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns represent Meta's most automated campaign type for e-commerce. By removing manual audience targeting and placement controls, ASC relies entirely on Meta's AI to find buyers. After managing ASC campaigns across dozens of e-commerce accounts, here is what actually works.
How Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns Work
Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns differ from traditional Meta campaigns in several fundamental ways. There is no audience targeting — Meta's algorithm decides who sees your ads based on conversion probability signals. There is no placement selection — ads are delivered across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network wherever the algorithm predicts the highest conversion rate.
The campaign structure is simplified to a single campaign with a single ad set. Within this ad set, you can add up to 150 creative assets, and Meta's machine learning tests combinations of creative, copy, and audience at scale. The algorithm optimizes for purchase events by default, using both pixel data and Conversions API signals.
The key differentiator is the "existing customer budget cap." This slider lets you control what percentage of your budget is spent on retargeting existing customers versus prospecting new ones. Without this control, ASC tends to over-index on existing customers because they convert at higher rates, which inflates ROAS but limits growth.
Creative Strategy for ASC
Creative is the new targeting in Advantage+ campaigns. Since you cannot control audiences, the quality and variety of your creative assets become the primary lever for performance. Meta's algorithm uses creative variation to test different value propositions with different audience segments.
We recommend a creative framework built on three pillars:
Product-focused creative: Clean product photography on white backgrounds, lifestyle shots showing products in use, and short video showcasing product features. These assets drive bottom-of-funnel conversions from high-intent users.
Social proof creative: UGC-style videos, customer testimonial cards, review screenshots, and "best seller" badges. These assets perform well with consideration-stage audiences who need validation before purchasing.
Offer-driven creative: Discount announcements, free shipping promotions, limited-time bundles, and price comparison visuals. These assets capture deal-seekers and drive urgency.
Upload at least 20-30 unique creative assets per ASC campaign. The algorithm needs volume to test effectively. Refresh creative every 2-3 weeks to combat fatigue, and monitor the "creative reporting" breakdown to identify top performers and underperformers.
Catalog and Feed Optimization
Your product catalog feeds directly into Advantage+ dynamic ads. Meta uses catalog data to generate personalized product recommendations for each user. Poor catalog quality means Meta shows the wrong products to the wrong people.
Essential catalog optimizations include:
- Product titles: Include brand name, product type, and key attributes (size, color, material). Meta uses titles for matching products to user intent.
- High-quality images: Use lifestyle images as the primary image rather than white background shots. Lifestyle images consistently outperform studio shots in ASC by 20-30% in CTR.
- Product descriptions: Write benefit-focused descriptions that work as ad copy. Meta may display catalog descriptions directly in dynamic ad formats.
- Product sets: Create product sets based on margin tiers, best sellers, new arrivals, and seasonal items. Use these sets to control which products appear in your ASC campaigns.
- Availability and pricing: Keep inventory status and pricing updated in real-time. Showing out-of-stock products or incorrect prices damages both conversion rates and customer trust.
Budget and Bidding Strategy
Budget allocation is where most advertisers get ASC wrong. The default setup spends disproportionately on existing customers because they are easy conversions. To drive growth, you need to deliberately cap existing customer spend.
We recommend starting with a 70/30 split: 70% of budget allocated to new customers, 30% to existing. This forces the algorithm to find new buyers rather than repeatedly targeting your remarketing audience.
For bidding, start with "Maximum number of conversions" without a cost cap. This gives the algorithm maximum flexibility during the learning phase. Once you have 50+ conversions per week and stable CPA data, consider switching to "Cost per result goal" to maintain efficiency as you scale.
Budget changes should be incremental — no more than 20% per day. Large budget increases reset the learning phase and cause temporary performance volatility. If you need to scale quickly, create a new ASC campaign at the target budget rather than dramatically increasing an existing one.
Measurement: Beyond Last-Click ROAS
Evaluating ASC performance using last-click ROAS alone is misleading. ASC campaigns drive significant view-through and cross-device conversions that last-click attribution misses. We use a multi-metric framework:
Platform ROAS (1-day click, 7-day click): The standard Meta attribution window. Useful as a baseline but over-credits ASC because it counts all touchpoints equally.
Incrementality lifts: Run conversion lift studies quarterly to measure the true incremental impact of ASC. Meta offers built-in lift study tools for eligible accounts.
Blended metrics: Track overall site revenue, new customer acquisition rate, and blended CAC alongside platform metrics. If ASC is truly working, overall business metrics should improve, not just platform-reported ROAS.
Customer quality: Monitor average order value, repeat purchase rate, and customer lifetime value for ASC-acquired customers versus other channels. Low-quality traffic with high return rates can inflate ROAS while destroying margin.