Most e-commerce brands running Meta ads are doing it wrong. Not because they’re bad at marketing — but because nobody showed them how to structure campaigns properly.
They’re boosting posts. They’re running one campaign to cold audiences and hoping for the best. Or they’re copying what worked for a completely different brand and wondering why the results aren’t there.
Here’s the thing: Meta ads work brilliantly for e-commerce when the structure is right. The platform is still one of the most cost-effective ways to acquire customers. The problem isn’t Meta. It’s how most people use it.
After 10+ years managing Meta ads for e-commerce brands and millions in ad spend, here’s how we structure campaigns that actually convert.
Think in funnels, not campaigns
The biggest mistake we see is treating every ad campaign as a standalone thing. One campaign. One audience. One objective. Fingers crossed.
That’s not how people buy.
Only about 3% of your audience is ready to buy right now. The other 97% need to see your brand multiple times, build trust, and be reminded at the right moment. Your ad structure needs to account for all of them.
We build every Meta ad account around three layers:
- Prospecting — reaching new people who’ve never heard of you
- Retargeting — bringing back people who’ve shown interest but haven’t bought
- Retention — turning one-time buyers into repeat customers
Each layer has a different job, different creative, and different success metrics. Let’s break them down.
Layer 1: Prospecting — finding your people
Prospecting is the top of the funnel. The goal is simple: get your brand in front of people who are likely to buy from you but don’t know you exist yet.
Audiences that work for e-commerce
- Lookalike audiences based on your best customers (purchasers, high-value purchasers, repeat buyers)
- Interest-based audiences around your product category, competitors, and adjacent interests
- Broad audiences — yes, sometimes letting Meta’s algorithm find your people with minimal targeting works brilliantly, especially with strong creative
What good prospecting creative looks like
This isn’t the place for a hard sell. These people don’t know you. Your job is to stop the scroll and make them curious.
- UGC-style videos showing the product in real life (not polished studio shots)
- Founder story ads — why you started the brand (these build trust fast)
- Problem-solution hooks — “Tired of X? Here’s what we built.”
- Social proof — reviews, testimonials, “bestseller” callouts
What to measure
At the prospecting level, you’re not looking for immediate ROAS. You’re looking at:
- Cost per link click (is the creative working?)
- Thumb-stop rate (are people actually watching?)
- Cost per landing page view (are you reaching the right people?)
- Add-to-cart rate (is the landing page doing its job?)
If you’re measuring prospecting by direct ROAS alone, you’ll kill campaigns that are actually building your customer base.
Layer 2: Retargeting — bringing them back
This is where the money is. Someone visited your site, looked at a product, maybe added to cart — and left. That’s normal. Most visitors don’t buy on the first visit.
Retargeting is the reminder. The nudge. The “hey, you were looking at this” at exactly the right moment.
Retargeting audiences to build
- Website visitors (7 days) — warm, recent, highest intent
- Website visitors (14-30 days) — still warm, need a different angle
- Add-to-cart abandoners — highest intent, lowest hanging fruit
- Product page viewers — interested but not committed
- Instagram/Facebook engagers — people who’ve interacted with your content
- Video viewers (50%+) — watched your prospecting ads but haven’t visited yet
Retargeting creative that converts
This is different from prospecting. These people already know you. Now you need to give them a reason to come back.
- Specific product reminders — dynamic product ads showing exactly what they viewed
- Customer testimonials — real reviews from real people
- Urgency and scarcity — “selling fast,” limited stock (only if genuine)
- Founder-to-customer messages — “I saw you were checking out [product]. Here’s why our customers love it…”
- Offer-based ads — free shipping, bundle deals, first-purchase incentives
What to measure
Retargeting is where you should see strong ROAS:
- Return on ad spend (ROAS) — this should be your best-performing layer
- Cost per purchase — should be significantly lower than prospecting
- Frequency — watch this carefully. If someone sees the same ad 10 times and hasn’t bought, you need new creative.
Layer 3: Retention — turning buyers into fans
Most brands stop after the first purchase. That’s leaving money on the table.
Retention campaigns target people who’ve already bought from you. The goal: get them to buy again.
Retention audiences
- Past purchasers (30-60 days) — just bought, might need a refill or complementary product
- Past purchasers (60-180 days) — time for a re-engagement nudge
- VIP customers — your top 10-20% by spend, treat them differently
- Lapsed customers (180+ days) — haven’t bought in a while, win-back territory
Retention creative
- New product launches — your existing customers are the most likely to buy new products
- Cross-sell and upsell — “You bought X, you’ll love Y”
- Loyalty rewards — exclusive offers for returning customers
- Behind-the-scenes content — deepen the relationship
What to measure
- Repeat purchase rate — are people coming back?
- Customer lifetime value — is each customer worth more over time?
- ROAS — retention campaigns should have the highest ROAS of all three layers
How it all works together
Here’s the important part: these three layers aren’t separate strategies. They’re one system.
Prospecting fills the top of the funnel with new potential customers. Retargeting converts the ones who showed interest. Retention turns one-time buyers into repeat customers who bring in revenue without needing more ad spend.
The audiences flow naturally from one layer to the next. Someone who sees a prospecting ad, clicks through, and doesn’t buy automatically enters your retargeting audiences. Someone who buys from a retargeting ad enters your retention audiences.
When it’s working properly, your overall blended ROAS improves over time because your retention layer is generating revenue at very low cost — and that subsidises the cost of acquiring new customers through prospecting.
Budget allocation
A common question: how should you split your budget across the three layers?
There’s no one-size-fits-all answer, but here’s a starting framework:
| Layer | Budget % | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Prospecting | 60-70% | Growth engine — bringing in new customers |
| Retargeting | 20-25% | Conversion engine — converting warm traffic |
| Retention | 10-15% | Profit engine — maximising customer lifetime value |
As your retargeting and retention audiences grow (because prospecting is feeding them), you can gradually shift budget. But prospecting should always be your biggest allocation — that’s your growth engine.
Common mistakes we see
Running only retargeting. If you’re not prospecting, your retargeting audiences shrink every day. You’re just retargeting the same people over and over until they tune you out.
Measuring prospecting by direct ROAS. Prospecting rarely pays for itself directly. Its job is to fill the funnel. Judge it by cost per landing page view and add-to-cart rate, not purchase ROAS.
Ignoring frequency. If your retargeting frequency goes above 8-10, your creative is stale. Rotate it. Otherwise you’re paying to annoy people.
Not excluding purchasers from prospecting. If someone already bought from you, stop spending prospecting budget on them. Exclude purchasers and move them to retention campaigns.
Setting and forgetting. Meta ads need daily attention. Audiences shift. Creative fatigues. Budgets need adjusting. If nobody is checking your account every day, money is being wasted.
Key takeaways
- Structure your Meta ads as a three-layer system: prospecting, retargeting, retention
- Each layer has different audiences, creative, and success metrics
- Only 3% of your audience is ready to buy right now — your structure should serve the other 97% too
- Prospecting fills the funnel, retargeting converts, retention maximises lifetime value
- Budget split: roughly 60-70% prospecting, 20-25% retargeting, 10-15% retention
- Check your ads daily. Not weekly. Not monthly. Daily.
Need help getting this right?
If you’re a female-founded e-commerce brand and your Meta ads aren’t structured properly — or you’d rather hand this to someone who lives in ad accounts every day — we should talk.
Fill out a quick form about your brand and we’ll book your free clarity call. No pitch, no pressure — just an honest look at what’s working and what could work better.