Ever since Meta launched Advantage+ Shopping, we’ve seen additional releases of enhancements every month or so. Another example: Value optimization.
In this post, we’ll walk through where to find this, what it is, and how you might use it.
Let’s go…
Advantage+ Shopping Optimization Default
When you create an Advantage+ Shopping CampaignAdvantage+ Shopping Campaigns offer a streamlined way of creating a Sales campaign that leverages machine learning to get the best results. Presets are locked in and can't be changed. The advertiser provides custom audiences at the account level that define current customers and can then determine a budget cap for how much of the budget is spent on current customers. More, the default performance goalThe Performance Goal is chosen within the ad set and determines optimization and delivery. How you optimize impacts who sees your ad. Meta will show your ad to people most likely to perform your desired action. More is “Maximize number of conversionsA conversion is counted whenever a website visitor performs an action that fires a standard event, custom event, or custom conversion. Examples of conversions include purchases, leads, content views, add to cart, and registrations. More.”
This means that success is measured by the number of conversions your ads generate. Meta’s focus will be to show your ads to the people most likely to complete a purchase on your website.
In other words, the number of conversions (purchases in this case) is what matters most.
Value Optimization
If you have this update, there is a dropdown menu for the performance goal, and you will be able to select “Maximize value of conversions.”
This means that Meta will attempt to show your ads to people more likely to make higher-value purchases on your website.
To recap, you have two options…
1. Maximize number of conversions (purchases): Focus on the number of conversions.
2. Maximize value of purchases: Focus on the value of conversions.
While this option is new to Advantage+ Shopping, it’s not new to Sales campaignsThe campaign is the foundation of your Facebook ad. This is where you'll set an advertising objective, which defines what you want your ad to achieve. More. Advertisers have been able to optimize for value using the manual campaign creation method for a few years now.
ROAS GoalWhen utilizing the Sales objective, "Maximize value of conversions," and Highest Value bid type, you can set a ROAS Goal. Meta will then attempt to spend your budget with a focus on maintaining your desired ROAS. More
Just as is the case when you optimize for value using manual campaign creation, you’ll have the option of setting an ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) Goal when optimizing for value using Advantage+ Shopping.
This setting is optional. If you don’t set it, Meta will attempt to spend your entire budgetA budget is an amount you're willing to spend on your Facebook campaigns or ad sets on a daily or lifetime basis. More while getting the highest purchase value. If you have a minimum ROAS to remain profitable, you can set it as your ROAS Goal and the algorithm will use that as a focus.
When you set a ROAS Goal, you may not spend your entire budget. That becomes less likely if you set an overly aggressive ROAS Goal. If it isn’t achievable, you may spend very little budget at all.
When Should You Use Value Optimization?
I’d encourage all ecommerce businesses to experiment with value optimization. Compare your results (particularly ROAS) to when the performance goal maximizing the number of purchases.
That said, there are a couple of variables that will determine whether this is likely to be effective.
1. Product Price Variance. If you have products that fall across a wide range of price points, this may be a good option for you. Meta may then value potential customers who might spend hundreds of dollars over those who spend $10.
2. Budget and Volume. In all likelihood, the use of value optimization will mean you will get fewer purchases. That may make it more difficult for the algorithm to properly optimize if you don’t generate enough volume. That’s why this is best suited for those already generating a high volume of purchases.
If your product price variance is narrow or you are already struggling to generate purchase volume, this probably isn’t going to give you better results. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t test it, but set your expectations accordingly.
Watch Video
I recorded a video about this, too. Watch it below…
Your Turn
Have you experimented with value optimization? What do you think?
Let me know in the comments below!
