How to Create a Facebook Ad Testing Campaign for the 2025 Algorithm

Transcript

In this video, I'm going to walk you through the exact step by step that you can follow to create killer Facebook ads testing campaigns, ultimately allowing you to scale hundreds of ads very fast so you can scale in 2025 and beyond. I'm going to reveal the exact strategy that we have used at the Moonlighters for over 100 brands. And we have done th... Read More

Key Insights

• Creative performance is the leading lever in the presented Facebook advertising approach because the algorithm increasingly favors the best-performing ads. Broad targeting and fewer manual optimizations therefore become more important, provided the account retains controls that prioritize return on ad spend and limit wasted budget.
• Excessive testing spend is a direct threat to profitability because allocating 20–30% of creative spend to tests can leave 10–20% of the total budget supporting underperforming ads. The proposed goal is to move toward roughly 5% for testing and redirect saved funds into proven creative.
• The recommended campaign structure is two campaigns: a prospecting CBO for core creative testing and an Advantage Plus shopping campaign for scaling. There is no separate third testing campaign, so new creative is tested within the principal prospecting structure before successful ads move into the scaling mechanism.
• The prospecting CBO is configured as a manual sales campaign with auction buying, campaign budget optimization, a daily budget, and the highest-volume bid strategy. The worked example uses $100 per day, while acknowledging that cost caps or bid caps may have other applications.
• Purchase is the required conversion event in the proposed setup, regardless of funnel size or average order value. The ad set maximizes the number of conversions rather than optimizing for add-to-cart activity, and the selected data set must correspond to the advertiser's tracking configuration.
• Attribution is set to 7-day click and 1-day view in both the testing and scaling campaigns. The approach specifically optimizes around the 7-day click window while retaining the 1-day view component in reporting, keeping measurement settings consistent between the two campaign types.
• Broad prospecting is implemented by targeting the full relevant country, all applicable ages and genders, and potentially multiple countries while leaving detailed interest targeting blank. Original audience controls are used because they permit explicit exclusions for recent site visitors and people who have previously purchased.
• The initial scaling budget is approximately 20% of the prospecting CBO budget, which produces a $20 daily Advantage Plus budget when testing receives $100. The existing-customer budget cap is set to zero, and purchaser or visitor exclusions are added when the account has access to them.

Questions & Answers

Q: How should a Facebook ad testing campaign be structured for the 2025 algorithm?

Use two sales campaigns: a prospecting CBO as the core creative-testing environment and an Advantage Plus shopping campaign for scaling. New creative is tested inside the prospecting campaign rather than in a separate third testing campaign.

Q: How much budget should be allocated to Facebook ad testing?

The goal is to reduce testing spend toward roughly 5%. The approach warns that allocating 20–30% of creative spend to testing can leave 10–20% of the total budget supporting underperforming ads.

Q: How do you configure the prospecting CBO campaign?

Create a manual sales campaign with auction buying, enable the campaign budget, and select a daily budget with the highest-volume bid strategy. The worked example uses a $100 daily budget and names the campaign “ML_prospecting CBBO.”

Q: Which conversion event should a Facebook sales campaign use?

Select the correct data set and use purchase as the conversion event while maximizing the number of conversions. The approach specifically rejects optimizing for add-to-cart activity, regardless of funnel size or average order value.

Q: What attribution setting should the testing campaign use?

Set attribution to 7-day click and 1-day view. The method optimizes around 7-day click while retaining the 1-day view component.

Q: Should a Facebook prospecting campaign use interest targeting?

Leave detailed interest targeting blank and target the full relevant country, all applicable ages, and every applicable gender. This broad setup can also cover multiple countries while using exclusions to keep the focus on new customers.

Q: How much budget should the Advantage Plus scaling campaign receive?

Start the Advantage Plus shopping campaign at roughly 20% of the prospecting CBO budget. If the prospecting campaign receives $100 per day, the scaling campaign begins at $20 per day.

Q: How do you exclude existing customers from Facebook prospecting?

Use original audience controls to exclude site visitors and past purchasers from the prospecting CBO. Engaged audiences should include people who visited the website or interacted with the advertiser’s platforms during the previous 30–90 days, while existing customers should include anyone who has purchased.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The recommended account structure uses two sales campaigns rather than a separate testing campaign. A prospecting CBO serves as the central testing environment, while an Advantage Plus shopping campaign provides the scaling mechanism. This arrangement is designed to identify effective creative, reduce wasted testing spend, and direct more budget toward proven advertisements.

• The prospecting CBO uses a daily campaign budget, the highest-volume bid strategy, broad geographic and demographic targeting, and no detailed interest targeting. It optimizes for purchase conversions under 7-day click and 1-day view attribution. Original audience controls allow site visitors and past purchasers to be excluded from new-customer acquisition.

• The Advantage Plus shopping campaign starts at roughly 20% of the prospecting campaign's budget. With a $100 prospecting budget, the example assigns $20 daily to scaling. Its existing-customer budget cap is set to zero, and available exclusions should remove past purchasers and site visitors so spending remains focused on prospecting.