The right amount of budget to start with for Facebook ads depends on the average cost-per-purchase of your products, your risk tolerance, and your total advertising budget.
When I get asked what’s the minimum amount to get started or how much should I spend on Facebook ads, I like to break it down into three different levels to answer this question.
Level 1: Spend the absolute minimum on Facebook ads
If you're looking for the absolute minimum amount you should spend on Facebook ads, then even as low as $1 per day can still make a big difference.
If the average CPM is $8.99 and you have a $1 daily budget, then the estimated number of daily impressions can be calculated using the following formula:
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Impressions per day = (Daily budget x 1000) / CPM
So, substituting the values in the formula:
Impressions per day = ($1 x 1000) / $8.99 Impressions per day = 111.23
Therefore, with a daily budget of $1 and an average CPM of $8.99, you can expect to get an estimated 111 impressions per day on average.
So if you only spend $1 on Facebook ads per day, you can expect to get approximately 40,515 impressions per year!
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That means for just $1 per day, you can get 40k impressions from people who wouldn’t have otherwise seen your ad.
Spending $1/day on Facebook ads is a great way to get started with Facebook ads and get familiar with how Facebook ads work.
To get the most use out of your low budget, make sure your audiences are only bottom-of-funnel audiences; target previous purchasers, add-to-carts but didn’t purchase, or retarget product page visitors who didn’t add-to-cart.
Reduce your ad cost with smart automated rules
With Revealbot you can automate your exact budget saving tactics and pause budget wasters automatically
Level 2: Spend more to leverage Facebook's algorithm
The next step above spending $1/day is to spend enough to take advantage of Facebook’s powerful algorithm.
According to Facebook, an ad set needs 50 conversions per week to exit the learning phase and for Facebook to feed its algorithm with data to find more users like them who are most likely to achieve your goal.
This is the level where you can really take advantage of Facebook ads.
So how much do you need to spend on Facebook ads to get 50 conversions?
Luckily, “conversions” don’t have to mean purchases. You can set what your campaign is optimizing for to add-to-carts or even to link clicks.
By going up in the funnel, - e.g. from purchases up to add-to-carts -, you can decrease the minimum amount you need to spend to take advantage of Facebook’s algorithm. This is level two.
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To see how much you should spend on Facebook ads for add-to-carts, take your current average cost-per-add-to-cart and multiply it by 50 to figure out your weekly budget.
For example, if your average cost-per-add-to-cart is $2.50, then your weekly Facebook ad budget should be $125 or about $540 per month.
Level 3: Spend enough on Facebook ads to achieve 50 purchases per week
The downside of level two and optimizing to add-to-carts is that it’s optimizing to add-to-carts and not purchases.
While adding products to a cart is a necessary step before purchases, it’s possible to have users who add-to-cart but don’t purchase.
For level three, you should spend enough on Facebook ads to achieve 50 purchases per week.
So if your average cost-per-purchase is $11, you need to budget $550 per week or about $2,360 per month on Facebook ads.
Level 4: Optimize to achieve a lower cost-per-purchase
After successfully spending the budgets required for level three (or even level two), you should now heavily focus on improving your ad creatives and audiences to achieve a lower cost-per-purchase.
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The goal in level four is to achieve a low enough cost-per-purchase to be profitable while spending enough to have at least 50 conversions per week.
If you’re spending profitably, then you should spend as much as you can while maintaining that profitability.
Make the most of your spend on Facebook ads
A key part of getting the most out of low budget campaigns is continually optimizing your campaigns.
Here is how pros do this automatically with Revealbot:
How to optimize Facebook ad spend with Revealbot
Reduce wasted ad spend
To pause an ad as soon as it begins to underperform, you can use our Revealbot Strategy called “On the safe side”, which will pause an ad if it has zero conversions after spending more than two times your target cost-per-conversion.
Revealbot automation strategy- On the safe side
Reduce your ad cost with smart automated rules
With Revealbot you can automate your exact budget saving tactics and pause budget wasters automatically
The budget will continue to increase by 10% as long as its ROAS is above a certain amount.
"Surfing" Revealbot automation
All of these Strategies can be fine-tuned to your campaigns, budgets, and style of management.
But one thing is for sure: by using automation, you’ll make adjustments to your campaigns faster than a human could at every hour of the day.
Key takeaways
Even as low as $1 per day on Facebook ads can still make a difference. With a daily budget of $1 and an average CPM of $8.99, you can expect to get an estimated 111 impressions per day on average
An ad set needs 50 conversions per week to exit the learning phase and for Facebook to feed its algorithm with data to find more users who are most likely to achieve your goal
To see how much you should spend on Facebook ads for add-to-carts, take your current average cost-per-add-to-cart and multiply it by 50 to figure out your weekly budget
The goal is to achieve a low enough cost-per-purchase to be profitable while spending enough to have at least 50 conversions per week
You can use Revealbot automation to make the most of your spend on Facebook ads by continually optimizing your campaigns
Facebook ad spend FAQs
Q: What is a reasonable budget for Facebook ads?
It's generally recommended to allocate a budget that allows for meaningful reach and testing. For small businesses or those new to Facebook advertising, starting with a budget of $500 to $1,000 per month is often considered reasonable.
Is $100 enough for Facebook ads?
While $100 can be a starting point, it may not provide significant results in terms of reach and effectiveness. Facebook ads typically require a sufficient budget to generate meaningful impressions and engagement. Consider allocating a higher budget for better outcomes.
Is $5 a day enough for Facebook ads?
A $5 daily budget for Facebook ads can be suitable for low-cost testing or targeting a very niche audience. However, it might limit the reach and potential impact of your campaign. It's generally advisable to allocate a higher budget to ensure better visibility and performance.
Is $200 enough for Facebook ads?
A $200 budget for Facebook ads can yield more noticeable results compared to smaller budgets. It allows for greater reach and the ability to target a broader audience. However, the effectiveness will still depend on various factors, so it's recommended to monitor the performance and adjust the budget accordingly.
Is $1 a day enough for Facebook ads?
While a $1 daily budget may seem affordable, it is typically insufficient for meaningful Facebook advertising. Such a small budget is likely to result in limited reach and engagement. For a more significant impact, it's advisable to allocate a higher budget.
How much do 1,000 Facebook ads cost?
The cost of 1,000 impressions in Facebook ads so far in 2023 is $8.99 per thousand impressions (CPM).
