What are Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns? A Complete Guide

Advertising became the easiest ever with the new Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. Thanks to the advanced artificial intelligence, campaigns automatically facilitated audience targeting, and budget optimization so that you can reach targeted customers.

I’m here to tell you all about how these campaigns function and the reason they may be revolutionary in your advertising game.

What are Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns?

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC) are an automated advertising solution developed by Meta (formerly Facebook). They aim to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of e-commerce advertising on platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

This campaign is designed to serve e-commerce businesses, Shopify merchants, and other online store owners looking to boost their online sales effectively.

Key Benefits of Meta Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns

Improvement in Efficiency

Managing ads seems tiresome, particularly when it comes to handling multiple campaigns or quick scaling. Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns take this headache off you by eliminating the labor-intensive aspects like targeting audiences and optimizing budgets. You can focus on what really matters, the growth of your company, while the system thumps away behind the scenes.

Boost Performance

Every dollar spent on advertising counts, and it gets better for great value for a dollar with Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. Through advanced machine learning, it finds the person who is most likely to buy your products, and optimizes your budget for even maximum results, thus leading to lower cost per purchase, a better return on advertising spend, and, ultimately, more business income.

Dynamic Creative Optimization

Creating the perfect ad that clicks with your audience is no easy feat, but ASC makes it feel effortless. It's actually acutely sensitive to testing combinations of your ad visuals and copy to discover what sells best—and that means ads which feel personal, connect deeply with your customers, and drive better engagement—all without requiring you to run endless manual tests.

How Do Advantage + Shopping Campaigns Work?

With the help of Meta's AI and machine learning, your e-commerce advertisement gets leveled up into an Advantage+ Shopping Campaign. Here is the way it works:

• Automated Setup: You set up a campaign, and from there, targeting, budget and ads are done by the system.
• Dynamic Creative Testing: ASC tests up to 150 creative combinations, identifying the best-performing ads for each audience.
• AI-Driven Optimization: Machine learning analyzes user behavior in real time, ensuring ads are shown to the people most likely to convert.
• Broad Targeting: The system starts with broad audience parameters and refines targeting dynamically based on performance data.
• Budget Management: ASC automatically allocates your budget to the highest-performing areas, maximizing ROAS.

How Much Does It Cost to Run Advantage+?

Set your budget under at least 50 conversions a week with Meta's Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, so the AI can optimize it effectively. For instance, with a target CPA of $10, a weekly budget of $500 ($71 per day) is a good starting point. Change it according to objectives and goals, but ensure that there is enough activity during the period to exit the learning phase.

Run the campaign for no less than 2-4 weeks continuously without any change, to optimize properly. Do not suddenly raise or lower the budget, but closely monitor your number metrics, such as cost per result and return on ad spend, to make the adjustment small and gradual, according to data, for maximum results.

How to Set Up an Advantage+ Shopping Campaign

Step 1: Create a New Campaign

Log in to your Meta (Facebook) account and navigate to Ads Manager.

Click the + Create button.

Select the Sales objective, as ASC is tailored for driving sales.

Click Continue.

Step 2: Choose Campaign Type

You’ll be prompted to choose between Advantage+ Shopping Campaign and Manual Sales Campaign.

Select Advantage+ Shopping Campaign and click Continue.

Step 3: Configure Campaign Settings

• Campaign Name: Enter a descriptive name for your campaign.
• Conversion Location: Choose between Website or Website and App, depending on where you want to drive conversions.
• Performance Goal: Decide whether to Maximize Number of Conversions or Maximize Conversion Value.
• Conversion Settings:
  • Select the Pixel: Choose the Pixel associated with your account to track user actions on your website and ensure accurate reporting for your campaign. If you have multiple Pixels, make sure to select the one linked to the site you’re advertising for.
  • Conversion Event: Select the specific event you want to optimize for, such as Purchase.
• Bid Strategy: Opt for Highest Volume or set a Cost Per Result Goal if you have specific targets.
• Attribution Setting: Choose an attribution window that aligns with your sales cycle, like 7-day click.

Step 4: Define Audience Location

Under Audience Location, click Edit.

Select the countries or regions you want to target. Note that ASC allows targeting at the country level but doesn’t support more granular location exclusions at the ad set level.

Step 5: Manage Budget and Schedule

• Daily Budget: Enter your desired daily spend.
• Existing Customer Budget Cap: If you have a list of customers already existing, ascertain the maximum percentage of the budget allocated to them for an even distribution in spending between new and old customers.
• Schedule: Start date into the campaign and the end date.

Step 6: Create Ad Content

In the Suggested Ads section, you can review and import ads that Meta suggests based on your account’s history.

To create a new ad:

• Click on the ad section in the left-hand menu.
• Provide a name for your ad.
• Select the associated Facebook Page and Instagram account.
• Choose an ad format: Single Image or Video, Carousel, or Collection.
• Upload your media assets, such as images or videos.
• Craft attention-grabbing headlines and descriptions.
• Select effective clear call to actions e.g. "Shop Now".

Step 7: Review and Publish

Double-check all your settings and ad content to ensure accuracy.

Once satisfied, click Publish to launch your campaign.

Best Practices for Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns

1. Use the Meta Pixel

The Meta Pixel is crucial for tracking user actions on your website and feeding data to Meta’s AI for better optimization. It helps identify high-intent shoppers and improves your campaign performance.

Setting up the Pixel can feel technical, but tools like the Meta Pixel App by Two Owls simplify the process. This app helps you install and configure the Pixel quickly and accurately, even if you’re not tech-savvy, so you can focus on running your campaigns without the hassle.

2. Focus on Mobile-Optimized Creatives

Most users scroll through Meta platforms on mobile devices, so your creatives need to be visually compelling and easy to process. Focus on bold imagery, short captions, and fast-loading videos. I’ve seen a clear difference in performance when ads are designed with mobile-first in mind versus repurposed from desktop formats.

3. Provide Diverse Creatives to Maximize Testing

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns test combinations of up to 150 creative elements, including images, videos, headlines, and CTAs. Providing a variety of these elements lets the AI learn faster and ensures higher-performing ads are prioritized.

Personally, I’ve found that including multiple styles—lifestyle imagery, product-focused shots, and testimonials—creates more robust testing pools.

4. Balance New Customer Acquisition and Retargeting

The Existing Customer Budget Cap is one of the most underutilized features.

It’s tempting to retarget loyal customers heavily, but from experience, allocating more budget toward acquiring new customers is a smarter long-term strategy.

5. Monitor Key Metrics and Learn from Results

While ASC automates much of the process, your expertise is essential for interpreting performance metrics and refining campaigns. I always pay close attention to metrics like ROAS, Cost Per Result, and customer acquisition trends. Learning from these numbers helps you adjust strategies over time.

A campaign for an online bookstore initially had a low ROAS because of vague ad copy. After reviewing the performance metrics, we rewrote the copy to emphasize free shipping and limited-time discounts, which doubled the ROAS in two weeks.

Wrap up

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns simplify e-commerce advertising with automation and AI, making it easier to reach the right audience and optimize performance. I hope that by combining the power of automation with high-quality creatives and strategic monitoring, you can maximize results and achieve both short-term gains and long-term growth.