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Shopify Facebook Ads Checklist

Facebook and Instagram ads remain one of the most powerful channels for ecommerce. Use this 88-point checklist to run profitable campaigns.

88 items11 sections

Why Facebook Ads Matter

Meta's advertising platform reaches over 3 billion people across Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and the Audience Network. This checklist covers everything from pixel setup to campaign scaling.

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Account Setup

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Pixel & Tracking

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Product Catalogue

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Audience Building

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Campaign Structure

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Ad Creative

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Ad Copy Best Practices

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Targeting Strategy

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Retargeting Setup

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Testing & Optimisation

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Reporting & Analysis

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Building a Profitable Facebook Ads Strategy

Unlike search advertising where you capture existing demand, Facebook ads allow you to create demand by reaching people who match your ideal customer profile but may not yet know your brand exists.

The Three Pillars of Success

  • 1.Accurate tracking through pixel and Conversions API setup for proper attribution
  • 2.Quality audiences built from customer data and lookalike modelling
  • 3.Compelling creative that stops the scroll and drives action

Key Metrics to Track

3-5x
Target ROAS for most ecommerce
<2%
Healthy frequency (retargeting)
50+
Weekly conversions for learning

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • ×No Conversions API means missing 20-40% of attribution data
  • ×Changing campaigns during learning resets the algorithm
  • ×Only one creative angle leads to rapid ad fatigue
  • ×No audience exclusions wastes budget showing ads to recent buyers

Recommended Campaign Structure

Structure your campaigns by funnel stage for clearer optimisation:

Prospecting Campaigns

Target lookalike audiences and interest-based segments. Use broad creative that introduces your brand and products. Expect lower ROAS but focus on efficient new customer acquisition.

Retargeting Campaigns

Target website visitors, cart abandoners, and email subscribers. Use dynamic product ads showing items they viewed. Expect higher ROAS with more direct conversion messaging.

Retention Campaigns

Target past purchasers with new products, restocks, and loyalty offers. Exclude recent purchasers (7-30 days). Focus on increasing lifetime value.

Related Checklists

Maximise your advertising investment with these complementary resources:

Google Shopping →

Capture high-intent search traffic with Shopping ads

Conversion Optimisation →

Convert more of your paid traffic into customers

Product Pages →

Optimise the landing pages for your ads

Email Marketing →

Build owned audiences to reduce ad dependency

Frequently Asked Questions

We recommend starting with a minimum of 30-50 pounds per day for testing. This budget allows your campaigns to exit the learning phase and gather enough data for optimisation. Once you identify winning audiences and creatives, you can scale budgets gradually. A good rule of thumb is to have enough budget to generate at least 50 conversion events per week for optimal algorithm learning.
The Facebook Pixel is a piece of code that tracks visitor actions on your Shopify store and sends that data back to Facebook. It enables you to measure conversions, build retargeting audiences, and create lookalike audiences of your best customers. Without proper pixel tracking, Facebook cannot optimise your campaigns effectively. The Conversions API provides additional server-side tracking that improves accuracy as browser restrictions increase.
Advantage+ Shopping campaigns work well for stores with established conversion data and broad product catalogues. They use machine learning to automate audience targeting and creative selection. For new stores or niche products, manual campaign setup gives you more control to test specific audiences and messaging. Many successful advertisers use both: Advantage+ for scale and manual campaigns for testing new angles.
Start with your best source audiences: purchasers, high-value customers, or engaged visitors. Upload customer lists or create audiences from pixel events. Begin with 1% lookalikes in your target country for the closest match to your source audience, then test 2% and 5% for broader reach. Lookalike audiences based on purchase events typically outperform those based on page views or add-to-carts.
Common reasons include targeting the wrong audience, weak creative that does not stand out, landing pages that do not match ad messaging, prices that are not competitive, and insufficient social proof. Check your pixel is tracking correctly, ensure your landing page loads quickly on mobile, and test different creative angles. Often, the issue is asking cold audiences to purchase immediately rather than warming them up first.
Allow campaigns to complete the learning phase, which typically requires around 50 conversion events. For most budgets, this takes 7-14 days. Avoid making significant changes during learning, as this resets the optimisation process. After the learning phase, review performance weekly rather than daily. Only pause underperformers once you have statistically significant data, usually after at least 1,000-2,000 pounds in spend per ad set.

Need Facebook Ads Help?

Our team can set up and manage your Facebook and Instagram advertising for maximum ROAS.

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