Start with a budget that can buy enough orders to learn from, work backwards from your margin to a target cost per order, and raise spend in small steps while cost per purchase holds. There is no fixed amount that suits every store. HealthCart got better results while spending 22% less, so more budget is not the goal.
Is there a standard Meta ads budget?
No. The right budget depends on your product price, margin, how fast you need results, and how much it costs to win one order. Percentages of revenue or fixed numbers copied from other stores can mislead you.
How do you work out what you can afford per order?
Start with your gross margin per order, the money left after the product, packaging and delivery. That is the most you can spend to win that order before you lose money.
Example: a PKR 5,000 order with a 40% margin leaves PKR 2,000. To stay profitable, your cost per purchase must be clearly under PKR 2,000. If you aim for a cost per purchase of PKR 1,000, your ROAS would be 5.
How big should the test budget be?
Big enough to buy a handful of orders per day, because below that the data is mostly noise. Divide your target cost per order by the number of orders you want per day. If you want five orders a day at PKR 1,000 each, plan for about PKR 5,000 a day while testing.
If that is out of reach, run fewer products, fewer campaigns and a tighter test, rather than spreading a small budget thin.
How do you scale without breaking results?
- Raise budget in steps (for example 20% at a time) instead of doubling overnight
- Wait a few days after each increase and watch cost per purchase
- Add new creatives as you scale, because audiences tire
- Pull back if cost per purchase rises well past your target
What does good efficiency look like?
In the HealthCart case study, the account spent PKR 83,504 in the first month after onboarding, 22% less than the PKR 106,714 spent before. Purchases still doubled, from 160 to 323, and cost per purchase fell from PKR 667 to PKR 259. The lesson: fix efficiency first, then spend more.
At the new return on ad spend of 8.35, there was room to raise budget in careful steps while watching cost per purchase.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum budget for Meta ads?
Meta allows very small budgets, but small budgets learn slowly. Aim for enough daily spend to buy several orders a day, otherwise you will wait a long time for useful data.
Should I spend more when ROAS is high?
Often yes, in steps. A high ROAS can mean you are only reaching your warmest buyers, and raising spend gradually usually lowers ROAS a little but increases total profit.
Is it better to spend daily or lifetime budget?
Daily budgets are simpler for ongoing testing and scaling. Lifetime budgets suit one-off campaigns with a fixed end date.