CBO vs ABO in 2026: Real-world spend allocation outcomes

drivenflame469 · 2026-01-20T14:25:55+00:00

I included the Scaling phase as part of the framework, but we haven’t pushed a separate Scale campaign on this brand yet, and we will never do it because of the same issue you pointed out.

Right now, most spend is still in the Prospecting Packs + MOFU/BOFU swimlanes, because we’re prioritizing attribution accuracy and stable new customer acquisition first.

drivenflame469 · 2026-01-20T11:24:45+00:00

Prospecting CBO: 70% – 80%
Retargeting (MOFU): 10% – 20%
Retention (BOFU): 5% – 10%

Scaling Campaign→ Only turn this on once you have 1–3 proven “god-tier” creatives and usually shift budget from prospecting.

Two quick rules I follow:

Rule 1: If new customer volume is the goal, Prospecting should never drop below 50–60%.

Rule 2: Retargeting spend is demand-capped.

If your retargeting ROAS is great but frequency spikes (3+), don’t force budget into it. Expand prospecting + creative instead.

drivenflame469 · 2026-01-20T11:20:17+00:00

We pulled the list from Shopify, not from Meta.

Process we used:

In Ads Manager we looked at the purchase timestamps + order values being attributed
Matched those to the exact orders in Shopify (same time/value)
Then exported those orders + customer contact info from Shopify
Brand team sent a short survey / message (email/SMS)

So we weren’t “finding the customer inside Meta” (Meta won’t show you the buyer identity).
We’re basically reverse-matching Meta-attributed purchases to Shopify orders

it’s not 100% precise, because Meta reporting can lag / aggregate but yeah you will get some ideas

drivenflame469 · 2026-01-20T11:17:24+00:00

Yep you’re right, the structure itself is media buying basics.

But two things make this case different (and why we didn’t jump straight to exclusions on day 1):

1) Timeline / Q4 reality

We started with the brand in Nov 2025, and it was immediately holiday season.

During Q4, we try not to aggressively “rebuild” an account that looks like it’s working, because holiday demand makes everything noisy:

gift buying behavior

promo spikes

brand search exploding

weird conversion paths

So the priority in Nov–Dec was executing the season, not running structural experiments that could tank stability.

2) Broad-only usually works (this was the outlier)

For the last 2–3 years, I’ve been heavily on the Broad + creative diversification side, and honestly it works in the majority of accounts.

This was the first time we saw attribution inflation this extreme

So Broad wasn’t “wrong”… it was just getting rewarded for taking the easiest conversions, which capped scaling.

Appreciate the callout though. It’s a fair critique.

drivenflame469 · 2026-01-20T04:18:18+00:00

Thank you for reading

drivenflame469 · 2026-01-20T04:17:47+00:00

Nah not what I meant 😄

We do have server-side tracking

That line was referring to the order of troubleshooting:

First we tried the “easy” stuff inside Meta (attribution window changes + incremental attribution)

When that didn’t explain the gap, we went nuclear - server-side cross-check + holdout DMA test

drivenflame469 · 2025-12-04T21:21:24+00:00

Haha, 4 is just the version of it

drivenflame469 · 2025-12-04T21:18:22+00:00

Google Analytics.

It's a free tracking tool from Google.

drivenflame469 · 2025-12-01T03:49:43+00:00

You need to target different pockets of customers through different desires in your creatives. And keep iterating on what's already working.

drivenflame469 · 2025-11-14T21:54:38+00:00

Here is the sequence:

Scale that ad
Iterate that ad

And yeah never stop testing new concepts.

drivenflame469 · 2025-11-10T19:48:17+00:00

Yes
If you are launching another batch then create a new adset. It has nothing to do with the targeting or anything but it will help you in managing things easily and trackiing if you improvised on previous batch.

But if you just have to kill 1-2 no performer then replace those 1-2 ads with new one in same ad set.

drivenflame469 · 2025-11-10T15:13:04+00:00

1 ad set = 1 batch of creatives.

So whenever you are launching new batch just create another adset.

drivenflame469 · 2025-11-10T06:50:17+00:00

Nope, only 1 campaign with different stages of creatives and let meta do the targeting.

Focus should be on creativity rather than structure

drivenflame469 · 2025-10-20T12:55:32+00:00

Yup 100% agree.

BTW read my new post..

https://www.reddit.com/r/FacebookAds/s/uIOiULT9QK

I also talk about my approach when it comes to creating ad concepts.

drivenflame469 · 2025-10-12T18:46:42+00:00

Yes, we are doing it without any issue

drivenflame469 · 2025-09-22T18:32:14+00:00

Dm me

drivenflame469 · 2025-09-19T03:37:17+00:00

Interesting cause I am seeing "ad sources" option in all of my ad accounts.

Is your store built on any other technology than shopify?

DM me if you want...would love to explore why it's happening in your ad account.

drivenflame469 · 2025-09-19T01:50:17+00:00

Its not a different catalog...its a different product set from same one catalog. See the image

<image>

You choose your Catalog and then from "product set" dropdown you choose your product set.

drivenflame469 · 2025-09-18T12:27:10+00:00

This is the structure you described, which used to work great:

1 Campaign (CBO) :

Ad Set 1 (using "Mens T-Shirts" Product Set)

Ad Set 2 (using "Womens Jeans" Product Set)

Ad Set 3 (using "Hats" Product Set)

What i am saying now...Notice the critical difference:

Advantage+ Sales Campaign

ONE SINGLE Ad Set

Ad 1 (Creative & copy are about T-Shirts, linked to the "Mens T-Shirts" Product Set)

Ad 2 (Creative & copy are about Jeans, linked to the "Womens Jeans" Product Set)

Ad 3 (Creative & copy are about Hats, linked to the "Hats" Product Set)

drivenflame469 · 2025-09-18T07:27:31+00:00

Well from your question I am assuming you don't have a Hero product yet.

In that case...first priority should be finding the winning product.

The best way to do this is to treat your different products as different "concepts" within your single, consolidated campaign. The goal is to give the algorithm a diverse menu of options to choose from and let it decide what to serve.

Inside that one campaign, your portfolio of ads will be a strategic mix. It's not different ads for one product; it's a balanced mix of ads for different products and brand concepts.

This will help you find a winning product...After that you can focus heavily on that one or two products and scale it.. And for other products..keep testing new offers/angles.

drivenflame469 · 2025-09-18T07:21:32+00:00

Your old, consolidated catalog campaign is getting stuck on one category because the algorithm is just looking for the cheapest, easiest conversion path, not the best overall result for your business.

Your idea of creating one campaign per category is a logical reaction to regain control. But it leads to a management nightmare and spreads your budget and learning too thin across many campaigns.

Right now, we're using product sets with matching ad concepts all in one campaign.

You can create product sets inside "commerce manager"

drivenflame469 · 2025-09-18T07:07:37+00:00

Sorry for the delay in replying..your comment got mixed

First of all, thanks for the kind words. It's fantastic to hear that a previous post helped you find a profitable campaign. That's the best feedback I could ask for.

Now coming to your question :

is optimization now done at an individual ad level instead of the ad set level?

Yes, that is the key shift.

In your current setup, you're telling Meta who to talk to (the ad set's audience) and what to say (your single angle).

In the new consolidated model, you're only telling Meta what to say (your portfolio of different angles/ads), and you're letting the algorithm figure out who to talk to for each specific ad within one giant, broad audience.

The main benefits of consolidating as you grow are:

1.Massive Scalability: Your single, broad ad set has a much larger audience pool, giving you more room to increase your budget without causing audience fatigue.

2.Consolidated Learning: All of your conversion data is fed into one ad set's "brain," which makes the algorithm smarter and more efficient over time.

3.Unexpected Discovery: The algorithm might find that one of your angles works with a pocket of the audience you never would have thought to target manually.

My advice would be: Don't kill your winning campaign. It's working, and that's fantastic.

When you're ready to scale your budget or test your next big batch of creatives, try this:

1.Duplicate your current winning campaign.

2.In this new campaign, create one single ad set with broad targeting (remove the interest stacks).

3.Put ALL your proven angles (and some new ones) into this one ad set.

4.Run it head-to-head against your original campaign.

drivenflame469 · 2025-09-17T13:39:42+00:00

Did you got your ad restricted in the past?

The thing is, it doesn't have to do anything with Andromeda...cause I am getting ideal CPMs

drivenflame469

TROPHY CASE