New ASC for Meta Ads (Without Existing Customer Budget Cap)
When Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC) first were released by Meta, advertisers could choose an Existing Customer Budget Cap percentage amount in order to limit and/or direct the campaign how much of its budget should be spent on existing customers. Then, in 2024, Meta updated ASC once again to no longer include that Existing Customer Budget Cap. As a part of the update, it also allowed for a new customer segment – Engaged Customers – in addition to Existing Customers.
So what does this mean for Meta advertising and how should ad buyers react to this change?
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Step 1:
When you have an account that has the new version of ASC enabled, first you must indicate who your Engaged Customers are, and update your Existing Customer audience accordingly, if needed. To do this, when launching a new ASC, in the main campaign section, scroll down to the Reporting section, and under Engaged Customers, if that audience is not yet defined, there will be an option to update this audience in Account Settings.
Best practices as per some of the best advertisers in the world in the Foxwell Founders Membership confirm to indicate Existing Customers and Engaged Customers as the tools were intended – meaning to use ONLY actual existing customers in your Existing Customers audience. For this, we would suggest:
All-time Klaviyo (or other CRM auto-synced audience) purchasers
Website purchasers last 180 days (pixel audience)
FB Shops purchasers last 180 days
IG Shops purchasers last 180 days
For Engaged Customers, we suggest the same – to only use actual engaged customers. Meta will automatically exclude any Existing Customers that are also a part of the Engaged Customers list. For Engaged Customers, we suggest:
Klaviyo (or other email platform) email subscribers
SMS subscribers
Website visitors WCA last 180 days (pixel audience)
Viewed Content last 180 days (pixel audience)
Added to Cart last 180 days (pixel audience)
Step 2:
Once your new ASC has been running for some days and has spend behind it, since you no longer are able to set a percentage for how much budget can be spent on existing or engaged customers, you’ll need to check the Audience Breakout section to see each campaign’s breakdown between audiences. To do this, click the “Breakdown” dropdown option in Meta Ads Manager (to the right of your Columns setup) and check ☑️ Audience Breakdown.
Step 3:
Analyze the breakdown of spend and performance between audience segments and adjust accordingly.
If your ASC is spending too much on Existing Customers or one segment is performing worse than others
Look at the existing customer spend split based on creative type (video, static)
Analyze the different styles of video content to see which ones run highest % new audience or new visit % and create new videos that are similar/iterate on the ones spending and performing the best on the audiences you want to deliver to most
Check any technical setup on exclusions (did the audience sync get disconnected, are Klaviyo audiences actively syncing, etc.)
Create new creative concepts with the hook or main theme of the ad speaking to the customer segment you are wanting to target. For example:
Speak to product/brand introduction, problem addressing, solution presentation, etc., for more new customer delivery
Hit customer objections, address price, mention reviews, etc., for more engaged customer delivery
Focus on FOMO/scarcity, reasons to buy again, etc., for more existing customer delivery
Look at my analytics vendor (3rd-party attribution software like TripleWhale or Northbeam) to look at last click performance by new v. returning visitor, and prioritize iterating on top performing ads that are hitting the audiences you want to target
Hope to see you in the Foxwell Founders Membership soon! Until then, reach out if you need anything at all!