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How much to spend on ads

By N8 Media · Updated · How we work

How much to spend on ads

There is no single right number. Work backwards from what a customer is worth to you.

Start from your numbers

  1. What is a customer worth? Average order value, or the value of a client over a year.
  2. What can you afford to pay to win one? This is your target cost per acquisition (CPA). It has to leave room for profit.
  3. How many results do you need to learn? Ad platforms need enough conversions to optimize. A budget that only buys a handful of results a month is hard to learn from.

The maths

Monthly budget ≈ target CPA × number of results you want.

Use our ad budget calculator with your own numbers.

Test, then scale

Spend a test budget for a few weeks, judge the cost per result, then increase slowly if it works. Keep new creative coming; ads wear out.

Track it properly

Make sure conversions are tracked before you spend. Without tracking, you are guessing.

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