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Meta Ads · Facebook & Instagram
Meta Ads for online stores: creative brings the click, measurement brings the profit
UpCommerce is a Meta Ads agency in Greece — Facebook and Instagram — for online stores and for any business that wants customers from social. Prospecting for new audiences, retargeting for those who saw you, catalog ads from your feed, Conversions API so you measure correctly, and creative that changes before it wears out. By a team managing €2M+ in advertising budget a year, for Greek stores and for international brands selling into Greece.
Campaign types
Facebook and Instagram ads: the user is not searching — you stop them
On Google the customer arrives with intent. On Meta they scroll, and the ad has to stop them, convince them and bring them back later. That is why Meta campaigns are split by where the person is, not by the product.
People who do not know you. Broad targeting and Advantage+ audiences, where the creative does the targeting: the image and the video choose who will stop. The measure here is cost per new customer, not per click.
Site visitors, people who added to cart, people who viewed a product. Windows of 7, 30 or 90 days, frequency caps so you do not annoy, and exclusion of those who already bought — otherwise you pay to sell to your own customer.
Dynamic ads from your product feed: the user sees exactly what they looked at, or what matches what they bought. The format that makes Meta Ads work for stores with many products.
The creative
On Meta Ads the creative does the targeting
Meta’s algorithms now find on their own who buys. What they cannot do is make the ad that will stop them. Creative is the biggest performance lever you control — and the first one to wear out.
Short video, UGC-style, static images with copy, product carousels. Each theme with at least three variations, so we learn what stops the scroll for your audience — not for our taste.
We work with your photos, videos and photographer. If material is missing, production of short video and visuals is done by the team as a separate service — it is not part of ads management. Video marketing →
An ad that runs for three months to the same audience costs a little more every week. We watch frequency and cost per result per creative, and change it before your account notices.
Measurement on Meta Ads: Pixel, Conversions API, and what to believe
Since iOS 14, the Pixel alone loses part of the conversions. The Conversions API sends the data from your store’s server. We set up both, with the same events, so the algorithm learns from the full picture.
Meta measures its way, GA4 another, and real orders are one. We do not pick whichever number flatters; we look at your store’s orders and how they moved when the budget went up or down.
A retargeting campaign with a “good ROAS” may simply be reselling to people who would have bought anyway. We measure new customers separately from returning ones, because only the first justify acquisition budget.
The number that decides whether the campaign is worth it is not ROAS but what is left after product, shipping and advertising. Try it in the ROAS calculator →
Common mistakes
The mistakes we see in Meta Ads accounts before we take them on
Few Meta Ads accounts have a budget problem. Most have a structure, measurement or creative problem — and all of them are fixed before another euro is spent.
Dozens of ad sets with minimal budget each
The algorithm never gets to learn anywhere. A few campaigns with enough budget and many creatives learn faster and cheaper than many small ones “testing audiences”.
Retargeting without exclusions
People who bought yesterday see an ad for the same product today. You pay for a customer you already have — and you annoy them.
The same creative for months
Frequency rises, cost per result rises with it, and nobody connects the two. Creative has an expiry date, even when it “did well”.
Boost post instead of a campaign
The “boost” button targets engagement, not sales. You buy likes at the price of a customer. Campaigns are built in Ads Manager with a conversion objective and correct events.
Meta Ads without Google Ads
Meta creates demand that is later expressed as a search. If you are not there when the user searches for your product or brand, someone else takes the order. Google Ads for online stores →
Retargeting with ads, but not with email
The user who abandoned a cart will get an ad — but an email within the hour is cheaper and more effective. The two work together: email marketing for online stores →
How we work a Meta Ads account
Business Manager, Pixel, Conversions API, events, catalog, audiences. If it is already running, we see what is measured wrong and what structure it has — before suggesting anything.
Prospecting, retargeting, catalog — with budget that allows learning and exclusions that keep audiences from overlapping. Each campaign with one objective and one number that judges it.
New variations at a steady pace, based on what performed the week before. Material from you or from the team, with a plan — not “whatever we have”.
Budget goes where cost per new customer stays inside the margin and leaves where it does not. Every month your account manager explains what happened and what changes.
Results
Meta Ads measured in revenue
The clients' own numbers, for the period each case study describes. All case studies →
Growth Partner Program
For online stores: Meta & Google ads with a dedicated account manager, in three levels of cadence, and strategic time every month.
Growth Partner Program →Bespoke DMS
For businesses without an online store: Meta Ads aimed at messages, forms, bookings and store visits.
Bespoke DMS →Social media marketer & ads expert
Organic content and ads in the same team — what each one does and on which platforms.
See the page →Video marketing
Short-form video for Reels, TikTok and ads — production designed for performance, as a separate service.
See the service →Google Ads for online stores
Search, Shopping, Performance Max: the channel that captures the demand Meta creates.
Google Ads →Meta Ads without an online store?
Meta Ads also work for bookings, appointments and visits
Restaurants, clinics, schools, shops with a physical location: the same cost-per-customer logic, measured in messages, forms and calls instead of orders. The same team runs the Meta Ads, through Bespoke DMS →
Want an independent opinion on your Meta Ads account before deciding whether to change agency or run it in-house? John Kiskipelis audits it as a consultant, in a separate engagement. Ads audit →
Frequently asked questions about Meta Ads for online stores
What are Meta Ads?
They are the paid ads on Meta’s platforms — Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and the Audience Network — built in Ads Manager with a measurable action as the objective: purchase, add to cart, message, form. For an online store they include prospecting to new audiences, retargeting and dynamic ads from the product catalog.
Facebook or Instagram — where should I advertise?
On both, from the same campaign. Meta places the ad where the cost per result is lower, and for most products the ratio changes by audience and age. What we decide is the creative per placement — a Reel is not a feed post.
How much budget do I need for Meta Ads?
Enough for each campaign to gather measurable sales within a week — otherwise the algorithm does not learn and the cost stays high. The amount depends on your product’s price, the margin and the site’s conversion rate. We work it out together in the intro call, with your own numbers, and we tell you if it does not add up.
Advantage+ or manual targeting?
For online stores, Advantage+ Shopping and broad audiences usually beat detailed interest targeting — provided there is enough conversion data and good creative. Manual targeting keeps a role in retargeting, exclusions and specialised products. We do not pick a doctrine; we test and keep whatever costs less per customer.
Do you make the creatives?
Ads management works with the material you have — photos, videos, visuals — and the team builds the variations and the copy for the tests. If new material needs to be produced, short video or visuals from scratch, that is a separate service with its own fee, so you know what you pay for what.
Meta shows different sales from GA4 — which one should I believe?
Neither blindly. Meta attributes sales to itself based on views and clicks, GA4 on the last click, and both lose data. The truth is your store’s orders: we compare them with the budget month by month, and set up Pixel and Conversions API so the gap is as small as possible.
How soon do Meta Ads pay off?
The first measurable sales come within the first two weeks if measurement is right. Cost per customer stabilises in the second to third month, once the algorithm has data and the creative has been through tests. An account that is already running improves faster — from structure and exclusions.
Meta Ads or Google Ads for an online store?
Both, in different proportions depending on the product. Google captures those already searching; Meta shows the product to those who did not know it. Products with existing demand suit Google and Skroutz better, products that need to be “discovered” suit Meta better. We measure them at the same cost per new customer and split accordingly.
