What is Facebook ASC (Advantage Shopping Campaign)?
The Advantage+ Shopping Campaign is part of Meta’s Advantage+ product line, designed to reduce setup time and increase efficiency by leveraging machine learning to reach valuable targets. It is the most effective solution for performance-focused advertisers aiming to boost online sales.
Source: Facebook’s ASC Campaign Definition Explanation (https://ko-kr.facebook.com/business/help/1362234537597370)
Facebook’s ASC Campaign is a shopping ad product aimed at facilitating product purchases on various Meta platforms, including Facebook and Instagram.
Meta, known for its world-class machine learning capabilities in advertising, automatically handles ad placements, targeting, and product recommendations. This minimizes the workload for the account manager while maximizing campaign performance.
Given the lengthy name of the Facebook Advantage+ Shopping Campaign, industry insiders often refer to it as the “Facebook ASC” or “Meta ASC” campaign.
Why is the Facebook ASC Campaign Important? (Effectiveness)
Explosive Conversion Rates and ROAS (Return on Ad Spend)
The screenshot above shows the Facebook ad manager screen for a client of the company. This single image can explain the importance of the Facebook ASC campaign, which is clear due to its outstanding performance. Particularly in the competitive e-commerce sector, the campaign achieved an ROAS of 4,244%, making its effectiveness indisputable.
Increased Overall Sales and Improved ROI
Using the ASC campaign generates additional sales beyond what traditional marketing strategies would achieve. Instead of just maintaining the ROAS achieved by conventional strategies, ASC campaigns drive additional sales, increasing net profits. Why wouldn’t you run an ASC campaign if it could boost your net profits?
Our advertising goal isn’t just to generate a high ROAS; it’s to increase the company’s net profit. This is discussed in detail in our posts on advertising budget limits and the pitfalls of ROI and ROAS.
Reduction in Advertising Planning Resources
Another significant benefit of ASC campaigns is that, unlike other advertising campaigns that require continuous planning, testing, and targeting, once the strategy is set, you can operate the campaign with minimal planning resources. This makes it an extremely attractive option.
Case Studies of Facebook ASC Campaigns
At Growth Marketing Agency, we study the outcomes of ASC campaigns through actual case studies. We will share some examples from both our clients and foreign companies.
Client Case Study A
Among the five campaigns shown in the screenshot, the one with a 4,244% ROAS is an ASC campaign. The other campaigns, maintained for over two years, involved continuous A/B testing of ad creatives, targeting, and placements, requiring significant effort from the account manager.
Overwhelming ROAS Compared to Non-ASC Campaigns
What’s remarkable is that shortly after setting up the ASC campaign, it surpassed the performance of the other campaigns, achieving over 4,000% ROAS.
Even though the second to fourth campaigns were strong enough to be proud references, their performance pales in comparison to the ASC campaign.
We documented these results in a report, recommending the client allocate additional budget to continue the ASC campaign. As a result, the ASC campaign’s high ROAS was maintained consistently, even with seasonal fluctuations in overall sales volume.
- Client A’s Product Price Range: 150,000 KRW to 180,000 KRW
- Target CPS (Cost Per Sale): 40,000 KRW
- Daily Budget: 10,000 KRW to 100,000 KRW per campaign
Overseas Case Study B
In October 2023, a performance marketing agency in the United States ran an ASC campaign for a company providing AI-related services. They compared this ASC campaign to a manually set up campaign with precise targeting under identical budget conditions.
ASC Campaign Outperforms Even with Less Favorable Ad Creatives
The ASC campaign recorded a 425% ROAS, outperforming the manually set campaign, which achieved 378% ROAS. In further testing during the BFCM (Black Friday & Cyber Monday) campaign, they excluded promotional offers from the ASC campaign while including them in the manual campaign.
Ultimately, the ASC campaign recorded a 314% ROAS, while the manual campaign recorded 270% ROAS, leading the company to decide to continue running the ASC campaign permanently.
How Facebook ASC Campaigns Achieve Results
Machine Learning that Understands Consumers Better than Marketers
It’s no exaggeration to say that Facebook’s ad AI is among the best in the world. This powerful AI tracks consumer behavior and incorporates this data into ad settings.
For example, if a user searches for interior accessories on Google, visits a café with a beautiful interior, and likes or comments on related posts on Instagram, the AI will display shopping ads featuring the interior accessories that the user is most likely to purchase.
While marketers should never stop trying to understand consumers, Meta’s machine learning already understands them better than humans and has surpassed human capabilities in adjusting ad settings based on this understanding.
Myths and Facts about Facebook ASC Campaigns
Is ASC Only Effective for Certain Companies?
No. In our experience, every company that we’ve worked with has been able to operate ASC campaigns, and we haven’t encountered a case where it wasn’t possible. If ASC campaigns can’t be set up or are ineffective, it’s likely due to setup issues.
- If Meta Pixels are not set up
- If the Conversion API is not configured
- If there are errors in the Meta Pixel or Conversion API setup
- If data tracking and analysis are not performed accurately
It would be difficult to expect performance from an ASC campaign. If you think ASC setup is impossible, try setting it up with us. If it’s not feasible, there’s no cost to you.
Can’t Choose the Ad Placement?
The ASC campaign relies on Meta’s machine learning to decide on ad placements, target exposure, and creatives without human intervention, so it’s natural that you can’t choose the placement.
Some people believe that Meta is pushing ASC to boost Facebook ad revenue because Facebook placements perform worse than Instagram. However, based on our experience, in most cases, the ASC campaign will outperform a standard campaign limited to Instagram.
Do You Need to Set a Daily Budget of at Least 150,000 KRW?
Incorrect. We have examples where setting a daily budget of around 20,000 KRW significantly improved ROAS. In one of our client’s cases, which recorded a 4,244% ROAS, they achieved over 33 million KRW in purchase conversions with a budget of just 780,000 KRW over 28 days.
While a higher budget might be necessary for certain companies and products to achieve high performance, this isn’t always the case.
Conclusion
Facebook’s ASC Campaign (Advantage+ Shopping Campaign) is an excellent advertising product capable of delivering impressive results.
While not every company or product will see high performance with ASC campaigns, it’s essential to conduct meaningful tests to confirm the results.
However, remember that ASC campaigns should not replace existing campaigns but rather diversify campaign approaches and maximize sales.
We plan to share more case studies on ASC campaign management. ASC campaigns are particularly beneficial for small to mid-sized companies that cannot hire many specialized marketing staff, offering significant advantages. If you need help with ASC campaign setup, please get in touch with us.
