Wondering how much you should spend on Facebook Ads? Your ideal budget will depend on your margins, average order value, customer acquisition cost, conversion rate and repeat purchases. This guide looks at Meta advertising costs in Australia and how to work out a sensible ecommerce ad spend based on what your store can realistically test and scale.
Setting a Meta Ads budget in Australia? You’ve probably come across advice that says something like you should start with $20 a day, spend 10% of revenue or put $5,000 a month behind it.
The trouble is that none of those numbers means much without the business behind them. Two stores can both spend $3,000 a month and get very different outcomes because one sells a $45 product at a tight margin, while the other sells a $180 product with healthy repeat purchases. Instead, think about how much you can afford to spend to acquire a customer and whether your budget is large enough to test that properly.
How Meta Ads budgets actually work
With Meta Ads, you choose how much you’re prepared to spend and Meta uses that budget to compete for placements across Facebook and Instagram. You can use daily or lifetime budgets, with spending controlled at the campaign or ad set level depending on the setup.
There isn’t one universal minimum that makes Meta Ads work. A small budget can run, but it still needs enough volume to produce useful data. Spread $1,000 across too many audiences, products and creatives and you may learn very little.
Is $20, $50 or $100 per day enough?
- At $20 per day, you’re spending roughly $600 per month. That can be enough for a focused starting test, but it usually won’t support lots of testing at once.
- At $50 per day or about $1,500 per month, there’s more room to compare creative ideas and build a clearer picture of acquisition costs.
- At $100 per day or roughly $3,000 per month, you can generally run a more structured test.
More money still won’t rescue a weak offer, poor conversion rate or thin margins, but it can help you gather useful data faster.
Start with your business numbers
Your e-commerce advertising budget should reflect revenue, gross margin, average order value (AOV), customer acquisition cost (CAC), conversion rate and repeat purchase rate.
Say your average order is $100 and, after product costs, fulfilment, payment fees and other variable costs, you have $40 left before marketing and overheads. Paying $60 to acquire that customer creates a problem unless repeat purchases make the first order worthwhile over time.
You can’t just look at ROAS in isolation. A brand with strong margins and high lifetime value may comfortably accept a lower first-purchase ROAS than a low-margin store with little repeat business.
There’s no single revenue level you need to reach before investing meaningfully in Meta Ads. More important is whether you understand your margins, have a website that can convert traffic and can afford to gather enough data without putting cash flow under pressure.
What can different monthly budgets realistically test?
Under $1,000 per month, keep things tight. Focus on a hero product or collection and a small number of strong creatives. From $1,000 to $3,000, you have more room to compare creative angles and offers while gathering more useful purchase data.
From $3,000 to $5,000, you can generally support more consistent creative testing and put meaningful spend behind ads showing promise. At $5,000+, you can test more systematically, but CAC and contribution margin still need to hold as spend increases.
Testing and scaling are different jobs
A testing budget buys information. You’re learning which products, offers and creative ideas attract customers at a viable cost. A scaling budget goes behind something that has already shown signs of working.
One thing we often see is the temptation to increase spending after a few good days. Before doing that, check whether results have held across enough purchases, tracking is reliable, stock can support demand and the margin still works after shipping, discounts and returns.
You may be under-spending when you’re making decisions from one or two purchases or splitting a small budget across too many tests. You may be over-spending when CAC keeps rising, conversion rate is falling or the extra revenue no longer produces worthwhile profit.
Your wider marketing strategy should also determine how paid social fits alongside your other channels, rather than treating Meta Ads as a standalone activity.
Remember that ad spend and management are separate
Your e-commerce ad spend is paid to Meta. If an agency or specialist manages the account, their fee sits on top. A 2026 audit of published Australian agency pricing found paid social management commonly advertised around $1,200 to $2,500 per month for SMEs, plus media spend.
When should you increase Meta spend?
Increase your budget when sales are reasonably consistent at a CAC your margins can carry, your website is converting, tracking is sound and you have enough fresh creative to support more reach. Don’t just go for the biggest number you can afford. A good Meta Ads budget is the amount that gives you enough information to make a better next decision.
Need help working out a Meta Ads budget in Australia that makes sense for your ecommerce business? STRATEGI can help you develop a Meta Ads strategy around your goals, margins and growth plans. Get in touch with our team to discuss your campaigns.
FAQs
How much should a small ecommerce business budget on meta ads?
For many smaller stores, $1,000 to $3,000 per month gives more useful testing room than a very small scattered budget, but your margins, AOV and conversion rate should decide whether it makes sense.
Can I start with a Facebook ads budget in Australia of only $20 a day?
You can if you keep the campaign focused and treat it as an early test rather than expecting it to answer everything.
How quickly should I increase my meta ad budget?
Scale once performance has been consistent enough to trust and your CAC remains commercially viable.
What ROAS should I expect for meta ads?
There’s no universal target. A 3x ROAS can be healthy for one store and unprofitable for another, so work backwards from your margin, CAC and customer lifetime value.
