> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.adstellar.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Retargeting & Campaign Strategies

> Set up retargeting, lookalike audiences, and testing strategies in AdStellar.

This guide covers how to set up retargeting campaigns, build lookalike audiences, plan your budgets, and structure tests for the best results.

***

## Retargeting Campaigns

Retargeting shows ads to people who have already interacted with your business — website visitors, email subscribers, video viewers, and more. In AdStellar, you set up retargeting through [audience templates](/guides/launch/audience-templates) using Custom Audiences.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create Custom Audiences in Meta">
    Go to Meta Ads Manager > Audiences and create custom audiences (website visitors, email lists, video viewers, etc.).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create an Audience Template in AdStellar">
    Go to [Audience Templates](/guides/launch/audience-templates), create a new template, and select your custom audiences in the targeting section.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Launch a campaign">
    Use this audience template in a new campaign. The ads will be shown to people in your custom audience.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Create separate audience templates for different retargeting segments (e.g., "Website Visitors - 7 days", "Add to Cart - 30 days", "Email List") so you can test each segment independently.
</Tip>

***

## Lookalike Audiences

Lookalike audiences find new people who are similar to your best customers. They're one of the most effective ways to scale cold prospecting on Meta.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Create a source audience">
    In Meta Ads Manager, create a Custom Audience from your best converters (e.g., purchase customers, high-value leads).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create a Lookalike Audience">
    In Meta Ads Manager > Audiences, create a Lookalike Audience from your source. Choose a percentage (1%–10%) — lower percentages are more similar to your source.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Add to an AdStellar audience template">
    Create or edit an [audience template](/guides/launch/audience-templates) and select your Lookalike Audience in the targeting section.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Launch a campaign">
    Use the audience template in a new campaign to target the lookalike.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Start with a **1% lookalike** for the most similar audience, then expand to 2–5% as you scale. Use separate audience templates for each percentage so you can compare performance in [AI Insights](/guides/insights/ai-insights).
</Tip>

***

## Budget Recommendations for Testing

| Scenario                    | Recommended Budget                                       |
| --------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Minimum for Leads**       | \$5/day per ad set                                       |
| **Minimum for Sales**       | \$10/day per ad set                                      |
| **Recommended for testing** | \$20–50/day per ad set                                   |
| **CBO campaigns**           | \$100+/day total (Meta auto-allocates to top performers) |

* For [Creative Testing Mode](/guides/launch/creative-testing-mode), budget is split across more ad sets — increase your total budget accordingly.
* Let campaigns run **3–7 days** (or until \~50 conversions per ad set) before making decisions.
* With CBO at \$100+/day, Meta will automatically shift budget to your top-performing ad sets.

***

## Testing Strategies

### Creative Testing

Test **3–5 creative variants** at a time. Use [Creative Testing Mode](/guides/launch/creative-testing-mode) to isolate each creative in its own ad set for a clean comparison. After 7 days, check [AI Insights](/guides/insights/ai-insights) to see which creative wins.

### Audience Testing

Create **3–4 audience templates** with different targeting approaches (interests vs. lookalikes vs. broad). Launch them all in one campaign to see which audience converts best. [AI Insights](/guides/insights/ai-insights) will rank each audience by your result metric.

### Copy Testing

Put **2–3 headline variants** and **2–3 primary text variants** in each [creative template](/guides/launch/creative-templates). AdStellar creates all combinations automatically — so 3 headlines × 3 primary texts = 9 copy variations per creative, with no extra work.

***

## Scaling Winners

Once you identify winning combinations through [AI Insights](/guides/insights/ai-insights) or [Proven Winners](/guides/insights/proven-winners):

1. **Relaunch winners** — Add winning combinations to a new draft directly from the [Proven Winners](/guides/insights/proven-winners) page.
2. **Increase budget** — Raise the budget on your winning audience/creative combination (increase by 20–30% at a time to avoid resetting the learning phase).
3. **Build lookalikes** — Create Lookalike Audiences based on your converting audience segment and launch them in new campaigns.
4. **Let AI scale for you** — Use [AI Builder](/guides/launch/ai-builder) to generate campaigns that lean into your proven elements automatically.

<Warning>
  Avoid changing campaigns during the learning phase (first \~50 conversions). Edits to budget, targeting, or creatives reset the learning phase and delay optimization.
</Warning>