The Facebook Ads Scaling Framework That Grew a Brand 400% in 90 Days (Sam Piliero)

Scaling an eCommerce Brand with Facebook Ads

Sam Piliero reveals the highest-performing ads strategy he’s ever used — scaling a Shopify brand by over 400% in one quarter (90 days) using only two campaigns. The method centers on net new customer acquisition, rigorous creative testing, and a disciplined graduation process for top ads.

Step 1: Prospecting CBO Campaign

• Launch a CBO campaign exclusively targeting new customers (exclude all existing & engaged audiences).
• Structure ads in creative packs — each new creative belongs to a unique pack, ensuring clean data learning.
• Distribute spend continuously across the best-performing creatives without resetting learning phases.

Step 2: Scale Campaign

• Create a basic Advantage+ Shopping (ASC)-style campaign.
• One ad set, one broad audience, exclusions applied for past buyers.
• Only the top-performing ads from the prospecting campaign are placed here.

Step 3: Identifying Winning Ads

• Sort all ads by spend in Ads Manager.
• Enable Incremental Attribution reporting to identify ads driving net new customers, not just repeat purchases.
• Pick ads performing above account averages in ROAS or CPA.

Step 4: Graduation Process

• Every 2 weeks, graduate top ads into the scale campaign using a hard duplicate with engagement & social proof preserved.
• Never pause high-performing ads elsewhere in the account — allow multiple placements to run in parallel.

Step 5: Iteration Strategy

Instead of micro-changes (fonts, colors), Sam advises big-swing iterations on core ad elements:

• Swap out headline and on-screen text with bold, different hooks.
• Change the model/actor while keeping structure identical.
• Test different product versions, colors, or angles.
• Experiment with wide vs. close-up framing.

In Sam’s case study, two iterations alone drove 75% of spend in the scaling campaign and returned nearly 2x ROAS.

Step 6: Aggressive Scaling

Once winning ads prove consistent above target ROAS, increase spend aggressively. This client doubled ad spend and saw proportional revenue growth, proving that aggressive scaling (not incremental 5–10% increases) was the key to 400% business growth in one quarter.