Why Frequency is Important

What is Frequency in Facebook Ads?

In other words, frequency is the measure of how many times, on average, your ideal customer has seen your ad.
For example, if you see 1000 impressions on your ad with a reach of 500, your frequency is 2. That means everyone saw your ad, on average, twice.
It’s that simple to determine—but it means everything.

Why does frequency matter?

Now consider how much time you personally spend on Facebook or mindlessly scrolling Instagram. How do you feel when you see the same exact ad over and over?
The first time it grabs your attention.
The second time it reminds you to look into it.
But by the third or fourth time… it’s irritating and it’s excessive.
This is known as ad fatigue—and it presents one of the worst threats to campaign efficacy. When your frequency is through the roof:

• People ignore the message.
• Your CTR declines.
• Your CPC rises.
• And ultimately, your ROAS starts to decrease.

All of this occurs while your campaign is still working—not in the transparent—invisible—to the average observer.

What’s a Healthy Frequency Range?

Based on my own experimentation (and thousands spent at various retailers and categories), between 1 and 3 is the ideal frequency.
Here are some takes on what the different ranges mean:

• 1.0 – 1.5: Perfect for cold audiences—you haven’t been in anyone’s face yet, your ad just launched and you’re not yet appearing to everyone.
• 1.5 – 2.5: Still decent—people have seen your ad once through three times—which helps with recall, which is especially good for retargeting efforts.
• 3.0 and up: Caution—this is where ad fatigue can start to creep in. If performance starts slipping here, it’s time to refresh the creative or test a new audience.

Now, this of course varies by niche. Higher frequency works in some cases—higher ticket items or retargeting ads for instance—but for the typical eCommerce store, if you start seeing frequency above 3 consistently, that’s an issue.

What To Do When Frequency is Too High

So if you notice frequency rising and performance diminishing, here’s what to do:

1-Update Your Creatives
Sometimes people are just tired of the same image, video or headline. Sometimes even changing a hook or thumbnail can make your ad feel new again.
2-Run Ads A/B Instead of Just One
Instead of running one ad at a time, run a few ads at once. Facebook will cycle through the different ads for you, reducing fatigue and keeping the audience engaged for longer.
3-Expand or Test New Audiences
Your audience may be too small to expand right now. If that’s the case, people are seeing your ads too frequently. Try testing a broader audience or lookalike audiences to foster new interest.
4-Use Frequency Caps (for retargeting)
If you’re using any retargeting ads, consider using frequency caps so people don’t see the same ad more than X times per day/week.
5-Pause or Reset
Sometimes it’s best to just pause the campaign, allow the audience to “cool off” and then return with a different message/offer.

Frequency: The Final Takeaway That Isn’t So Final

Although frequency feels like an arbitrary metric, it plays an essential role in the sustained success and profitability of your campaigns.
What I need to remember going forward is that:
A winning ad with low frequency becomes a non-winning ad within days.
So yes—this is a metric you need to pay attention to for your Facebook campaigns if you have an online store. This seemingly insignificant number is important.
Keep it at 3 for max, release new creatives often, and frequently assess performance based on audience interest. The difference between a winning $1,000/day campaign and a losing one may just come down to this number.