Optimizing Facebook Ads for Andrews Real Estate

The Client

Andrews Real Estate is an Ohio-based residential firm marketing listings and buyer engagement across local neighbourhoods. The account was already running Meta ads but producing uneven results, the familiar 'we're spending money but we're not sure what's working' picture. The Growth Maverick was brought in to audit, restructure and squeeze more results from the same modest budget.

The Challenge

Uneven cost efficiency across ad sets.

Cost per result varied significantly, some ad sets delivered clicks cheaply while others burned budget. Because spend was distributed evenly regardless of performance, the account was quietly subsidising underperformers.

Inconsistent reach and frequency.

Some ad sets reached tens of thousands at a healthy frequency; others hit a few thousand and cycled the same audience too often. The firm didn't need a bigger budget, it needed a tighter system.

The Approach

The strategy came down to four levers: monitor closely, test systematically, reallocate ruthlessly, and control cost at the placement level.

Active monitoring and adjustment

Every campaign, ad set and creative was reviewed on a rolling basis. Ad sets failing to hit target CPC or engagement thresholds were paused; ad sets showing traction were kept live and scaled.

A/B testing on creative and targeting

Structured A/B tests isolated the actual drivers of performance. Carousel formats were tested against single-image ads, the Carousel ad delivered 418 clicks at a $0.62 CPC on $261 spend, outperforming the single-image variant on engagement.

Budget reallocation toward proven performers

Budget was actively shifted from weaker ad sets to the ones with the best cost efficiency, turning the daily budget from a passive allocation into an active bet on the winners.

Cost control through placement and bid optimisation

Bid strategies were tuned and placement mix adjusted to favour where the account was already winning. High-cost ads were paused rather than left to bleed budget.

The Results

Account-level performance

Standout ad sets

The restructured account moved from patchy performance to a predictable, repeatable system where every dollar could be attributed to a specific ad set and creative. A frequency of ~3 kept the brand visible without exhausting a finite local audience.

Key Takeaways

• Discipline beats scale, on $762, the room for waste was zero, and the constraint forced discipline.
• A/B testing is only useful if the results change what runs.
• Frequency management matters in local markets, where the buyer pool is small.
• Quality ranking is a leading indicator, once every ad hit 'Above Average', CPC stabilised and reach efficiency improved.

Conclusion

By replacing scattered ad-set management with a structured cycle of monitoring, testing, reallocation and cost control, Andrews Real Estate turned an underperforming account into a lean, measurable engine for local visibility. The biggest gains rarely come from spending more, they come from spending better.