The Warm-Up Campaign: Prepping Cold Audiences for Better ROAS

In the world of Facebook and Instagram advertising, hitting a strong return on ad spend (ROAS) is the ultimate goal. But when you're targeting cold audiences — people who have never interacted with your brand before — your conversion rates often fall flat.

You’ve crafted the perfect ad, your targeting is dialed in, and the budget’s set. But the numbers? Disappointing. Before you start doubting your offer or blaming Meta’s algorithm, consider this: maybe your audience just isn’t ready.

Cold traffic needs warming — and that’s exactly where a warm-up campaign can change everything.

What Is a Warm-Up Campaign and Why Does It Matter?

A warm-up campaign is a strategic series of Facebook or Instagram ads aimed at turning cold audiences into warm leads by gradually introducing them to your brand. It’s not direct-response advertising — it’s pre-conversion nurturing. The warm-up process builds awareness, familiarity, and interest long before you present a sales offer.

Think of it like dating. You don’t propose on the first date. You build a connection, create trust, and then do you make your move.

This approach is especially vital now. With Meta Ads evolving and targeting options becoming broader due to privacy regulations, traditional conversion campaigns have lost their sharp edge. A properly structured warm-up funnel helps regain control and precision.

The Problem With Selling to Cold Audiences

Cold audiences are often unaware of your product, unfamiliar with your brand voice, and unconvinced of your value. Running a direct conversion ad to them — “Buy now” or “Sign up today” — usually results in wasted impressions and poor ROAS.

Here’s why:

• There’s no trust.

• There’s no familiarity.

• There’s no context.

People don’t buy based on logic alone — they buy from brands they recognize and relate to. The warm-up campaign bridges this trust gap, allowing you to educate, entertain, and emotionally prime users before asking for anything.

Benefits of Warm-Up Campaigns for Facebook and Instagram Ads

Before diving into strategies, here’s why you should be investing in warm-up campaigns:

• Increased ROAS: Warm audiences convert at higher rates.

• Lower Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): Familiar users are more likely to click and act, reducing costs over time.

• Improved Engagement Rates: Warming up boosts relevance scores, helping your ads reach better placements at lower CPMs.

• Stronger Brand Recall: You’re building a memory in users’ minds, not just asking them to act on impulse.

Warm-up campaigns don’t just enhance performance — they create a more sustainable, cost-efficient path to long-term growth.

Building a High-Performance Warm-Up Campaign: Strategy & Structure

Let’s break down how to structure your Facebook and Instagram warm-up campaign — from cold engagement to conversion-ready audiences.

1. Stage One: Awareness Through Thumb-Stopping Creative

At this stage, your goal is attention and curiosity. Use content that introduces your brand without asking for anything in return.

Best ad formats:

• Short-form vertical videos (15–30 seconds): These are ideal for Stories and Reels placements, offering fast, immersive experiences that perform well with mobile-first users.

• Engaging carousel ads: Use this format to tell a visual story, showcase multiple product benefits, or walk viewers through a process step by step.

• Reels or Stories with subtle branding: These native placements blend well with user-generated content and help lower resistance to branded messaging.

Creative tips:

• Use native-feeling content: Think casual, lo-fi videos like a founder talking to camera, a day-in-the-life sequence, or unscripted behind-the-scenes moments. These types of content tend to build early trust.

• Focus on the problem your product solves, not just the product: Hook the viewer by highlighting a relatable pain point. The goal is to create instant resonance.

• Add captions for silent viewers: Many users scroll with sound off, so ensure your message still comes through visually.

• Hook viewers in the first 3 seconds: Use bold visuals, questions, or surprising statements that stop the scroll and earn the next few seconds of attention.

You can also explore creative storytelling through Reels — this article on using Instagram Reels in your marketing strategy shows how to leverage native video formats that drive engagement.

Metrics to watch:

• Video views (25%, 50%, 75%): These percentages tell you how deeply people are engaging with your content — not just who saw it.

• ThruPlay: This is Meta’s metric for people who watched to the end or for at least 15 seconds. It’s a key signal of interest.

• Click-through rate (CTR): While not always the focus at this stage, CTR can hint at curiosity and help you identify which creatives spark exploration.

Use these metrics to build custom audiences for the next stage. Anyone who engages or watches 25%+ of your content is no longer cold — they’re warm-ish.

Not sure how to reach the right users with your awareness campaigns? Our guide to Facebook Ad Targeting 101 covers the fundamentals of structuring effective audience segments.

2. Stage Two: Retargeting With Engagement and Value

Now that you’ve earned attention, follow up with value-driven content that builds deeper trust. Don’t sell yet. Focus on social proof, education, and brand personality.

Ad ideas:

• Case study or testimonial videos: Show real people sharing real results. Social proof humanizes your brand and gives viewers a reason to believe.

• Explainer animations: If your product is complex, use simple, clean animations to walk people through how it works and why it matters.

• Carousel of product benefits or use cases: This format lets you highlight different ways your product fits into the user’s life or solves their problems.

• User-generated content (UGC): Showcase customers using your product in the real world — it builds authenticity and relatability.

Tips for stronger engagement:

• Include real voices: Whether it’s a happy customer or your founder, authenticity always outperforms scripts.

• Test different hooks: Alternate between benefit-driven, lifestyle-focused, or story-based angles to see what resonates best.

• Use audience-specific language: Reflect the exact words, phrases, and tone your target market uses — it creates a feeling of “this brand gets me.”

Target audiences:

• Video viewers from Stage 1: Focus on those who watched at least 25% of your awareness content. They’ve shown enough interest to warrant a second impression.

• Instagram/Facebook engagers: Anyone who liked, commented, saved, or shared your content is primed for deeper messaging.

• Website visitors: Retarget those who landed on your site organically or via Stage 1 ads, especially those who viewed product or about pages.

This stage is about familiarity and credibility. You're building the relationship and setting the stage for a compelling, natural conversion path.

Want to go deeper with segmentation? Learn how to set up Facebook retargeting the right way and avoid common mistakes that dilute your message.

3. Stage Three: Soft Conversion With Intent Signals

Now you’re ready to introduce an offer — but subtly. The audience has seen your brand multiple times. They trust you more. They understand your value. Now they just need the final nudge.

Recommended content:

• Limited-time offers or discounts: Use a short-term promotion to create urgency, but ensure it’s relevant and compelling.

• Free shipping or trial incentives: Low-friction offers reduce hesitation and increase the likelihood of first-time purchases.

• Social proof stacked with urgency: Phrases like “Over 10,000 happy customers” or “Only 3 left in stock” combine trust and action triggers.

CTA tips:

• Make it low-friction: Use CTAs like “Try it risk-free” or “See how it works” to reduce perceived risk and ease the path to action.

• Avoid pushy language: A confident, friendly tone works better than hard-sell tactics. Position the offer as a benefit, not a demand.

• Test multiple CTAs: Different audiences may respond to different calls — experiment with variations to find what drives results.

This final stage is where the conversion happens — but only if your audience is truly ready. If you’ve warmed them properly, the shift from awareness to action will feel seamless, not forced.

To make your conversion ads more persuasive, here’s how to leverage social proof like reviews and testimonials that help warm audiences feel confident clicking “buy.”

Pro Tips to Maximize Your Warm-Up Funnel Performance

Segment Like a Pro

Audience segmentation is non-negotiable. You need clean separation between your cold, warm, and hot audiences to avoid message confusion and ad fatigue.

• Exclude overlapping audiences: Make sure cold campaigns exclude warm and conversion-ready users. Similarly, prevent retargeting ads from hitting people who haven’t yet engaged.

• Use Custom Audiences: Build them based on video views (e.g., 25%+ watched), profile engagement, and landing page visits. These are strong intent signals and allow you to shape the next step of the funnel with precision.

• Test Lookalikes cautiously: Lookalike audiences based on warm user behavior (like past purchasers or high-intent visitors) tend to perform better than interest-based targeting alone.

A well-structured audience pool keeps your message relevant and your funnel flowing smoothly.

Control Frequency

Frequency mismanagement is one of the fastest ways to waste budget — especially in the awareness stage.

• Set frequency caps: Aim for 1.5 to 2.5 impressions per user over a 5–7 day period. Too little, and your brand won’t register. Too much, and it starts to annoy.

• Rotate creative weekly: Avoid showing the same video or image repeatedly. If you don’t have new content, reframe the hook or adjust the copy to refresh the message.

• Monitor drop-offs: If frequency increases but engagement drops, it's a clear sign your creative has worn out its welcome.

Controlled frequency helps your content stay impactful without oversaturating your audience.

Match the Creative to the Funnel Stage

Different funnel stages call for different storytelling techniques. Trying to convert with an awareness ad — or introduce with a hard sell — breaks the flow of trust you’re trying to build.

• Top-of-funnel creative should focus on storytelling, emotion, and curiosity. Highlight pain points, show lifestyle moments, and keep it brand-light.

• Middle-of-funnel content can get a bit more detailed. Explain your value, offer testimonials, or show your product in action.

• Bottom-of-funnel creative should drive urgency and clarity. Offer benefits, discounts, trials, and make the path to purchase seamless and obvious.

Don’t just change the CTA — evolve the entire message to align with user intent at each step.

Track Deeper Metrics

While return on ad spend is important, warm-up campaigns often influence performance indirectly. You need to look beyond surface-level KPIs.

• Watch assisted conversions: These can show the true value of early-stage campaigns that influence purchasing behavior later.

• Track view-through attribution: People may not click immediately, but warm-up content can drive conversions days later through brand recall.

• Monitor audience overlap: Use Meta’s audience insights to ensure your cold and warm pools remain distinct. Overlap leads to redundancy and cannibalization.

• Measure engagement lift: If your brand searches, landing page traffic, or organic conversions increase, that’s a sign your warm-up funnel is doing its job.

Deep tracking helps you see the full picture — not just what happened immediately, but what your campaign caused over time.

For a more complete view of campaign impact, learn how to analyze Facebook ad performance beyond CTR and CPC and uncover what’s really moving the needle.

Budgeting for Warm-Up: Smart Spend, Smarter Return

Here’s how to approach budgeting:

• Small budgets (under $1,000/month): Dedicate 20–30% to warm-up ads. Scale with engagement and traction.

• Mid-size advertisers: Invest 10–20% in consistent warm-up content to feed your remarketing funnel.

• Larger accounts: Test multiple warm-up angles simultaneously — pain-point driven, aspirational, founder story — and optimize by ad set performance.

Don't treat warm-up like a throwaway line item. It’s an investment that makes your conversion campaigns cheaper and more profitable.

Warm-Up Campaigns in a Post-iOS World

With privacy-first advertising and weaker pixel tracking, the ability to build reliable audiences has diminished. Warm-up campaigns offer a workaround — you can build first-party audiences based on engagement, not cookies.

This is your opportunity to take back control.

Use video views, engagement metrics, and time-on-site to build high-intent retargeting pools. Facebook’s machine learning is still effective — but only when you feed it quality signals. Warm-up campaigns generate those signals better than any interest-based cold campaign ever could.

Final Thought: Play the Long Game, Win the Bigger ROAS

If you're still launching cold conversion campaigns without warming your audience first, you're not just missing out — you're burning budget.

Warm-up campaigns aren’t fluff. They’re strategic growth engines that increase your ROAS, lower your CPA, and build lasting brand equity.

So ask yourself: is your next campaign skipping the relationship and rushing the sale? 
Don’t just aim for clicks. Aim for connection. Start warming your audience, and watch your campaigns heat up where it matters — at the bottom line.

And if you’re ready to build a funnel that moves cold traffic all the way to loyal customers, check out our step-by-step Facebook ads funnel strategy guide.