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

# What is Prospecting? Prospecting vs Retargeting in Meta Ads

> Prospecting targets new people who haven't interacted with your brand yet. Learn prospecting vs retargeting, budget allocation, and strategies.

**Prospecting** is the practice of showing ads to people who have never visited your website, engaged with your content, or bought from you. The goal is to find new potential customers and bring them into your funnel for the first time. In Meta Ads, prospecting campaigns typically use [broad targeting](/learn/broad-targeting), [lookalike audiences](/learn/lookalike-audiences), or interest-based audiences to reach cold traffic at scale.

## Prospecting vs retargeting

These two strategies serve different roles in your ad account. Prospecting fills the top of the funnel. [Retargeting](/learn/retargeting) converts people who already know you.

|                          | Prospecting                                             | Retargeting                                                          |
| ------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Audience**             | Cold. People who have never interacted with your brand. | Warm. Website visitors, video viewers, cart abandoners, past buyers. |
| **Typical CPA**          | \$25 - \$60+ (varies by industry)                       | \$10 - \$30 (lower because audience is warmer)                       |
| **Role in funnel**       | Top of funnel. Generates awareness and first touches.   | Mid/bottom of funnel. Converts existing interest into purchases.     |
| **Typical budget split** | 70% - 80% of total ad spend                             | 20% - 30% of total ad spend                                          |
| **Audience size**        | Large (millions of people)                              | Small (thousands to low hundreds of thousands)                       |
| **Creative focus**       | Introduce the brand, show the product, build curiosity  | Overcome objections, offer urgency, remind of what they saw          |

<Warning>
  The 70/30 split is a starting point, not a rule. If you're spending under \$50/day, you may not have enough retargeting volume to justify a separate campaign. Start with prospecting only and let Meta's algorithm find converters.
</Warning>

## Prospecting in plain English

Prospecting is fishing in new waters. You're casting a wide net into an ocean of people who don't know your brand yet. Some will bite, most won't. That's normal. The point is to consistently feed new people into your funnel so your [retargeting](/learn/retargeting) audiences stay fresh and your business keeps growing.

Without prospecting, your retargeting audiences shrink over time. You end up showing ads to the same small group of people at increasing [frequency](/learn/frequency), driving up [CPA](/learn/cpa) and burning out your audience. Prospecting is what keeps the machine running.

## Common prospecting mistakes

<Accordion title="Spending too much on retargeting">
  It's tempting to pour budget into retargeting because the CPA is lower. But retargeting only works when there are warm audiences to retarget. If you spend 60%+ on retargeting, your warm audiences shrink, frequency rises, and performance collapses. Most healthy ad accounts spend 70-80% on prospecting.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Not testing broad and lookalike audiences">
  Many advertisers only use interest-based targeting for prospecting. In 2024-2025, Meta's algorithm has gotten very good at finding buyers with minimal targeting constraints. [Broad targeting](/learn/broad-targeting) (no interests, just age/gender/location) and [lookalike audiences](/learn/lookalike-audiences) based on purchasers often outperform narrow interest stacks. Test both.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Expecting the same CPA as retargeting">
  Prospecting CPA will almost always be higher than retargeting CPA. That's not a problem. It's the nature of cold traffic. A \$45 prospecting CPA that feeds a \$15 retargeting CPA can produce a blended [CPA](/learn/cpa) of \$30, which might be very profitable. Judge prospecting by blended account performance, not in isolation.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Ignoring prospecting creative needs">
  Retargeting creative can assume the viewer knows your product. Prospecting creative can't. Cold audiences need to understand what you sell, why it matters, and why they should care in the first 2-3 seconds. Use scroll-stopping hooks, show the product in use, and lead with a problem the viewer recognizes. Reusing retargeting ads for prospecting almost always underperforms.
</Accordion>

<Accordion title="Turning off prospecting when times get tough">
  When budgets get cut, prospecting is usually the first to go. This creates a death spiral: less prospecting means smaller retargeting pools, which means higher retargeting CPAs, which leads to more budget cuts. Protect your prospecting budget. It's the long-term growth engine.
</Accordion>

## How to build a prospecting strategy

<Steps>
  <Step title="Define your prospecting audiences">
    Start with 2-3 audience types: a broad audience (age, gender, location only), a 1-3% [lookalike audience](/learn/lookalike-audiences) based on purchasers or high-value customers, and one interest-based audience. Run them in separate [ad sets](/learn/ad-sets) so you can compare performance.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Create cold-traffic creative">
    Build ads specifically for people who don't know you. Lead with the problem, show the product, include social proof. Short-form video (15-30 seconds) tends to work well for prospecting. Plan for 3-5 [ad creative](/learn/ad-creative) variations per ad set.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Set your budget split">
    Allocate 70-80% of your total daily budget to prospecting. If you're spending \$100/day, that's \$70-\$80 on prospecting and \$20-\$30 on retargeting. Use [CBO](/learn/cbo) at the campaign level or set ad set budgets manually.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Exclude warm audiences">
    Exclude website visitors (last 30-180 days), purchasers, and email lists from your prospecting campaigns. This prevents overlap with retargeting and ensures your prospecting budget goes entirely to cold traffic. Build [custom audiences](/learn/custom-audiences) for these exclusions.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Measure blended performance">
    Don't judge prospecting CPA in isolation. Look at your blended [CPA](/learn/cpa) and [ROAS](/learn/roas) across both prospecting and retargeting. If your blended metrics are profitable, your prospecting is working even if its standalone CPA looks high.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Refresh creative regularly">
    Prospecting audiences are large, but [ad fatigue](/learn/ad-fatigue) still happens. Plan to rotate in new creative every 2-4 weeks. Monitor [CTR](/learn/ctr) and [CPA](/learn/cpa) for signs of fatigue (declining CTR, rising CPA over 5-7 days).
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Track your prospecting performance in one place

AdAdvisor breaks down your CPA, ROAS, and spend by campaign type so you can see exactly how your prospecting and retargeting campaigns perform. Instead of bouncing between spreadsheets, you get a clear picture of whether your budget split is working.

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Try AdAdvisor Free" icon="rocket" href="https://app.adadvisor.ai">
    See prospecting and retargeting performance side-by-side across all your campaigns.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Break-Even ROAS Calculator" icon="calculator" href="https://www.adadvisor.ai/tools/break-even-roas-calculator">
    Find out what ROAS your prospecting campaigns need to hit to stay profitable.
  </Card>
</Columns>

## Related terms

<Columns cols={3}>
  <Card title="Retargeting" icon="bullseye" href="/learn/retargeting">
    Show ads to people who already interacted with your brand
  </Card>

  <Card title="Lookalike Audiences" icon="users" href="/learn/lookalike-audiences">
    Find new people similar to your best customers
  </Card>

  <Card title="Broad Targeting" icon="globe" href="/learn/broad-targeting">
    Let Meta's algorithm find buyers with minimal targeting constraints
  </Card>
</Columns>