Meta ads launch checklist for a new Shopify or COD store
The first campaign is cheap to get right and expensive to get wrong. This is the checklist I run before a new store spends anything on Meta.
The short answer
Before a new Shopify or COD store runs its first Meta campaign, make sure you own the business portfolio and ad account, verify your domain, run the pixel and Conversions API with a tested Purchase event in your store's currency, and start with one sales campaign, one broad ad set and three to five creative concepts. Then leave it alone for a week.
Before you launch
- Own the ad account
- Verify your domain
- Test pixel and CAPI
- One broad campaign
- Three to five concepts
- Hands off week one
In this post
Most new stores I see launch their first Meta campaign the same way. The owner boosts a post from their personal profile, the pixel was installed by a friend, nobody knows who owns the ad account, and three days later they ask why it isn't working.
The first campaign is cheap to get right and expensive to get wrong. Before a new Shopify or COD store spends anything on Meta, I go through the same checklist. None of it is advanced. It just has to be done before launch, not after.
Who should own the business portfolio and ad account?
You, the business owner, should own the business portfolio, the ad account, the pixel and the Facebook page. Agencies, freelancers and staff should be added as partners or people with access, never as the owner. If they leave, you keep everything.
Meta has renamed Business Manager a few times. In most accounts it is now called a business portfolio, managed from Meta Business Suite or Business Settings. If yours shows a different name, look for the place where you add people, ad accounts and pages.
- Create the business portfolio with your own Facebook profile and a business email you control.
- Add a second trusted admin, so you never lose access if one profile gets locked.
- Set the ad account's currency and time zone carefully. In my experience these are hard or impossible to change later, so pick your currency (PKR, AED, USD or whatever you sell in) and your local time zone on purpose.
- Add a payment method that is enabled for international online payments, plus a backup. If a charge fails, my guide on fixing a failed Meta ad payment covers it.
What tracking do I need before the first campaign?
You need a verified domain, the Meta pixel and the Conversions API running together, with Purchase firing once per order with the value in your store's currency. Without this, Meta can't learn who buys, and every test you run gives the wrong answer.
- Verify your domain in Business Settings, under Brand Safety, then Domains. It takes minutes.
- Install the pixel and the Conversions API. On Shopify, the Facebook and Instagram app handles both. Set customer data sharing to the highest level it offers.
- Test a real order using Test Events in Events Manager. Check that Purchase fires once, with the right value and currency, and that browser and server events are deduplicated.
I explain why this matters so much now in why Meta ads stopped working after iOS updates, and the Shopify setup in detail in pixel vs Conversions API on Shopify.
Do I need a product catalog?
Only if you plan to run catalog ads, like dynamic retargeting or ads that pull products straight from your store. For a first campaign with a handful of hero products, I usually start without it and add it once there are enough visitors to retarget.
If you do connect one, the Shopify app can sync it. Check that prices are in your store's currency, out of stock items are hidden, and product images are clean. A broken catalog shows wrong prices to real customers.
What campaign structure should a new store start with?
Start with one sales campaign, optimizing for Purchase, with one broad ad set and several genuinely different creatives. That's it. Splitting a small budget across many campaigns and audiences means none of them gets enough conversions to learn.
Broad means the country or the cities you deliver to, an age range only if it really matters, and few or no interests. The creative does the targeting work now, and I explain how I brief it in your creative is your targeting.
How much budget and how many creatives?
Pick a daily budget you can leave running for at least a week without panicking, and launch with three to five different creative concepts. The budget has to be big enough that Meta can get some purchases each week, or it can't learn.
A simple sanity check: look at your product price and margin, think about what you could afford to pay for one confirmed order, and make sure your weekly budget covers several of those. If it can't, start with fewer products and a clearer offer rather than spreading thin.
1 campaign, 1 ad set, 3 to 5 concepts
Simple enough to learn from. Add more only once something is clearly selling.
What should I not touch in week one?
Don't touch budgets, audiences or the optimization event in the first week unless something is clearly broken, like tracking not firing or ads being rejected. Every big edit can send the ad set back into learning.
- You own the business portfolio, ad account, pixel and page.
- Currency, time zone and payment method set on purpose, with a backup card.
- Domain verified, pixel and Conversions API live and deduplicated.
- A real test order shows Purchase once, with the right value and currency.
- One sales campaign, one broad ad set, three to five concepts.
- A budget you can leave alone for a full week.
- Hands off in week one, except to fix something broken.
Use week one to watch, not to fiddle. Check that orders in Shopify and your COD sheet roughly line up with what Meta shows, and note which concepts get the confirmed orders.
If you'd like me to check your setup before you launch, book a strategy call. If you want it built and run for you, that's managed ads.
Questions people ask me about launching Meta ads
Can I just boost posts instead of setting up Ads Manager?
You can, but boosting gives you fewer controls and usually optimizes for engagement, not sales. For a store, set up a proper sales campaign in Ads Manager that optimizes for Purchase, with tracking tested first.
Do I need the Conversions API on day one?
Yes, if you can. On Shopify, the Facebook and Instagram app sets up the pixel and Conversions API together, so there's little reason to wait. Starting with clean data means Meta learns from more of your real orders from the first week.
Should a new store start with retargeting?
Not usually. A new store has very few visitors, so a retargeting audience is tiny. Start with one broad prospecting campaign and add retargeting or catalog ads once you have enough traffic for them to matter.
When can I start changing things?
After the first week, unless something is clearly broken. Then make one change at a time, such as adding new concepts or adjusting budget, and give each change a few days before judging it on confirmed orders.
Got a question this didn't answer? Message me on WhatsApp.
Where this comes from
Everything in this post comes from setting up and fixing ad accounts myself. Platform menus and names change often, so if a screen looks different from what I describe, check the platform's own help pages for the current wording, or message me and I'll point you to the right one.
Written by Moiz Khan
Meta and Google Ads consultant, 13+ years in ad accounts
I'm Moiz Khan. I've spent 13+ years inside Meta and Google ad accounts and managed $12M+ in ad spend, for e-commerce and service businesses in Pakistan and abroad. Here I write down what I check, what I change and why, so you can fix your own account or know what to ask for.
