WHOOP

The fitness and health technology brand tested the impact of removing targeting restrictions from its Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns and found that campaign performance and efficiency improved, including a 30% higher return on ad spend.

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THE STORY
A mission to unlock human performance

Founded in 2012 by Harvard University student athlete Will Ahmed, WHOOP makes wearable technology that monitors physiological data to provide insights into how people can improve their overall health. The brand also offers an app that provides personalized fitness and health information when paired with a WHOOP wearable.

29%

lower cost per purchase using broad targeting, compared to business-as-usual segmented audience-targeting approach

30%

higher return on ad spend using broad targeting, compared to business-as-usual segmented audience-targeting approach

We were interested in testing broad audiences to eliminate audience overlap and bring down our customer acquisition costs. After relying on interest-based targeting for so long, we were surprised to find that expanding outside our core demographic yielded such positive results. Moving forward, we have implemented a broad audience strategy across all currently active regions and plan on launching new markets with this same strategy.
ALLY LOWNEY, SENIOR PAID SOCIAL MANAGER, WHOOP
THE GOAL
Optimizing ad campaign performance

WHOOP wanted to determine whether broadening its ad targeting parameters could help it enlist more subscribers at a lower cost.

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THE SOLUTION

Testing a new targeting approach

WHOOP’s usual ad campaigns involved targeting ads to people based on a wide variety of interests. While this strategy had been effective in growing the brand’s subscriber base, the team wanted to understand whether eliminating restrictions on interests could lead to a more efficient use of its ad budget. So, WHOOP partnered with Meta to run a three-cell conversion lift test that compared the performance of ads delivered with the following distinct targeting approaches:

  • Cell 1: Business-as-usual interest targeting using five different interest audiences segmented into separate ad sets
  • Cell 2 Broad targeting in one ad set plus interest targeting using one interest audience in another ad set
  • Cell 3: Broad targeting using a single broad audience ad set

    • The team’s broad targeting parameters simply consisted of US adults aged 18–65 and over without any further audience limitations. Aside from targeting, there were no differences in how the campaigns of each cell were set up.

    All three cells used a mix of photo and video ads featuring a “Learn more” call-to-action button that linked to the brand’s website. The team used Advantage+ placements across all three cells to allow Meta to deliver ads where they were most likely to drive the best results at the lowest cost and Advantage campaign budget to automatically shift spend to the best-performing ad sets in real time.

    At the conclusion of the June 20–July 15, 2022 campaign, the team reviewed the results of its conversion lift test in Meta Ads Manager, which revealed:

    • 29% lower cost per purchase using broad targeting, compared to business-as-usual segmented audience-targeting approach
    • 30% higher return on ad spend using broad targeting, compared to business-as-usual segmented audience-targeting approach
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