Guide
Testing budget split: no fixed percentage, it follows from what one test costs
Updated
There is no correct percentage for testing. Your testing budget is the ad spend one new ad needs for a clear result, times the number of new ads you test.
In short
- There is no fixed testing percentage. Your testing budget is the ad spend one test needs times the new ads you test.
- The rest of your ad budget goes to the ads that already work.
- For example, 8 tests of $63 each cost about $507, which is 17% of a $3,000 budget.
- If your budget is small, test fewer ads and give each one enough views to judge it.
- One winning ad takes 13 to 20 tests, because only about 5 to 8% of ads win.
- Tests for each winning ad
- 13 to 20
- Share of ads that become winners, per Motion
- 5 to 8%
- Credits to make one 40-second test ad in Cutroom, about $1.82
- 114
How to work out your testing budget
Work out the cost of one test first. Your testing percentage follows from it.
- The views one test needs depend on your click rate and how small a difference you want to spot. At a 1% click rate, telling 1% from 1.5% takes about 6,300 views.
- If the total is more than you can spend, test fewer ads rather than giving each one less.
How to work out a testing budget
The percentage is the last thing you work out.
Views one test needs
From your usual click rate
Ad spend per test
Views times your cost per 1,000 views, divided by 1,000
Testing budget
Ad spend per test times the new ads you test a month
The rest
Goes to the ads that already work
Example: a $3,000 monthly ad budget
These are example numbers, not benchmarks. Put in your own click rate, cost per 1,000 views and budget.
- Each test needs about 6,336 views to tell a 1% click rate from 1.5%.
- At $10 per 1,000 views, those views cost about $63 per test.
- Eight tests a month then cost about $507, which leaves about $2,493 for the ads that already work.
Example: $63 per test, $3,000 a month
Example numbers, not benchmarks. The percentage is the result, not the starting point.
| New ads tested a month | Testing budget | Share of $3,000 |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | About $253 | About 8% |
| 8 | About $507 | About 17% |
| 15 | About $950 | About 32% |
New ads tested a month: 4
- Testing budget
- About $253
- Share of $3,000
- About 8%
New ads tested a month: 8
- Testing budget
- About $507
- Share of $3,000
- About 17%
New ads tested a month: 15
- Testing budget
- About $950
- Share of $3,000
- About 32%
This is the whole editor
Highlight a phrase and a clip lands on those exact words. No timeline, no keyframes, no layers.
What happens if a test gets too little spend?
If an ad gets too few views, you cannot tell yet whether it works.
- If you stop it, you may throw away an ad that would have won.
- If you call it a winner, you may be backing an ad that only got lucky.
- In the example, $20 of spend buys about 2,000 views, a third of the 6,300 one test needs.
How long until you find a winner?
Only about 5 to 8% of ads become winners, according to Motion's analysis of 550,000+ Meta ads. So it takes 13 to 20 tests to find one.
- At 4 tests a month, a winner takes about 4 to 5 months.
- At 8 tests a month, a winner takes about 2 to 3 months.
- At 15 tests a month, you can expect one most months.
About 1 test in 15 finds a winner
One in 15 is the middle of Motion's 5 to 8%. The testing budget pays for the other 14 results too.
What the test ads cost to make in Cutroom
Making test ads costs little next to showing them. In Cutroom a 40-second ad costs 114 credits, about $1.82.
- You film one clip of yourself talking, up to 3 minutes, and get a finished 9:16 ad back.
- 15 test ads use 1,710 credits, which fits in Basic at $39.99 a month for 2,500 credits.
- AI presenter ads cost more: a 40-second one is 395 credits, so 15 of them use 5,925 credits.
- That is more than Premium's 5,000 credits, so 15 presenter ads need Premium plus one $39.99 top-up.
- Your first video is free, with no card, and you have 7 days to make it.
Questions people ask
- What percentage of ad budget should go to testing?
- There is no fixed percentage. Multiply the ad spend one test needs by the number of ads you will test, and the percentage follows. In the example, 8 tests of $63 are 17% of $3,000.
- Is it better to test more ads or fewer?
- Test as many as your budget can give enough spend each. If money is short, test fewer ads rather than giving each one too little.
- How many views does one test need?
- It depends on your click rate and the difference you want to spot. At a 1% click rate, spotting 1% against 1.5% takes about 6,336 views. A common statistics shortcut is 16 × p × (1 − p) ÷ d², where p is your click rate and d the difference.
- How long until testing finds a winner?
- About 13 to 20 tests, because 5 to 8% of ads become winners. At 4 tests a month that is 4 to 5 months. At 15 a month, you can expect about one winner a month.
- What if I have no winning ad yet?
- Then most of your budget goes to testing until one ad works, because there is no winning ad to move money to yet.
Work out what one test costs, multiply by the tests you will run, and make each ad for 114 credits. Your first video is free.