How to Run Facebook Ads for an Online Course

Quick Answer

To run Facebook ads for an online course, use a webinar funnel for courses over $300 and direct-to-sales-page for courses under $100. Mid-priced courses ($100-300) work best with a free 5-day challenge or video series. Run Conversions optimised for Purchase, target lookalikes of existing students. Budget $50-200/day to start.

Funnel by price point

The biggest mistake course creators make is using the same funnel for every course. A $47 course doesn't need a webinar. A $1,997 course can't be sold from a single ad.

Course price	Funnel	Cold CAC target	Funnel length
Under $100	Direct to sales page	$30-60	1 click
$100-300	Lead magnet > email > sales	$50-120	5-7 days
$300-1,000	Webinar > replay > sales	$100-300	10-14 days
$1,000+	Webinar > application > sales call	$300-1,000	21-45 days

Direct-to-sales-page (under $100)

Campaign: [Course Name] – Direct Sales
Objective: Sales (Conversions)
Optimisation: Purchase
Daily budget: $75 (CBO)

Ad Set 1: Lookalike
- 1% LAL of past purchasers
- Age: 25-55

Ad Set 2: Interest stack
- 4-6 topical interests
- Exclude past purchasers

Creatives:
- Ad 1: Founder video, 60 sec, problem-agitate-solve
- Ad 2: Student testimonial 30 sec
- Ad 3: Carousel of 5 module previews
- Ad 4: Static "Enrol Today" with price + bonuses

CTA: Learn More
Landing page: Long-form sales page with video header

Webinar funnel (over $300)

The webinar funnel runs as two campaigns:

1. Registration campaign: Leads objective, drives signups
2. Replay/follow-up campaign: Conversions objective, retargets registrants who didn't buy

Run both simultaneously. The replay campaign converts 30-50% of the eventual sales because most buyers need 3-7 days after the webinar.

Creative that sells courses

Three angles to rotate:

1. Transformation ("From X to Y in Z weeks. Here's how.")
2. Method ("The 3-part framework I teach my students")
3. Authority ("I've helped 2,400 people do this. You're next.")

Lead with a specific result and a specific timeframe. Vague benefits convert badly.

Targeting

Stack:

1. Lookalike of past students (best signal)
2. Lookalike of email list
3. Interests in adjacent creators, books, podcasts in your space
4. Job titles for B2B courses

Avoid broad targeting until you have 50+ pixel purchases.

Pixel events to fire

• ViewContent on the sales page
• Lead on the webinar registration thank-you page
• InitiateCheckout on the cart page
• Purchase on the order confirmation page

Without these, the algorithm can't optimise for buyers.

Budget guide

Course price	Daily test budget	Days to $500 in pixel data	Profitable scaling threshold
$47-97	$50-75	7-10	2x ROAS
$197-497	$100-150	14-21	2.5x ROAS
$997-1,997	$200-400	21-30	3x ROAS

Launch vs evergreen

Launches use a 7-14 day countdown campaign with cart-close urgency. Evergreen uses always-on ads to a webinar that runs daily on autoplay. Evergreen is harder to set up but much cheaper to operate, expect 30-50% lower CAC after the first 90 days because the algorithm has more data.

What kills course ads

• Selling on benefits instead of outcomes
• Pricing in the headline of a cold ad (lowers CTR)
• Sending traffic to a thin landing page
• Promising "secrets" or "tricks" (Meta flags it)
• Skipping the email nurture between ad and sale

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