Shopify questionAnswer3 min read
Should You Hire Someone to Run Your Ads?
Hiring an ads expert pays off once your store converts and tracking works. Before that, the store itself is the better investment.
Key takeaways
- Hire a Facebook ads expert when your store already converts, tracking is verified, and you can fund their fee plus a real test budget.
- If paid visitors don't buy, an expert can't fix that from inside Ads Manager. The product page, offer and checkout come first.
- Keep ownership: the ad account, pixel and Shopify store stay in your name, and you grant access through roles, never passwords.
- Shopify collaborator accounts and Google Ads access levels let you give exactly the permissions a contractor needs.
- Who it is for
- Owners thinking of outsourcing ads
- Time needed
- 4 minutes to read
- What you need
- Admin access to your ad accounts
You should hire someone to run your ads once three things are true: your store converts the traffic it already gets, your pixel and Conversions API report purchases correctly, and you can pay the expert's fee and still fund a meaningful test budget. Before that, the same money usually does more on the store itself. An expert buys better traffic; they can't make a weak product page sell.
I'm not pitching here: I don't offer ad management. I work on the other half, the store that paid clicks land on, and I often meet owners who hired an ads person too early. The access and permission details below were checked against Shopify's and Google's help centers on 7 November 2026.
Are you ready to hire a Facebook ads expert?
| Your situation | Hire now? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Few sales from any traffic source | Not yet | The store is the bottleneck |
| Pixel not verified against orders | Not yet | Nobody can optimize blind |
| Profitable on small spend, no time | Yes | Time is the constraint |
| Ready to scale across channels | Yes | Specialist skill pays off |
| Budget covers only the fee | Not yet | No money left to test |
A simple test: send a small amount of traffic yourself for a couple of weeks. If visitors add to cart and some buy, an expert has something to build on. If nobody adds to cart, fix the page first. My CRO audit checklist shows what to look at.
Give access without giving away the store
Whoever you hire, the assets stay yours. If they leave, you keep the pixel history, audiences and campaigns.
- Meta: create the ad account and pixel in your own business portfolio, then add the contractor as a partner or user. Don't let them build everything inside their own business.
- Google Ads: access levels run from Email-only and Billing through Read-only and Standard to Admin. Standard can edit campaigns. Only Admin can manage users, so keep Admin for yourself and add a second admin you trust.
- Shopify: a Shopify Partner can request a collaborator account using a 4-digit request code from the Users page. You approve the request, choose the permissions, and collaborator accounts don't count toward your staff limit.
What to ask before you hire
- How do you check tracking? A good answer mentions comparing pixel purchases with Shopify orders and checking for duplicate events.
- Which numbers will you report? Ask for Shopify revenue next to platform-reported revenue, not just ROAS from Ads Manager. Here's why the two differ.
- Which pages will the ads send people to? If the answer is "your homepage", keep looking.
- What happens in the first month? Expect a test plan with creatives and budgets, not a promised ROAS.
Red flags
- Guaranteed ROAS or sales figures before they've seen your margins.
- Insisting the ad account sits in their business portfolio.
- No interest in your product pages, shipping costs or reviews.
- Reporting only platform numbers that never match Shopify.
What stays your job
An ads expert controls audiences, creative and budget. You still own the offer, prices, product pages, delivery promise and checkout. When an ad campaign stalls, the cause is often on that side: a price that doesn't match the ad, shipping costs that appear late, or a mobile page that takes too long to load. Getting those right before you hire makes any expert's job easier and your test budget go further. The same questions apply to a freelancer or an agency.
What to do next
- Verify tracking. Compare a week of pixel purchases with Shopify orders.
- Set up access in your own business portfolio and Google Ads account before the first call.
- Get the store ready. Ask for a free store review. I'll show you what to fix before paid traffic arrives, and my CRO work starts from $500.
Free tools
Check your own store
Free, no sign-up. Each one runs a part of this guide for you.
Frequently asked questions
When should I hire a Facebook ads expert?
When your store already converts traffic, your pixel matches Shopify orders, and you can fund the expert's fee plus a real test budget. If any of those is missing, fix it first.
Should the ad account be in my name?
Yes. Create the ad account and pixel in your own business portfolio and add the contractor as a partner or user. If you part ways, you keep the data, audiences and campaigns.
How do I give an ads person access to Shopify?
Ask them to request a collaborator account using the 4-digit request code on your Users page. You approve it and choose exactly which permissions they get.
What Google Ads access should a contractor get?
Standard access lets them edit campaigns. Keep Admin for yourself, because only Admin can manage users and access levels.
Can an ads expert fix low conversion rates?
Only partly. They can improve targeting and creative, but if the product page, price or checkout puts people off, more traffic won't fix it. That work happens on the store.
Do you run ads for clients?
No. I don't offer ad management. I work on the store side: product pages, checkout, speed and tracking, so paid traffic has a better chance to convert.
Sources
- About access levels in your Google Ads account, Google Ads Help
- Collaborator accounts, Shopify Help Center
- Facebook data sharing, Shopify Help Center
Related services and work
I'm a Shopify developer and CRO specialist. I have built and improved Shopify stores since 2018, completed more than 1,000 projects, and hold a 4.96 average rating across 719 client reviews.
More guides
-
Do You Need Video to Run Ads?
Not for Meta or Google: images work there. TikTok is the exception. Here's what each platform needs and how to choose between video and image ads.
-
Can You Run Meta Ads Without a Facebook Page?
Not in practice: Meta's ads are built around a Facebook Page, even for Instagram. Here's why, and how to set up a basic Page in minutes.
-
Boost Instagram Posts or Run Proper Ads?
Boosting is quick and good for reach. For sales from a Shopify store, Ads Manager usually wins, and here is why.
-
How Long Should You Run an Ad Before Judging It?
Give a Meta ad set until it leaves the learning phase, or about a week. Here's how the learning phase works and what to check when an ad fails.
