Lift test
- Also called Brand lift test, Conversion lift test, Brand survey test
- Updated October 28, 2026
A lift test measures what your ads caused. Meta randomly splits your audience into a test group that can be shown the ads and a control group that is not, then compares the two. A brand lift test compares survey answers on awareness or recall; a conversion lift test compares purchases, sign-ups and other conversions. The gap between the groups is the lift.
How does Meta define brand lift and conversion lift?
Meta's About Experiments page describes both. Brand lift:
With a brand lift test, you can measure the incremental effect your advertising has on brand awareness, perception, recall or purchase intent. Your audience will be divided into 2 similar groups. One will be able to see your ads and the other won't see them.
The answers come from "survey questions across Meta apps". Conversion lift creates "a test group that has the opportunity to view your ads and a control group that does not see your ads", and the comparison gives "the conversions that occur as a result of people seeing your ad."
In Experiments the self-serve brand test is called a brand survey test. It surveys people "who had the opportunity to see your ads and people in a holdout group", and Meta says it is "only available in certain regions".
How is a lift test different from an A/B test?
An A/B test shows every group some version of your ads and picks the cheapest, by "Cost per result based on selected key metrics". A lift test keeps one group away from your ads entirely, so it can say whether the ads caused anything at all. Meta's A/B test winner page adds that "you can add a holdout to an A/B test to compare cost per incremental purchase of each campaign", which borrows the lift test's control group.
| A/B test | Lift test | |
|---|---|---|
| Groups | "random, non-overlapping groups who are shown different versions of your ads" | "randomized test and control groups, with some people who will not see ads for your campaign" |
| Answers | Which version costs less per result | How many results the ads added |
| Who can run it | "Available to any advertiser" | Minimums apply (below) |
Meta's About Conversion Lift page adds that the test group counts everyone eligible, including people who never scrolled to the ad. It calls this an "intent-to-treat approach" and says it "helps to ensure that we are not overstating the impact of ads." Results come with "intervals representing the range of most probable outcomes."
What do you need to run a Meta lift test?
Meta's pages give different requirements:
| Test | About Experiments | The dedicated page |
|---|---|---|
| Brand lift | "A minimum of $120,000 USD in ad spend in the last 90 days" | A minimum budget per country for the campaigns in the test, "as of September 15, 2026": $175,000 for the United States, $64,000 for the United Kingdom, and "The default minimum for countries not listed here is $15,000" |
| Conversion lift | "At least one high-quality conversions data source, such as Conversions API" | "As a guide", a campaign from the past year "with a spend of $5,000 USD or more" and "a minimum of 500 conversions", plus a signal-quality rule such as Conversions API with an Event Match Quality score above 5 |
The brand figures come from Meta's Brand Lift minimum requirements page, which sets the bar by "the country with the highest spend requirement" when you target several. One page gives a single 90-day spend figure, the other a dated minimum per country, and Meta doesn't reconcile them. The dated table is the more specific.
Does a lift test cost anything?
Meta says "There is no additional cost to create a test". It also warns that "Lift tests can affect the overall cost per impression (CPM) of ad campaigns in your test", because the control group doesn't see your ads. Expect your CPM to move while a test runs.
What it means for your ads
- Use a lift test when the question is whether ads work at all, and an A/B test when it is which version works better.
- Check the dedicated requirement pages before planning one; the summary table on About Experiments is shorter and doesn't match them.
- Compare the result with your attribution setting. Meta lists "Does my current attribution model align with the results of a controlled experiment?" as a question conversion lift answers.
Common mistakes
- Reading a post-test window as part of the result. Meta says "we do not recommend using the post-test conversion window for calculating results."
- Treating a creative test as a lift test. It ranks ads against each other and has no group that sees nothing.
Sources
- About Experiments — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 28, 2026)
- About Conversion Lift — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 28, 2026)
- About brand survey tests — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 28, 2026)
- How winning campaigns are determined in A/B tests without a holdout — Meta Business Help Center (accessed October 28, 2026)
- Brand Lift minimum requirements — Meta Business Help Center, September 15, 2026 (accessed October 28, 2026)
Minimums are converted to local currency and change without notice, so check the source before planning a test.
Terrads makes new Facebook and Instagram image ads from your brand kit, so a campaign has fresh creative ready to run once a lift test shows the ads are working.