PPN #35: Faire Promoted Listings - Are They Worth It?

Recently, I spoke with a Faire brand success rep about the question on everyone’s mind right now: are Promoted Listings actually worth it for brands on Faire?

Most brands aren't using Promoted Listings yet on Faire—or if they are, they’re wondering “is this even doing well?” I get it. I’ve been watching performance and A/B testing spend levels for the past year or so for our Faire clients at The Prosper Lab, our Faire growth team for CPG brands, to see what works and what doesn’t.

Today, I’m diving into a candid share of everything I’ve learned firsthand about Promoted Listings on Faire— so you can know if they’re worth it or not for your brand →

What Are Promoted Listings on Faire, Really?

Promoted Listings are essentially a button (yes, that’s really it) that tells Faire to boost your products in search results and browse pages. You decide how much budget to allocate between two options:

• Getting new accounts (brands that haven't ordered from you before on Faire’s marketplace)

• Encouraging reorders (brands that have already purchased on Faire)

That’s it! No complex keyword research, creative development, or complicated targeting systems. Just choose your budget split, click a button, and let Faire's algorithm (and your profile) do the heavy lifting.

What They Looks Like in Action

When you turn on Promoted Listings, Faire boosts your visibility on the marketplace in two key ways:

1. Search boost: Your products rank higher for terms you're ALREADY showing up for organically. (This is why your profile needs to be SEO-optimized first – if you don't rank for anything naturally, there's nothing to boost!)

2. Personalized marketplace boost: When previous buyers browse Faire, your products appear higher in their feeds, regardless of what they search.

The Strategy for Setting Your Budget

A little secret for you that I’ve learned? You actually don't need a massive budget to see great results. In fact, smaller budgets often work BETTER! (Counter intuitive, I know)

We've consistently found that allocations between $200-$500 per month maximize return on spend more effectively than $1,000+ budgets. Why? Faire's promoted listings system simply doesn't have enough distribution yet to efficiently use larger budgets for most brands.

One of the best parts? You only pay when retailers actually click – all those impressions that build brand recognition are completely free. Faire allocates more of your budget on days with better opportunities, so your money works harder for you.

Key Metrics to Watch (+ Benchmarks)

Once you turn on Promoted Listings, here's what I recommend paying attention to in your Faire backend:

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA)

We’ve been aiming for $30-60 per new customer for our clients on Faire. If your CPA is higher, your profile probably needs some optimization work because it isn’t effectively being shown in the algorithm – or it’s not converting.

Click & Conversion Rates

Click & conversion rates are data that you’ll manually want to track month over month. These will tell you directly, so you can adjust as needed: are your products showing up for keywords? Are your images attracting buyers? And are your product descriptions actuallu generating sales?

Click Rate: Clicks/Impressions = Click Rate % (Ideally 2-5%)

Conversion Rate: New Customers Acquired/Clicks = Conversion Rate % (Ideally 8-12%)

New Customers vs. Reorder Customers

Watch which of these two categories drives more value for your specific brand – then you can adjust your budget split accordingly. I would recommend always allocating more spend to new customers.

Just check in once a week to make sure your numbers are trending in the right direction.

The Bottom Line: Are Promoted Listings Worth It for Your Brand on Faire?

In my opinion: Yes.

Promoted Listings are like sales reps who work overnight for your brand. And the CPA is significantly lower than what you’d pay traditionally for a sales rep to bring in new account for you.

BUT to see the best results from Promoted Listings, you need to:

1. Optimize your profile first: Make sure your product titles, descriptions, and images are conversion-optimized before boosting them

2. Start with a modest budget: Begin with $200-500/month split between new acquisitions and reorders

3. Follow up with ad customers: Create specific email campaigns for retailers who discovered you through ads to encourage reorders

Have specific questions about whether or not Promoted Listings are worth it on Faire? Let me know my replying to this email or book a call here. I’m here to help you succeed!

Cheers,

Caroline