In short
For a Tunisian company, a reasonable starting Meta Ads budget is the one that lets you read data: our published clients spent between $135 and $592 per quarter (roughly 400 to 1,800 DT), i.e. $1.5 to $6.5 per day, and got an inbound contact for $0.87 (solar installer) and $1.67 (elevator company). Start small, measure the cost per contact for two months, and only scale what produces.
What a contact costs: three accounts, figures as read
| Client | Campaign objective | Spend | Period | Result | Unit cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Many Solar Energy (solar) | Messages / quote requests | $369 | May → July 2026 | 429 quote requests | $0.87 |
| ZAHI PRO Services (elevators) | WhatsApp messages | $592 | June → August 2026 | 354 inbound contacts | $1.67 |
| BMMS (industrial equipment) | Traffic to the catalogue | $135 | July 2026 | 5,331 visits | $0.025 per visit |
How to set your starting budget in 3 steps
- Start from the margin of one customer, not a percentage of revenue. How much does a signed customer bring you? How many contacts do you need to sign one? If 1 contact in 10 signs and a customer brings 1,500 DT of margin, a contact is worth 150 DT to you. Paying 5 DT per contact is then obvious.
- Size for data, not for “visibility”. Below $1.5 per day, Meta doesn’t have enough budget to test several audiences and exit the learning phase. Above $10 per day at launch, you pay to learn what a small budget would have learned.
- Only scale what produces. After two months you have a cost per contact per campaign. Cut the campaigns above your threshold, scale the ones below — in 20 to 30 % steps so you don’t restart learning.
Ad budget and management fee: two separate lines
The ad budget is paid to Meta, from your own account, with your card. The agency’s management fee is a separate line. If an agency offers “1,000 DT all inclusive”, ask how much actually goes to Meta: you will often find that half goes to fees. At Apex, the account is created in your Business Manager and you see every expense; our management fee is quoted after the free consultation.
Why Tunisian accounts are billed in dollars
Meta bills Tunisian advertisers in foreign currency, and the card must accept international payments. It is a frequent friction at the start (card refused, account under review): we prepare the account before launch to avoid it. The amounts quoted here are therefore in dollars, as they appear on the accounts, with the order of magnitude in dinars.