Are you using the Facebook direct response ads that are best for your business? Columnist Brad O’Brien shares his top three and discusses how you can implement them.
Facebook has proven to be a powerful direct response channel for advertisers across verticals. The ability to laser-target, combined with exciting new ad products and updates, allows direct response advertisers to go after some serious ROI.
Knowing which ad types work best for your business, however, can be a challenge. Today I’m sharing my top three ad products you should be using now, along with best practices on how to use them.
Carousel Ads
Originally created for e-commerce retailers, this ad started out under the name of Multi-Product Ads. Immediately, these were a game-changer for e-commerce.
But what advertisers (and Facebook) started to realize is that these are a completely viable ad type for any vertical.
Not convinced Carousel Ads are right for your brand? I frequently hear this from clients.
However, these do work for any brand, and the proof is in the results. On average, we see a 50-percent lift in CTR (click-through rate) over single image ads and a considerable reduction in CPC (cost per click), which together are producing a more favorable CPA (cost per action) — regardless of industry or vertical.
Let’s say you have no physical products. What you do have are value propositions or types of services your brand offers.
Think of your brand’s home page. There’s likely a rotating banner emphasizing your key value props and/or your services. That makes for a great Carousel Ad.
Carousel Ads also offer you an opportunity to tell a story. Opt for your images to show in a certain order, and you can visually send prospective customers through an experience.
Your last image should be a very strong CTA in this instance. Or you can upload up to 10 images and let Facebook determine which images show and in what order.
Facebook will show users up to five images (or videos), depending on which are receiving the best CTR. As a best practice for direct response, always include CTA buttons on your carousel ads.
Lead Ads
Calling all advertisers who want to acquire leads! This ad product is for you.
In the years I’ve been advertising on Facebook, never have I seen a product fast-track through alpha/beta rounds into full rollout so quickly. Once these were rolled out, Facebook was very quick to add some exciting bells and whistles, as well. That’s because this product works.
Lead Ads allow an advertiser to collect customer leads all within the Facebook environment. Information from a user’s verified profile can be auto-filled, like Name, Email and Phone.
The first iteration of Lead Ads was solely for the mobile News Feed. Facebook knew it had come upon something big.
Collecting any sort of form information via mobile is a daunting task, to say the least, but these ads effectively simplified the process.
Some of the newest features include Desktop Lead Ads, context card/marketing message, carousel and video creative formats, and a few others. Facebook is going all in on this product in 2016. Anticipate lots more updates to it in the coming months.
(An important and somewhat unexpected note: Our clients have seen better costs per lead on mobile. Others I’ve talked to in the industry have confirmed this.)
A best practice to follow is to have the fewest form fields possible. With each field you remove, you’ll see a rise in conversion rate.
Collect the minimum, and nurture the lead after. Be open to iterative rounds of testing on this product, and the ROI should come.
Dynamic Product Ads
We’ve all been on the receiving end of these ads. You go to a retailer’s website, check out a few products, and then the products stalk you around Facebook.
What you may not know about this ad product is that in addition to direct product retargeting, it allows for cross-sell and upsell functionalities. (Have a customer who added rain boots to their cart? Cross-sell them with umbrellas. Or say a customer has been viewing handbags under $100; you can upsell them into handbags costing $100 to $150. )
One of the best tips I can share around dynamic product ads (DPAs) is to segment within the product. Sure, you can build a template and essentially set and forget, but that’s only scratching the ROI surface.
Segment ad sets within DPAs based on recency windows (within three days, 7, 14, 30 and so on).
A lesser-known capability DPAs support is the ability to set separate bids and budgets by product set and category. This allows you to manage the micro-economics within DPAs to maximize ROI and profit margins.
While DPAs are an obvious home run for e-commerce, there’s been a recent push among a few advertisers in other verticals: Think travel, auto, real estate, food delivery. You can hack the Facebook product feed and be among the first advertisers in your vertical using this powerful ad type.
For a tangible example, let’s use a car dealership site. You could dynamically retarget, upsell and cross-sell based on make, model, new/used. Or a real estate broker could set up a feed by price range, neighborhood or single family/multi-unit.
At the rate Facebook’s been releasing new products, this list is bound to be outdated in a few months. It’s always a good idea to test new ads and features before going full-bore, but I recommend you jump on these three right away.
Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.
(Some images used under license from Shutterstock.com.)
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