Facebook Ad Superlatives Trends To Look Out For... www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
INTRODUCTION Trying To Make A Good Impression? In the vast world of Facebook Advertising, there exist many factors to consider before launching a campaign, including: ad type, objective, audience, placement, device, creative, call to action, and more. In order to achieve the best results and earn a better ROAS (return on ad spend) on this platform, all the gears have to mesh. AD SUCCESS largely relies on reaching the right audience. Even slight variations in ad qualities cause major differences in user behavior, so it is crucial to set up proper segmentation that takes those distinctions into account. Perhaps of utmost importance is reaching the right audience. From there, be sure to optimize ads according to placement and device targeting. Although Facebook is cleverly designed to help marketers do less work and run campaigns at less cost, it s worth detailing which types of ads perform best in particular placements. The Facebook Method: Research & Analysis In this overview, we closely analyzed Facebook Advertising campaigns of our top ten Wpromote Ecommerce clients. For consistency purposes, we focused on Direct Response ads, which urge consumers to respond to the advertiser and enable analysts to measure and attribute actions taken on ads. Within that category, we looked at (multi-product), single image, and video ad units that targeted Prospecting, Retargeting, and Custom Audiences. 2 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
INTRODUCTION Prospecting audiences include people who have yet to engage with the brand, so the general goal is to spread brand awareness and generate website traffic. Retargeting, otherwise known as Remarketing, attempts to re-engage individuals in the market who have engaged with the brand and visited the website, but might not have purchased anything. It can also target previous purchasers. Custom Audiences leverage your database of customers and aim to strengthen existing connections as well as find lookalike audiences. WE DID all the paid social experimenting for you. On top of evaluating ad performance, we factored in three different ad placements:, Desktop Right Column, and. To comparatively measure success, we analyzed metrics that corresponded with the objective of each ad type and target audience. Investigating how advertising performance varies across these placements will give insight into effectively and efficiently advertising on one of the most, if not the most, prominent social media and advertising platforms. So Where Should I Place My Ad? When it comes to selecting a placement for social ads on Facebook, no particular placement is necessarily the correct one. Different messaging and businesses will perform better in one placement versus the other, so analyzing which ad placement reaps the best results can be cumbersome. Campaign variety requires superior attention to detail and subsequent dedication trying to determine where your ad might reach the most eyes, on top of segmenting audiences, creating appealing content, and developing convincing ad copy. That s why most paid social experts let Facebook s algorithm intelligently determine where ads should be served and at what budget. However, performance marketers should run their own tests to determine which placement effectively delivers their message and maximizes campaign efficiency. 3 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
INTRODUCTION Facebook Ad Options Facebook recommends the automatic setting, which serves ads in all available placements and ensures that the delivery system functions optimally. Once the ads start running, Facebook takes note of which placement performs better and responsively reallocates more budget to that placement, reaching more viewers at less cost. This strategy may appear to be a simple solution to avoid wasting time, but manually selecting placement enables marketers to manage spend and performance more accurately. Instagram advertising (owned by Facebook and managed within their ad platform) actually costs more than Facebook, and while Audience Network achieves high CTRs, it comes with high bounce rates. Therefore, manual placement ultimately gives marketers more control over campaign management. For those interested in understanding which conditions generate the most value, take a look at our findings. Choosing your placements ensures more accurate spend and performance management. 4 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
HIGHLIGHTS PROSPECTING METRIC AD TYPE RESULTS Highest CTR Lowest CTR Highest Engagement Rate Lowest Engagement Rate Highest ROAS Lowest ROAS Highest Video View Rate Highest Video Conversion Rate Lowest Video View Rate Ad Desktop Video Ad Video Ad Desktop Video Ad Ad Desktop Ad Ad Ad Desktop Ad 1.92% 0.04% 18.18% 0.08% 7.01 0.31 19.98% 56.98% 0.03% RETARGETING METRIC AD TYPE RESULTS Highest CTR Lowest CTR Highest Conversion Rate Lowest Conversion Rate Highest ROAS Lowest ROAS CUSTOM AUDIENCE Ad Desktop Ad Ad Ad Ad Ad 2.08% 0.16% 21.77% 0.13% 8.36 3.77 METRIC AD TYPE RESULTS Highest CTR Lowest CTR Highest Conversion Rate Lowest Conversion Rate Highest ROAS Lowest ROAS Ad Desktop Ad Ad Ad Desktop Ad Ad 1.69% 0.11% 39.68% 0.23% 8.64 6.49 5 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
PROSPECTING AD PERFORMANCE PROSPECTING AD PERFORMANCE Below is a performance breakdown of the different ad types and placements for our top 10 Ecommerce clients running prospecting campaigns, analyzing: CTR, engagement rate, ROAS, and video view rate as performance indicators. Prospecting CTR Video 1.92% 0.92% 0.37% 0.92% 0.47% 0.13% 0.14% 0.16% 0.04% Prospecting Engagement Rate Video 1.74% 1.08% 18.18% 1.33% 0.68% 14.34% 0.14% 0.12% 0.08% Prospecting ROAS Video 7.01 2.21 3.44 2.06 2.47 5.74 0.31 3.27 4.52 Prospecting Video Results Video View Rate Engagement Rate Conversion Rate 19.98% 18.18% 11.08% 15.14% 14.34% 56.98% 0.03% 0.08% 36.67% 6 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
PROSPECTING AD PERFORMANCE Performance Since Prospecting audience targeting focuses on driving website traffic, CTR should be the defining metric. In this regard, Prospecting was not as successful as the other two audiences in driving more clicks, but it still led to a strong clickthrough rate of 0.66%. The same pattern can be observed between and single image ads. Despite the low CTRs compared to the other two audiences, Prospecting was still successful in achieving a 0.92% CTR and 0.47% CTR for and single image desktop News Feed ads, respectively. ads attained a 96% higher engagement rate than single image ads on desktop News Feed. Prospecting ads had the highest engagement rate (2.19%) when shown on desktop News Feed. Between and single image ads on desktop News Feed, gained the most engagement. Video ads earned even more engagement with a 14.34% engagement rate, and also reached the most eyes. In terms of conversion Video Ad metrics, the Prospecting group converted at a much higher rate (+739%) and produced the highest return on single image ads compared to ads on desktop News Feed. Compared to Retargeting and Custom Audience on desktop News Feed, Prospecting did not generate nearly as much return or as high of a conversion rate. For video ads, Prospecting converted at a 56.98% rate, 65% higher than Retargeting. Prospecting video ads produced the highest ROAS and conversion rate when shown on. FUN FACT: image ads on desktop News Feeds targeting prospects received a 22% higher clickthrough rate targeting men compared to women. 7 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
PROSPECTING AD PERFORMANCE Desktop Right Column Performance Prospecting performance on right column ads was substantially lower compared to the other placements, due in large part to this placement s predisposition to drive fewer clicks. However, Prospecting still had a 0.11% CTR that only trailed the Retargeting 0.15% CTR on the right column. The prospecting audience did generate the same CTR (0.16%) as Retargeting on single image ads. Despite the mediocre CTR performance of Right Column Prospecting ads, single image ads converted at a higher rate compared to those shown on mobile. Image Ad Video Ad For video ads, Prospecting attained the second highest CTR in the right column behind Retargeting, but as expected, it was still a minimal CTR of 0.04%. Prospecting generated a substantially lower conversion rate and ROAS on video ads in the right column compared to the other audiences. Compared to mobile News Feed, the right column placement generated better conversion results for Prospecting video ads. Desktop right column placement generally created more favorable conditions for Prospecting conversion metrics than mobile News Feed placements. 8 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
PROSPECTING AD PERFORMANCE Performance On mobile News Feed, Prospecting audiences had an engagement rate of 1.73%, with about 3,000% more impressions than on desktop. They also achieved higher engagement rates for, single image, and video ads on mobile, leading the other two placements. Video was the clear winner in terms of engagement rate at 18.18% - the highest between the types of ad units and across all placements. Ad The average impressions gained on mobile far exceed those on desktop News Feed by 239%. The highest CTR obtained by the Prospecting audience occurred on mobile News Feed, while ads generated a higher CTR than single image ads. ads had 109% higher CTR than single image. For video ads, the engagement rate was much higher on mobile, and clicks to play, video views, views to 100%, and view rate were all subsequently higher than the other placements. The CTR for mobile videos proved to be better than the other placements, while conversion metrics were comparatively lower. Prospecting Ad Takeaways Thinking about launching a Prospecting campaign? If you are trying to reach more eyes, attract more traffic to your site, and spread your brand s online presence, refer to these helpful hints for guidance. 1 2 3 When targeting prospects, utilizing the mobile placement is your best bet. If you re looking to obtain a high ROAS, then test running Prospecting ads on the mobile News Feed placement and video ads on and placements. When in doubt, look to test Prospecting video ads in all three placements to boost brand awareness and lift conversion rates. 9 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
RETARGETING AD PERFORMANCE RETARGETING AD PERFORMANCE We analyzed Facebook ad type and placement performance for our top 10 Ecommerce clients running retargeting campaigns, using CTR, conversion rate, and ROAS as benchmarks for performance. Retargeting CTR 2.08% 1.42% 0.17% 1.20% 1.02% 0.16% Retargeting Conversion Rate 7.33% 16.35% 16.08% 0.13% 21.77% 17.95% Retargeting ROAS 8.31 4.80 5.14 8.36 3.77 7.65 500% conversion rate and 341.67 ROAS generated by a right hand column video ad served to retargeting audiences. 10 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
RETARGETING AD PERFORMANCE Performance Ads retargeting previous visitors achieved the highest overall ROAS (14.34) and overall clickthrough rate (1.09%) compared to other audiences on desktop News Feeds. This is an important finding, since the goal of a retargeting audience is to ultimately have these users return to the website and convert, the majority of the time for a first purchase. Retargeted audiences were also the most likely to click through a single and image ad on desktop News Feeds compared to custom audiences and prospects. Image Ad Retargeted users on desktop News Feeds were 33% more likely to convert on a single image ad compared to a ad. Clickthrough rates for video ads on desktop News Feeds were highest for retargeting audiences, generating an overall average clickthrough rate of 0.50%. When looking solely at retargeting audience performance across placements, video ads served to retargeting audiences resulted in 48% higher conversion rates on desktop News Feeds (34.55% average conversion rate) than on mobile News Feeds (23.39% average conversion rate). FUN FACT: For a men s apparel company specifically, a 208% higher overall conversion rate was achieved for an ad retargeting females on desktop News Feeds compared to an ad retargeting males. 11 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
RETARGETING AD PERFORMANCE Desktop Right Column Performance Ads retargeting previous visitors resulted in a Image Ad higher overall ROAS (24.56), overall clickthrough rate (0.15%), and overall conversion rate (36.78%) on right column desktop ads than ads targeting prospects or custom audiences. When looking specifically at retargeting audience performance by placement, an overall right column desktop conversion rate of 36.78% average was 173% higher than on mobile News Feeds (13.47% average) and 92% higher than on desktop News Feeds (19.16% average). Retargeted audiences were the most likely to click through a ad compared to prospecting and custom audiences. Performance Image Ad The highest overall ROAS (17.22) and overall clickthrough rate (1.22%) were garnered by ads served to retargeted Facebook users on mobile News Feeds. This trend was consistent when analyzing performance across single and image ads. Retargeted mobile videos also led to the highest clickthrough rates and ROAS. Retargeting Ad Takeaways 1 2 3 When running a retargeting campaign, a right column desktop placement is your best bet. Looking to generate the highest return on mobile News Feed Ads? Test serving a single or image ad to your retargeting audience. If you are totally lost, serve a right column desktop ad to retargeted Facebook users to improve conversion rates. 12 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
CUSTOM AUDIENCE AD PERFORMANCE CUSTOM AUDIENCE AD PERFORMANCE We analyzed Facebook ad type and placement performance for our top 10 Ecommerce clients running custom audience campaigns, using CTR, conversion rate, and ROAS as benchmarks for performance. Custom Audience CTR 1.69% 1.09% 0.12% 0.90% 0.66% 0.11% Custom Audience Conversion Rate 11.26% 0.23% 17.83% 23.73% 39.68% 23.43% Custom Audience ROAS 6.66 8.31 7.54 7.59 6.49 8.64 conversion rate generated by a mobile News 938% Feed video ad served to custom audiences. 13 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
CUSTOM AUDIENCE AD PERFORMANCE Performance Custom audiences generated the highest overall conversion rates across all audiences on desktop News Feeds at an average of 53.11%, 177% higher than that of retargeting audiences at just 19.16%. This trend is valuable because the ultimate goal is to have custom audiences make a repeat purchase. The conversion rates were also highest for video ads targeting a custom audience compared to ads retargeting users. ROAS was 28% higher on than single image ads for custom audiences specifically on desktop News Feeds. Ads targeting custom audiences achieved the highest ROAS and conversion rate for and single desktop News Feed ads compared to retargeting audiences. However, single image desktop News Feed ads targeting a custom audience generated the highest conversion rate of all at 39.68% when comparing versus single image ads to retargeting audiences. Image Ad When looking specifically at custom audiences and ad placement performance, ROAS was highest on desktop ads with an overall return of 12.87, with desktop right column ads <1% behind at a 12.84 overall return. FUN FACT: 115% higher return seen across desktop News Feed single image ads targeting a male custom audience compared to a female custom audience, for a men s apparel company. 14 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
CUSTOM AUDIENCE AD PERFORMANCE Desktop Right Column Performance On desktop right column ads for and single image ad types specifically, custom audiences ROAS and conversion rates were highest. When analyzing custom audience behavior specifically on desktop right column ads, this audience type was most likely to click through a ad (0.12%), with the conversion rate (23.73%) also slightly beating out that of single image ads. The ROAS, however, was significantly higher on single image ads in comparison to ads for custom audience specifically. Image Ad 15% higher ROAS for single image ads targeting a custom audience compared to return generated by custom audiences on a image ad. Performance Image Ad When looking at overall performance as well as a breakdown of ad type by and single image ads, custom audiences converted at the highest rate (41.63%) on mobile News Feeds, 209% higher than ads served to retargeting audiences (13.47%). High conversion rates highlight how a well-optimized ad can entice a custom audience to make repeat purchases. 15 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
CUSTOM AUDIENCE AD PERFORMANCE ads generated the highest clickthrough rate at an average of 1.69% for custom audiences specifically. A video ad targeted to custom audiences was most likely to convert on mobile News Feeds compared to desktop placements. Image Ad On mobile News Feeds, custom audiences generated a 14% higher return on single image ads. Custom Audience Ad Takeaways 1 2 3 If you are looking for a lift in conversion rates, serving your custom audience an ad on mobile or desktop News Feed would be an excellent place to start. When running a custom audience campaign, single image ads are likely to give you a higher return in right column desktop placements. Try serving a single image ad in a desktop News Feed placement to a custom audience rather than a retargeting audience to increase conversion rates. 16 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668
CONCLUSION In a general overview of the results, we can begin to piece together the variables and determine which conditions produce optimal results. Below is a brief summary of the overarching themes discovered after analyzing the different advertising climates. TRENDSETTERS Altogether, Desktop Right Column ads produced fewer clicks, but achieved higher conversion rates and ROAS compared to both mobile and desktop News Feeds. Mobile ad performance dominated across the board, generating the highest CTRs for each target audience and matching conversion rates of the other two placements. ads experienced lifts in CTR and conversion rates on mobile, while single image ads converted better on Desktop News Feed. Retargeting ads outperformed Prospecting in CTR. Custom Audience ads converted at higher rates on mobile and desktop News Feeds. Retargeting ads generally yielded the largest return, most notably on mobile News Feed. Please feel free to contact us with any questions, comments, or feedback! sales@wpromote.com 1.866.977.6668 facebook.com/wpromote @wpromoteofficial twitter.com/wpromote linkedin.com/company/wpromote 17 www.wpromote.com 866.977.6668