An Intermediate Guide to Improving the Conversion Rate of Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are an invaluable part of any eCommerce business strategy. Advertising is critical to getting your products in front of potential customers and Facebook is home to an incredible number of potential customers, with almost 3 billion users.
A high Facebook ad conversion rate is a good indicator of a business' success, so it’s crucial that eCommerce sellers understand conversion rates and know what rate they should be aiming to reach.
What Does “Conversion Rate” Mean for Facebook Ads?
There are a few metrics to be familiar with when talking about Facebook ads for eCommerce businesses. Here are the most commonly used metrics:
- Click-through Rate (CTR): the number of people who click on an ad, divided by the number of people who see the ad
- Cost per Click (CPC): the amount spent by the advertiser to get one ad click
- Conversion Rate: the number of people who make a purchase or perform another predefined action after clicking on an ad, divided by the total number of clicks on the ad
There are different actions that may be considered a conversion when talking about Facebook ads, such as
- Purchasing a product or service
- Creating an account
- Adding a product to a cart
- Signing up for a newsletter
- Booking a meeting or call
- Any other specific predefined action
Ultimately, the goal is to have the consumer make a purchase, but other actions, such as creating an account, are important in measuring how Facebook ads are performing.
Facebook Ad Conversion Rates for eCommerce Businesses
The average Facebook conversion rate for all industries is 9.21%, according to Sansom Consulting. Conversion rates vary greatly by industry. Below is a table breaking down the average conversion rate by industry in 2022.
As you can see from this table, fitness ads have the highest conversion rate at an average of 14.29%, while technology ads have the lowest at 2.31%.
What is a Good Conversion Rate for Facebook Ads?
The average conversion rate for all Facebook ads is 9.21% but this does not necessarily mean that this is a good conversion rate for your business.
Generally speaking, anything over 15% is considered a good conversion rate for Facebook ads.
But if you are trying to determine whether your conversion rate is good, you will need to compare it to the average for your specific industry. What is considered a good conversion rate for retail stores will be different from what is considered a good rate for fitness services.
A good conversion rate is one that exceeds the average for your business’ industry. Anything lower than this means that you are being outperformed by your competitors. A good conversion rate is a strong indicator of business success and generally corresponds to a higher return on investment (ROI).
What is a Typical Conversion Rate for Facebook Ads?
The typical conversion rate for Facebook ads is between 9% and 10%, but it is important to take into account the average for each industry. Facebook ads in general greatly outperform Google Ads, which have an average conversion rate of 3.75%, according to WebFX.
How to Improve the Conversion Rate of Your Facebook Ads
Now that you know the conversion rate you are aiming to reach or exceed, the real question is: How do you get there? Here are 12 tips that can help improve your Facebook ads strategy for your eCommerce business and ultimately garner higher sales and business revenue.
1. Know Your Customer
Knowing your customer is critical to creating a successful ad campaign. Use every tool available, such as cookies and analytic tools, to understand who is visiting your site and making purchases.
Learn their demographics and location, their online behavior, and their interests. The more you know about your target audience, the better you can customize your ads to appeal to them.
2. Keep Text to a Minimum
The most successful ads utilize images and videos and keep any text short and concise. You want your ad to catch a viewer’s attention right away and video is an effective way to do this.
If text is necessary it can be helpful to give it its own space rather than overlaying it on your images. Just make sure that the text is personal and keep it to the point so that it does not overwhelm the viewer.
3. Use High-Quality Images and Video
You know that it is important to use images and videos, but you don’t want to use just any images and videos in your ad. Your customer is using the available pictures of your product in place of seeing it in person, so the quality of the pictures is critical in helping them decide whether or not to make a purchase.
Be sure that all images and videos are sized correctly so that they are crystal clear to the viewer. Image and video resolution are factors that can easily make or break the sale, so this is one step you don’t want to take lightly!
4. Broaden Your Audience When You Find Success
You probably started off advertising to one target audience, but don’t let your ad campaign stop there. While it’s most cost-effective to put your ads in front of the audiences that are most likely to make a purchase, there are always untapped target audiences you can continue expanding to in order to increase your campaign’s reach.
Some effective ways of broadening your audience on Facebook are to opt-in to targeting expansion and consider creating lookalike audiences. A lookalike audience is a target audience that is based on the characteristics of the customers you already have and it can help you find new audiences that have a high probability of making purchases from your store.
Just remember that an ad that worked well with one subset of your audience won’t necessarily work well with other groups of your audience. For example, an ad that performs well targeting 19-24 year old men won’t necessarily get the same response if you change the targeting options to 40-50 year old women.
This is why constant optimization of your ads is critical, and where Blend AI can be a huge time-saver in your business.
5. Integrate Customer Testimonials into Your Ads
Testimonials and reviews are incredibly powerful sales tools. Consumers tend to be distrustful of the content provided by sellers and rely on positive reviews to verify the trustworthiness of the site as well as the quality of the product or service being sold. Most purchasers research reviews and testimonials before completing a purchase.
Including a testimonial in your ad can be an easy way to build trust with your potential customers. It also saves the user from having to go elsewhere to conduct research. You want to keep your ad in front of them, so minimizing the need to go elsewhere increases the chances of them continuing on to your site and making a purchase.
Video testimonials are the most impactful, but even including a quick quote from a customer review can increase the chances of a user clicking on your ad. And including more comprehensive testimonials on your site can improve conversion rates even more.
6. Utilize Blend AI Software
Creating and managing successful Facebook ad campaigns can be time-consuming and resource-intensive. If you want someone else to handle the advertising details for you so that you can focus on operating your business, Blend AI is the perfect service for you.
Blend AI can boost conversion rates by creating ideal target audiences, building successful ads that can easily be used across multiple platforms, and accurately measuring results. It also optimizes retargeting for eCommerce stores and determines your return on investment so that you can easily measure the success of your campaign.
7. Optimize Your Site for Mobile Devices
Many Facebook users are scrolling on their phone or tablet so you will need to make sure they can easily navigate your site on these devices. Failing to optimize your site for mobile devices will automatically cause you to lose entire groups of potential customers. This is a non-negotiable if you want to boost your Facebook ad conversion rate.
8.Streamline the Checkout Process
Consumers want to complete their purchases quickly. Steps like site registration and account creation can turn customers off. With so much eCommerce competition, you want to avoid anything that could annoy a potential customer and result in them shopping elsewhere.
The more time a user has to spend typing information on your site, the more time they have to change their mind about the purchase, so you want to help them complete the transaction as quickly as possible. Offering an option like guest checkout can greatly improve your overall conversion rate, so you should only require an account if its pertinent to your business model (e.g. a subscription-based model)
9. Offer an Easy Return Policy and Free Shipping
Online shopping makes life easier for customers in many ways. The one downside is that they cannot see or try on a product before making a purchase. To increase the likelihood of your site visitors completing a purchase, offer (and advertise!) an easy return policy on all products.
When you are trying to increase eCommerce sales, it may feel counterintuitive to encourage easy returns, but it actually will generate more sales in the long run.
Customers can shop more confidently when they know that they won’t have to deal with a lot of hassle if they choose not to keep the product. Return policies also increase customers’ trust in your brand. Customers who have a good experience with making a return are also more likely to purchase from your store again.
Free shipping is another way to increase sales. Consumers have become accustomed to receiving free shipping, so when a potential customer sees a shipping fee after going to the checkout, it can turn them off. Even if the price of the product is increased to include shipping costs, customers are more likely to complete a sale when they don’t encounter surprise fees during checkout.
10. Optimize Your Landing Page
When a customer clicks on an ad, the page they wind up on will make all the difference in whether they complete the sale. You need to make sure that the transition from the ad to the landing page has a sense of continuity. If the user clicks on an ad for a product they should be able to view that product easily from the landing page.
The page should also resemble the ad in its design. Remember, the customer clicked on the ad because they liked what they saw, so you don’t want the landing page to have a completely different feel to it.
11. Retarget Your Customers
Retargeting for eCommerce stores is a tried and true strategy that increases conversions. Customers who visit your store without completing a purchase make a very valuable target audience. You already know that they are interested in the product or service you sell, so don’t give up the chance to make the sale to them.
Retargeting can include showing them more personalized ads for your product, sending an email that puts your store back on the front of their mind, or offering sales or promotions specifically to the customers who got away. Be mindful not to overload their email inbox, however, as this can turn them off and have the opposite effect than intended.
12. Constantly Reevaluate
Once you launch your ad campaign, your work is not over. You need to constantly reevaluate what is working and how you can improve your campaign’s success for the best results. There are many tools that can help you measure analytics. Some are even built into the Facebook ad platform.
Google Analytics can provide even more information and a full-service marketing partner like Blend AI can provide powerful insights that ensure your advertising budget is being optimized. A/B testing is another great way to learn what is resonating most with your audience so you can create the ads that they are most likely to engage with.
It can be easy to overlook the importance of continual reassessment, but this is one of the most important things you can do to boost your conversion rates. Once you know what is working and what is not, you are in a much better place to optimize your ads for increased success.
Final Thoughts
Understanding Facebook ad conversion rates is an important piece in creating a successful eCommerce business. Aim for rates that are above average in your business’ industry.
If you find that your conversion rates are not where they should be, reevaluate your strategy and implement the tips discussed in this article.
