Let’s not waste any time and get right into these incredible tips. We’ll also include why these ad examples work and how to use these ideas along with our tips.
1. Keep your copy short and sweet
The average person’s attention span is only eight seconds. To keep your reader’s attention, keep your copy short.
What’s the one thing you want Facebook’s active users to know? Write a line or two about that. Save the rest of your words for the landing page.
Here’s an example of a powerful ad that’s less than two lines long from Revolution Jewelry.
In this ad’s first sentence, Revolution Jewelry positions itself as “The Kings of Custom Rings.” Next, the company highlights what sets it apart. That’s the whole ad.
Want to get more information across? Use the visuals in your ads to get more information across. More on this in the next point.
Tip works best for: Image ads, video ads, dynamic ads, and carousel ads.
2. Make your visuals outstanding
In the example above, Battat Toys lets its visuals do all the talking. Your eyes immediately gravitate to the bright and colorful toys in this ad. The image is simple, but it works.
The takeaway?
Quality images get clicks; bad images get ignored. Your images need to look clean and professional. Key tips:
- Use bright and colorful images in your Facebook ads. Dark images get fewer clicks.
- Make images relevant to what you’re promoting.
- Avoid using too much blue and white. Those are Facebook’s signature colors, which could cause your ads to blend into the background.
- Before you throw any image into your ads, follow Facebook’s resolution guidelines for images to make sure they’re properly sized.
If you’re not sure which visuals to use, check out what competitors are doing in your market with Ad Library. This will give you some valuable cues on what to do for your own creativity.
Best for: Image ads, dynamic product ads, video ads, or any other ad type where you’d rather let images do the talking.
3. Use social proof
49% of people trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. When people see positive reviews about a business, they assume they’ll also have a good experience. Want your ads to perform better?
Add online reviews, referrals, and other social proof to them!
Take the example from Lennox Label above. With the five golden stars and stellar reviews, prospects immediately know customers like the product. The ad itself is very simple – but based on how long it’s been running, it works.
If you have video reviews with happy customers – even better. Ads with real-life customer reviews perform especially well.
Just remember to ask customers if you can use their words and names in your ads. Make sure you ask everyone for their permission before placing their reviews in advertisements.
Here’s a great resource with rules to follow when using customer testimonials.
Best for: Works well with feed and story formats. Try creating an image or video ad that shows how much people love your brand.
4. Go after cart or app abandoners
Every business owner wants to see customers taking action and completing their orders. But that doesn’t always happen.
According to Kibo Commerce, 81% of online shoppers abandoned their digital shopping carts in Q1 2022. But you can create a Facebook Ads campaign specifically aimed at cart abandoners.
Above is an example from the popular mobile game Top Eleven. This ad is designed to get former users to come back and play.
The ad’s messaging shows a sense of urgency. The main goal of this ad is to get people to keep playing Top Eleven by offering limited-time rewards. The ad’s countdown clock in the bottom-right corner shows that ad viewers must act fast to get their in-game goodies.
Urgency elements like these work well. Time-limited discounts, bonuses, and freebies all help recover abandoned carts and app downloads.
Best for: We recommend trying image ads or Messenger ads to let your audience know you want them back!
5. Split-test your ads
Split-testing is running similar ads and comparing their performance. For example, you might run the same ad with a blue background and a red background. The split test is seeing which background leads to more downloads, sales, etc.
When you split-test consistently, you’re always on top of exactly what’s working for your product and audience right now.
Over time, split-testing will give you ads that perform incredibly well; way better than anything else you’re running. When this happens, funnel money into these ads and create more variations and new split tests.
This is the surest way to get highly profitable ads… And the cool part is, it’s built into Facebook. Here’s how to set up split testing in Facebook Ads:
- Go to Facebook Ads Manager.
- From the Ads Manager homepage, you’ll see an empty box to the left of your ads. Click the blank box to add a checkmark to any ads you want to split test.
- After checking any relevant ads to test, go to the top toolbar.
- At the toolbar, click or tap the option that says “A/B Test.”
6. Get rid of underperforming ads
Not every ad you create will be a winner, and that’s okay! Getting rid of underperforming ads makes the most of your ad budget.
Here’s how to do it:
- Sign into Facebook Ads Manager.
- Click on the “Ads” tab.
- Click “View charts” to see how each of your ads performs.
Look for long-running ads with a history of little to no clicks, conversions, etc. Once you find them, pause or delete them – and allocate their budget to new split tests (see point 5).
7. Partner up with influencers
Audiences love ads featuring influencers that matter to them. In the ad above, Ocean Park Swimwear partnered with Megan kelsick to market their athletic one piece, Juliana.
Most brands assume you need a huge budget to partner with influencers. We’ve found this to not be the case. You can partner with micro influencers profitably for hundreds or thousands of dollars and create incredible Facebook ad creative.
8. Include user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) comes from a company’s customers rather than the company itself. 93% of customers believe UGC is very helpful when making a purchase decision… And you can use Facebook ads to put UGC right in front of customers.
In the ad above, Songfinch shows viewers real reactions from customers who had custom songs ordered for their loved ones. Instead of a sales pitch, Songfinch lets its happy customers do the talking.
There are several ways to get your own UGC. You can ask customers to submit videos as part of a contest or giveaway (see point 11). You can also use branded hashtags to find authentic user reactions and reviews of your products on Instagram, TikTok, etc.
(Just make sure to ask for permission before using anyone’s content as part of an ad!)
As an added bonus, UGC tends to be free, authentic and lo-fi, i.e. have low production value. Lofi ads are booming right now, so getting some is a win for any brand.
Best for: Video ads on Instagram and Facebook.
9. Retarget prospects with Facebook Pixel
Meta Pixel is a bit of code you can place on your web assets, mainly your website. It collects information about visitors (anonymously). It helps you…
- Learn how people react to your Facebook ads.
- Discover what website pages users interact with.
- Set up custom audiences.
Meta Pixel helps you retarget users who’ve already engaged with your marketing messages. If someone clicks an ad or visits your website, they become part of your custom audience. Once that happens, you can focus new ad sets on that custom audience.
This lets you show Facebook Ads to people who already expressed interest in your product. This tends to be cheaper – and converts better – than regular Facebook Ads.
Even better, you can show special ads and offers to your custom audience. For example, you can show your 20% off Black Friday deal to everyone who’s interacted with your website in the last 3 months.
10. Set up lookalike audiences
After launching ads on Ads Manager, Facebook collects data about who interacts with them. It (anonymously) tracks the likes, interests, and behaviors of people your ads reach. It then lets you target people who share their interests.
So let’s say that everyone clicking on your fashion jewelry ad is into healthy eating. Facebook will help you target this specific pocket of people – healthy eaters – with your ads through a lookalike audience.
Like custom audiences, lookalike audiences tend to be more profitable, and cheaper to advertise to, than regular audiences.
11. Host a giveaway or contest
Giveaway and contest ads are a good way to increase sales, get user-generated content, and increase engagement. Facebook users love them; they routinely get incredible Click Through Rates (CTR) and low Cost per Click (CPC).
Not sure what to give away? Partner with another company and make their product the prize like Alba Thermal Springs did in the screenshot above.
Alba Thermal Springs gets some business. Venom Emilio Fashion gets clicks, leads, and traction. This giveaway’s lucky winners get to rest and relax. Everyone wins!
Best for: Giveaways work in all ad formats.
12. Get ideas from Facebook’s Ad Library
Are you having trouble coming up with ad ideas? Check out Facebook’s Ad Library, a database of all ads running on Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook’s Ad Library is super simple to use – and can do way more than show you competitors’ ads.
Here’s all you need to do:
- Go to facebook.com/ads/library.
- Set your preferred country.
- Choose the “all ads” option.
- At the search bar, type in the names of companies, product keywords, or whatever else you’d like to see ads about.
You never want to copy and paste a competitor’s ad. But checking out these ads can inspire you and give you fresh ideas for your next campaign.
Bonus tip: Check out likes and comments for your competitor’s Facebook ads. Ads with lots of engagement are probably doing something right.
13. Offer discounts and sales
There’s almost no better tried-and-true marketing strategy than launching a sale. Many ecommerce businesses use Facebook Ads to generate traffic and interest before sales officially begin.
Since sales attract all kinds of people, let your sale or discount offer be the main point of your ad. This ad from Carnivalbookers is a great example of a successful discount-based ad. The promo is featured under the image and in the middle of the image prominently.
For best results, let ad viewers easily know how much they could save. Put your discount in an ad’s image where it’s large and easy to see but remember about Facebook’s text size guidelines for visual creative.
Best for: Messenger ads, image ads.
14. Let Facebook’s AI optimise your ads
Many people don’t know this, but Facebook has a built-in AI. This AI shows your ads to users most likely to give you clicks, conversions, app downloads, etc.
To use the AI, you just need to turn on Optimisation for Ad Delivery. Once you do, Facebook will get to work on your behalf, showing ads to the right users.
This doesn’t replace quality targeting and split-testing of different audiences, but it’s a powerful tool in its own right.
15. Let Facebook’s AI optimise your budget
Optimisation for Ad Delivery shows ads to users most likely to engage in the way you want.
Campaign Budget Optimisation works with your budget to generate the best return on investment (ROI) from your ad spend.
For example, let’s say your business is running 10 Facebook ads. By turning on CBO, Facebook sees that two of your dynamic product ads are the top performers. Because of that, CBO runs the two high-converting ads more than your other ads.
CBO is a little more raw than Optimisation for Ad Delivery. When using it, make sure to check outcomes frequently!
The main types of Facebook ecommerce ads
There are many different ads you can run on Facebook. To help avoid any confusion, here’s a quick breakdown of each type of Facebook ad.
1. Image ads
The image ad is one of the most effective and easiest on Facebook. Write your copy, upload your image, set up the campaign, and you’re all set!
2. Video ads
If you want to take things to the next level, replace your ad images with engaging videos. Video ads are great ways to catch and keep a reader’s attention.
3. Dynamic ads
Dynamic ads connect to your ecommerce website and display product image links on Facebook’s assets. This ad strategy is great for showing products and for retargeting to custom audiences.
4. External ads
Running external Facebook ads lets your advertisements appear on websites and apps in the Meta Audience Network.
5. Carousel ads
Can’t decide which images will make customers take action? Use carousel ads with multiple images users can scroll through by clicking or swiping side-to-side.
Besides Facebook, you can also run carousel ads through Messenger and Instagram.
6. Instant Experience ads
If you want to appeal to mobile users in your funnel, check out Instant Experience ads. These ads offer a full-screen advertisement that your company controls.
You can use images, videos, product catalogs, and more inside Instant Experience ads.
7. Messenger ads
Did you know that 1.3 billion people use Facebook Messenger each month? With Messenger ads, you can reach this large crowd.
Messenger ads appear in your target audience’s inboxes, looking similar to any other message they receive. These ads are great for any company that wants to make more of a personal connection.
8. Lead ads
Lead ads work best when you need contact information from Facebook users. Facebook can create lead ads designed to collect names, email addresses, and phone numbers.
9. Story ads
Research shows that 50% of Facebook users discover new products through Stories. Facebook Stories are short-form, TikTok-style videos available for both mobile and desktop users.
If you have a short and sweet message, try running it as a story ad.
10. In-stream ads
If the people in your sales funnel watch Facebook live streams, boost conversion rates with in-stream ads. In-stream ads appear during streaming content on Facebook.
11. Augmented reality (AR) ads
Feeling a little innovative? Create an AR Facebook ad. These ads are interactive experiences, allowing the user to use a product or service virtually.
Augmented reality ads take a little more technical knowledge and time to create than other Facebook ads.
Why advertise eCommerce brands on Facebook?
Here’s a quick look at why many eCommerce businesses run Facebook ads.
1. Driving a ton of traffic
Facebook Ads reach over 2 billion people. That gives them immense reach. You can also reach beyond Facebook and have your ads run on Instagram, with its 1.4 billion users.
2. Having complete control over who sees your ads
Another benefit of Facebook ads for ecommerce is this platform’s audience customisation toolset. With these tools, your Facebook ad campaigns can reach extremely targeted small audiences or broad audiences.
A Facebook ad can target people based on demographics, interests, behaviors, and other factors. You’re in total control.
3. Facebook Ads’ incredible ROAS (return on ad spend)
An important business rule is that it takes money to make money. Fortunately, you don’t need to spend a fortune on Facebook Ads to see results.
According to a 2020 study conducted by Smartly.io and eTail, 41% of companies surveyed report Facebook producing the best ROAS of all social media platforms.
Want to dominate your niche with Facebook Ads?
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We’ve worked with hundreds of businesses; we’ve managed dozens of campaigns that returned 7 and 8-figures in revenue from Facebook ads. And once you sign up to a call with us, we’ll happily share what we know with you – free of charge.
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