3 Facebook Ad Campaigns Critiqued for Conversion

Have you been thinking about advertising on Facebook? With over one billion monthly active users there’s no doubt that media spend on Facebook can help you reach a large audience.

When it comes to Facebook advertising there is no minimum budget necessary which means you can start off “trying” Facebook ads without allocating a large portion of your media budget for the quarter or the year. However, it is important to note that advertising dollars spent on Facebook are still real dollars (as opposed to monopoly money?) and you should aim to generate a return on investment from them.

Getting the Most from Your Facebook Ads

One of the most important ways to make sure your Facebook advertising dollars help you turn ad clicks into conversions (leads or sales) is to make sure you set up dedicated landing pages.

A dedicated landing page is a web page that is created specifically for an ad campaign. It usually sits on a subdomain of your website where it is not accessible by your main website visitors.

A dedicated landing page is NOT a deep link within your website.

Why is a dedicated landing page not a deep link within your website? Well, when you’re running online ads you’re paying for the people who click to visit your website. Those people didn’t do a random google search to get to your site, a very specific message caught their attention and enticed them to click.

When they land on your web page you want to make sure to show them only information that is really relevant to what made them click the ad. You want to make sure they stay focused on that information and don’t get lost clicking around through your whole site before bouncing away leaving you with negative ROI. Dedicated landing pages tend to convert at a much higher rate than pages within a website because they are so relevant and focused. Today I want to review some Facebook ads and their landing pages. I’ll point out what I like about each set and where I think improvements can be made. Hopefully these assessments will help you in thinking about your own Facebook ad campaigns (including landing pages!). Let’s get started!

Facebook Ad Campaigns Critiqued for Conversion

Example #1: Extole Marketing What I like:

• The ad headline says “Referral Marketing Guide” and the headline for the landing page says “Get Your Referral Marketing Guide” this message match lets the visitor know right away that she is in the right spot.
• The ad copy talks about “Word of mouth marketing” and the landing page sub-headline also talks about word of mouth marketing again reinforcing that the visitor has landed on a page that is relevant to her interest.
• The landing page is very focused on one clear call-to-action and includes an easily scannable bulleted list of its top selling points.

What I Don’t Like:

• The ad refers to viewing a “best practices guide” but the landing page refers to “the ultimate guide.” If I were interested in a quick guide with a few of the top tips the idea of what sounds like a heavy “ultimate” guide might steer me away from converting.

Example #2: Zulily What I Like:

• The ad provides a really compelling offer that immediately grabs my interest (55% off, from $17!).
• The ad also provides a sense of urgency for clicking now (TODAY! Ends soon, shop now!).
• The picture of the bright colored dresses really grabs my attention.

What I Don’t Like:

• The landing page is gated; you have to sign up for a membership before you can even look at the merchandise. If I like the merchandise than I’ll be much more willing to sign up for an account.
• Behind the sign up/sign in popup, I can see the dresses that are for sale. However, none of them really fall in line with the image used in the ad that compelled me to click. The dresses in the ad were all solid, bright colors and the dresses immediately shown on the landing page are mostly dark and patterned.
• The ad indicated that the sale would be ending TODAY however the landing page shows that there is still over a day left to the sale. That might make me think I can come back later and still take advantage of it instead of converting right away.
• The ad very specifically mentioned “55% off” and dresses “starting at $17” however, neither of these two price points are indicated anywhere that I can see on the landing page. It’s possible behind the popup I could see that dresses are 55% off but if I never sign up for a membership I’ll never know. That popup barrier to entry can be a real problem for conversions.

Example #3: Vyvanse  What I Like:

• The ad headline and copy are clear and easy to understand.
• The ad copy includes a call-to-action “Learn more…”
• The ad copy talks about “your child” and the ad image is of a child which matches nicely.
• An image of a child is much more compelling than a product shot of pills or a bottle of medicine.
• The landing page headline includes the keyterm “ADHD” in it to match up with the ad headline nicely.

What I Don’t Like:

• The child on the landing page is not the same child as shown in the ad. When an image matches between the ad and landing page the visitor has a clear visual indicator that she is in the right spot.
• There is no quick or clear call-to-action on the landing page.
• There is a lot of copy and no visual cues as to where you should find the most important information.
• The copy is very sterile. I would rewrite the copy so that it is more geared towards parents who are concerned about their children. It could have a more emotional/soft element to it.

Of these three Facebook ad and landing page examples I think the first one is really great.  I could pick through it with a fine-toothed comb and come up with a few things to change or a/b test, but overall I would expect that the campaign is converting well based on the mechanics of it.  The other two examples serve as reminders that even though something looks good doesn’t mean it is good. These campaigns look nice at first glance but there are serious usability and conversion barriers that most likely keep them from converting as well as they should.

Get Started Now! 

So what should you do now? Think about how you might set up your own Facebook ad campaigns. Our Beginner’s Guide to Tracking Facebook ROI is a great post to read if you’re serious about Facebook advertising. If you have any questions feel free to leave us a comment or contact us today! ]]>