Facebook Ads Library Inspection – Decalz
Paid user acquisition on the Facebook ads library is not a piece of cake. Many advertisers think that all they need is some budget and a few images, and the game is on. Nothing is more wrong than that thought.
User acquisition on paid social is a complex balance of elements.
These are:
- Ad Concept
- Creatives (images)
- Ad Copy (text)
Alongside targeting, bidding, and optimization – which we won’t discuss in this article, as it would need a deeper analysis of the Facebook Ad Account.
The competition for attention on social media, and especially on Facebook, is fierce and stands out. We need to make sure that the three elements above pull all in the same direction to sustain our ultimate goal—a higher conversion rate.
For this reason, we have decided to start this section in our blog to analyze Facebook ads from different advertisers and suggest improvements or just ideas to get better conversion rates.
Today, we take a look at one ad from Decalz, an online shop that uses Facebook to drive sales.
Health Check: Background
Decalz is an online shop selling stickers, mainly targeted at children. Thanks to the Facebook Ads Library, we could see the type of ads they were running and noticed that the structure of the ad was the same across the ad account. In particular:
- Long Ad Copy
- Links in the text
- Facebook post images
- The same type of ad format
Facebook Ads Library Health Check: Deep Dive
For our health check, we picked one ad among those showcased and deep-dived into our analysis. Here is a screenshot of it:
1. Health Check: Ad Copy
When thinking about Ad Copy, we need to remember that we need to be concise and specific. On Facebook, users see different messages, and our ad will most likely appear among “normal” friends and family personal posts.
If we don’t stand out, we will just be ignored.
Point 1: Uniqueness
In the Facebook Ad we analyzed, there is a very long text highlighting different unique advantages of the promotion.
What’s its uniqueness about?
- Is it personalization?
- Can it be used on any surface?
- Is it high quality?
- Or that you won’t need any help in applying it on the wall?
In the Facebook ad copy, there is a reference to “free shipping” twice. However, once it is stated that it is for a “limited time only,” and the second time, it’s not, with the focus rather on “all orders.”
All these bullet points (sometimes not aligned with the messaging and offering) could create confusion in our audience’s mind. This could lead to a lower click-through rate (CTR) and conversion rate.
Point 2: Campaign Objective
Deciding the campaign objective in a Facebook Ad is as crucial as the elements of the ad itself. This, in fact, has a strong impact on our campaign success rate. When checking the ad copy above, we notice elements typical of a campaign with an objective of “conversion.” That means a campaign that is going to be optimized for a specific action taken by the user, in this case, a purchase.
Those elements that made us suspicious were the use of words such as:
- Promotion
- Price
- Free shipping
Intrigued by these and the post length, we decided to check the Facebook page to understand how Decalz was handling “normal” communication. While doing so, we noticed that the other posts on the page had the exact same structure as the one promoted, leading us to conclude that the ad we were analyzing was a Facebook post.
When boosting Facebook posts, it is better to use an “engagement” objective at the campaign level. However, if our ultimate goal is indeed a purchase, hence a conversion, we need to create tailor-made ads.
Point 3: Links in the Ad Copy
Another factor that we noticed when analyzing this ad was that there were two links in the text. These were redirecting to the same Landing Page where the ad itself would take the user regardless of when clicking the ad.
Although it might seem like a good idea to have links in the text, in performance-based advertising, it is better to integrate a button with a specific call to action, such as “Shop Now.” If we hide the link in the text, users who don’t read the whole Facebook ad copy will, without any doubt, miss it.
2. Health Check: Creatives
The second step in our analysis focuses on the creatives or images used in the ad. As we found out that Decalz is promoting an existing Facebook post, you won’t be surprised to hear that the images are far from being performance-optimized creatives.
Point 1: Same Ad Format
When boosting an existing Facebook marketing post, unfortunately, the quality of the image tends to be rather low. This will not make your ad stand out from the crowd.
As said earlier, across the whole ad account, the images used are also of the same type. By promoting existing Facebook posts, Decalz has little flexibility with the creative formats that can be used.
When creating ads from scratch, we can easily test other creative formats. For example, carousel, banner, or videos to A/B test performance and understand to which format our audience responds better.
One last important point to consider when looking at different ad formats is that, by increasing the variety of creatives used, we could also take advantage of other placements.
Point 2: No CTA in Images
By using those images, Decalz is also limited when it comes to flexibility in testing different CTAs (Call-to-action) directly in the images. Developing creatives specifically for performance-based campaigns can increase the likelihood of better CTR and conversion rates.
The use of text in the images can also help in communicating special discounts or features that, at the moment, are used in the long ad copy.
The Ad Mechanics Verdict
Based on the analysis above, we can say that the current status of the Decalz Facebook ads library strategy is not great and needs some attention in order to get back to a healthy status.
Our recommendations are:
- Be specific and concise in the Ad Copy
- Highlight one USP at the time
- Select the right campaign objective
- Do not use hidden links in the Ad Copy
- Test different Ad Formats
- Test different placements
- Use CTAs in the image as opposed to long Ad Copies
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