eCommerce has become a dominant concept in the world of business these days. People work longer hours than before and are less inclined to spend valuable time going from store to store to find and buy the products they need. For a time, online shopping was restricted to desktop computers and laptops. Now people commonly use their smartphones to do some shopping on the go, either for groceries, a pair of shoes, a new flat screen TV or even home and car insurance.
As a result, eCommerce businesses are booming and successful. Without the need to pay for store space in the mall and sales assistants, companies which conduct their business 100% online have to invest less money to start and operate an online store. However, even with this convenience, some stores fail to reach their target sales. One of the reasons is inadequate advertising. In today’s article we will talk about our top specialty: Facebook™ ads.
Here are the top mistakes which are strangling your sales funnel:
1. Poor Targeting
In an ideal world, your online store is able to serve every customer you can attract through clever advertising. In the real world, your pet care products are not likely to interest someone who has never expressed their interest in animals in general, or owning a pet in particular. If you display this type of ad to an untargeted crowd of Facebook™ users, a very small percentage of them will probably buy your products as a gift for a friend’s pet. An even smaller percentage may consider getting a pet.
The great majority will ignore the ad – but you will still be charged on your CPM billing plan.
2. Indiscriminate Ad Placement
Do you know how many types of ad placement Facebook™ offers? There are five of them:
- All Facebook layout and platforms (includes Newsfeed)
- Desktop only – right-side column and Newsfeed
- Desktop and mobile – Newsfeed
- Desktop only – Newsfeed
- Mobile only – Newsfeed
The reason why you must know about these types of placements is because the way you design your ad will be determined by where you want to place it. For example, a right-side column ad is smaller than a Newsfeed ad. If you use the same graphics for both types of placements, the right side column ad will look illegible and cropped.
On the other hand, the type of placement you choose per platform is also important. Studies have shown that mobile ads convert more than desktop ads. However, it is not a rule. It all depends on what type of device your target clients are most likely to use.
3. Advertising Your Most Expensive Products
When people go to Facebook™, they don’t have shopping in mind. They will take advantage of a great deal they find – but for products with moderate prices. The social media is not the place to advertise your top-of-the-line and most expensive products. A survey conducted by SEMrush on Facebook™ ads for the year 2015 found out the following:
- 51% of ads were for products priced within $10.00-99.99
- 29% of ads were for products priced within $100.00-999.99
- 13% of ads were for products priced within $1.00-9.99
Products exceeding $1,000 in price accounted for only 6% of all ads. This is a clear indication of how much people are willing to spend starting from a social media ad and it should be your guidance when selecting the products you want to advertise on Facebook™.
4. Not Using a Multi-Product Ad Layout
Facebook™ allows marketers to create ads featuring several products. However, many eCommerce companies fail to take advantage of this opportunity. Why do we call it an opportunity? There are two main reasons.
First, it is the basic economic reason. You pay an amount of money on ads. Between paying for the promotion of one product versus three products, which options makes more economic sense? The second, of course.
Secondly, if people see an ad for one product, they may take it or leave it. However, when they are given the option to choose between several products, they will most likely opt for one of them. It is a psychological issue: one product means constraint (“buy this!”); several products mean freedom of choice (“do you like this one or that one?”).
These mistakes are quite common and they prevent eCommerce companies from getting the best ROI out of their ad campaigns and attracting the right kind of people to their websites. For this reason, you should always strive to avoid them and to be aware that the landscape of social media ads is changing, so that you keep up with these changes.