Facebook ads are effective as long as you remember to target the right people and to show them something they want to click on. Otherwise, your ads will be ignored or get irrelevant clicks. Thus, you pay for clicks or impressions, but you do not get any kind of ROI.
Facebook™ Users Can Opt-Out of Seeing Irrelevant Ads
There is one more consideration to keep in mind. Some users get annoyed by repetitive and irrelevant ads. They have the option to click at the top right corner of the ad and choose the option “Hide This Ad”. Facebook™ then asks the users to explain why they wanted that ad removed from their newsfeed. They have the following reasons to choose from:
It’s not relevant to me
I keep seeing this
It’s offensive or inappropriate
It’s spam
Something else
Out of convenience, most users choose the first option. And as your ad accumulates more opt-outs based on this choice, your ad relevance score goes down.
How Does the Relevance Score Impact Your Facebook™ Ads?
Facebook™ will not ban irrelevant ads. But as many marketers noted, highly relevant ads get better ROI than others. This relevance score is calculated after your ad has reached 500 impressions. It is a number between 0 and 10. Ads with an 8+ score are the best performing ones, the ones that reach a relevant and willing audience.
So how can your Facebook ads get a higher relevance score?
1. Audience Selection Is Paramount
It starts with this: how well you select the audience of Facebook™ users. Ad targeting is extremely important on a social media platform. People spend time there because they want to connect with friends, be entertained and learn something new and useful. They expect their newsfeed to contain relevant posts to their sphere of likes and interests.
When something irrelevant pops up – such as an ad for the latest hip hop fashion on an elderly person’s newsfeed – they will feel an unpleasant disruption from their browsing. If that ad keeps appearing, they will become annoyed and hide it citing lack of relevance as the reason.
2. A/B Test Every Ad
A/B testing is not something you do once in a while. Even though you think you’re experienced in creating Facebook™ ads that perform, continue to A/B test them just as you did in the beginning. People’s preferences change. The type of photo or video that brought you lots of clicks last season may not bring you any at all. The same goes for copy and colour combination.
Performing A/B tests is the only method to make sure that your ads are relevant to the target audience. You will be surprised to see how ads for the same product change over time after A/B testing. This shows that people’s lives evolve: they learn new things, they acquire new tastes and they expect their favourite brands to keep up with these changes.
3. Lower Ad Frequency
Ad frequency means how many times a person sees the same ad. Even if it is well-targeted, a person will get bored seeing the same ad over and over again. They are not ready to purchase that item. Or they are waiting to discuss the purchase with their spouse. Either way, seeing the ads too many times will not induce them to click. On the contrary, they will choose to hide the ad.
To keep ad frequency low (under 2), run several ads at the same time and target them to the same audience. This will not only keep the frequency for each ad at a low level but among the mix of ads, the user may find the product they were actually looking for.
4. Retarget Website Visitors in a Shorter Time
Some of the best performing Facebook™ ads are those retargeting people who browsed a website but did not take any action. However, you need to move fast, while Facebook™ users still remember their website visit.
A retargeted ad reaching them a few weeks or months later may well be deemed as irrelevant. Out of sight, out of mind. They have completely forgotten about browsing your site and as they see the ad they will ask themselves: “Why do I see this?” Retargeting must happen within 14-30 days after the visit to keep your ads relevance score high.
5. Work On Your CTAs
What is your ad about? What do you want people to do when they see it? You want them to shop for your products. You want them to sign up for your newsletters. You want them to register to attend a webinar. If this is the case, then say it plainly in the CTA button.
Facebook™ users want the obvious placed before their eyes. They don’t want to guess what you expect them to do. If it is not blaringly clear, they will keep scrolling or mark your ad as irrelevant if they have seen it a few times already.