Unable to drive sales with Facebook ads

[Mohamed_Al_lawa]

Hello,

I have had my store for some time and I have worked on different strategies to drive sales with facebook ads but none have materialized. So far my sales have purely been through organic sources or PR, leading to a lot of seasonality. Here is the link to my site: www.joggobag.com

I launched a new FB campaign which seemed promising but even that didn't lead to sales, here is what the strategy was:

1) Interest targeting: Content view conversion, result: 5.05% CTR, 25% bounce rate. 

2) Retargeting campaign (website visitors): Purchase conversion, result: 0 conversions, 2.46% CTR. Image attached

What am I doing wrong, and how can use FB ads as main source of revenue?

[Asad_Shah]

A lot has to go into an Ad Campaign here are 4 things you can improve on:

1. Don't create an ad to sell, create an ad to get followers
2. Work on Instagram and Facebook profiles so you have valuable content (so people coming from the ad would enjoy following you)
3. Let the campaign run for a while and instead of retargeting straight away, create a custom audience to see who was interested in the first ad and then create a lookalike audience off the back of the custom audience. This should 3x your growth
4. Sell in a subtle way though posts on Instagram/Facebook to your followers. Not random people

Step 1-3 os focussing on getting people's attention. Step 4 is selling to them. In 2014 - 2016 cold selling via ads was awesome. But people know an ad when they see one now and that just doesn't work anymore

[Starshards]

In addition to the current suggestion from the post above, I'd revise your ads to be more lively and include people using them, packing etc... Still images barely work on FB/Insta and the focus should be people using it and having fun, smiling, living life. And this bag helps them in their everyday life.

That is just one approach but you see what I mean?

[Mohamed_Al_lawa]

Asad, thanks for the info. 

Your point #1, can you elaborate on that. Are you suggesting that I should not set the objective to purchase conversion, if so how do I setup to increase followers? There doesn't seem to be an option in the campaign objective to increase followers.

Your Point #2: What are you suggesting the objective for the campaign targeting lookalike audience be, that would drive 3x growth? Is this optimized for conversion, or something else. Would appreciate it if you could elaborate on this.

Thanks again for taking out time to comment

[Mohamed_Al_lawa]

Thanks Starshads. I am not too sure if ad creative is the main issue, since I have seen good CTR (5% on content view campaign and 2% retargeting campaign) , let me know if you think the CTR is below norms? However, I do agree with you that more lifestyle imagery may move the performance in the right direction.

[Convergent7]

Hi Mohammad,

Here is some feedback and suggestions:

• I wouldn't recommend making FB your main source of revenue.  You want to build a brand that drives revenue across multiple channels.  What if FB changes their ad algorithm or cost structure?  You're at the mercy of losing your main source.  Build the brand and you will not be controlled by another one source.  Especially true if you're on Amazon too.
• Is the messaging on your FB ads derived from your organic sales?  It should be if you've done the proper homework...which is to dive into your analytics and all your ad data and figure out not only how they buy, more importantly, WHY they buy.  Use data-driven marketing to find the why.  Then, you can build your messaging platform from there and increase your conversion rate.
• If you're getting a high CTR but a low CR (conversion rate), then your ad isn't matching their expectations when they land on the page.  You connecting with the wrong people.  Non-buyers.  Based on the two samples, I can see some issues
  • The ad where the guy switched from his man purse to a backpack because it has more room?  Well, I hope a backpack has more room.  How will it help me carry more?  Spacious and comfortable, right?...so I would try some messaging like "So comfortable, you will be able to pack more but it feels like less."
  • The other ad doesn't even talk about the product and I bet most of them are clicking to learn about how you're sustainable and fairly sourced.  You don't talk of what's in it for them  "Pack more.  Feel lighter.  Help Mother Earth"  Focus on your messaging and get into your customer's mindset.
• You have no product reviews.  Turn them on,  Read what and why people love your product.  Then, use their words to create your product messaging.
• You should have a survey on your thank you page...find out why they bought your product.  I would pop up a one question survey on your product page: Are you to replace your current backpack?  How does your messaging change depending your answer?  You ask that same question on the TY page and see if the customers are different than the prospects.
• There are a ton of tools to help you understand your prospects.  Install them.  Use them.  Use data-driven marketing to help understand what and why.

Hope this helps!

Thanks,

Erik

Convergent7

[Mohamed_Al_lawa]

@Convergent7 Thank you so much for your thorough response. I will go through the feedback and start looking into it, I may come back to you if I have more questions or need guidance. Hope thats ok

[GeorgeNelson]

---

@Asad_Shah wrote:

A lot has to go into an Ad Campaign here are 4 things you can improve on:

1. Don't create an ad to sell, create an ad to get followers
2. Work on Instagram and Facebook profiles so you have valuable content (so people coming from the ad would enjoy following you)
3. Let the campaign run for a while and instead of retargeting straight away, create a custom audience to see who was interested in the first ad and then create a lookalike audience off the back of the custom audience. This should 3x your growth
4. Sell in a subtle way though posts on Instagram/Facebook to your followers. Not random people

Step 1-3 os focussing on getting people's attention. Step 4 is selling to them. In 2014 - 2016 cold selling via ads was awesome. But people know an ad when they see one now and that just doesn't work anymore

---

Heya! 

1) Wrong. You clearly are not well versed with facebook ads. The intent doesn't matter. If people want it they will buy it and need a call to action to buy. 

2) Wrong. People will still buy items without the need for social clout. Only the product and offer matters. 

3) Wrong. He can retarget as early as possible the time frame is not relevant. In fact if he left it too late to retarget it will diminish recovery rate. 

4) Wrong. Converting cold traffic is still paramount as this guy doesn't have any followers. 

ElizaThompson

[Mohamed_Al_lawa]

Hi @GeorgeNelson

Thanks for your response. You are right, I don't know what I am doing, which is why I am here. I thought that was obvious :). Your feedback is welcome but not very helpful as you just pointed at the flaws in what I am doing and what others suggested but haven't really provided your input in terms of the direction to take.

It would be helpful if you could share you perspective in terms of what you think the right direction to take is.

Thanks so much

[Convergent7]

Absolutely!  Here to help so ping me if you have questions!  Good luck.