FB ads - clicks but no sales

[MyPurryFriends]

Hi,

I've started my store 6 weeks ago and have spent $200 on FB ads but only got 1 sale.

I have tried several different audiences and products.

I'm using Conversion - View Content ads to get data for my pixel.

I've started to create lookalike audiences based on my website traffic (600 visitors in 6 weeks). No idea if this will work though.

When should I start using Add to cart/Purchase conversion ads instead of View Content? Will this help?

Is it because I'm targeting the wrong audience or because my product pages aren't good enough?

http://mypurryfriends.com

Thx a lot in advance!

[oscprofessional]

Hello MyPurryFriends,

As I can see your website looks Good.

Well.., Many things matters to drive more results from existing traffic. Let’s take a closer look at the strategies, might useful to you.

Ads Intelligence: While serving ads on online market, there are many competitors who beat us. More on attractive infographics, gorgeous offers and eye-catching content makes ads more successful and stand in front of competitors. So the content can work smarter, and not harder, for you.

Landing Page Optimization: An important part of high converting. Ads can drive traffic on website but we need to make sure that are our landing pages or website is complete user-friendly and fully potentials to convert users into leads for the sales.

Campaign Optimization:

• Facebook Audience Optimization (Determine the right audience for your posts or ads)
• Add interest based group
• Exclude the non-relevant group
• Add lookalike audience
• Targeted location
• Targeted Demographics (Age & Gender)
• Bidding strategy Optimization
• Optimization Goals

Optimization for Ads Delivery: if you optimize your ad campaign for Conversions, Facebook will deliver your ads to the people who are most likely to convert after seeing your ad. Basically, you’re telling Facebook’s algorithms what your anticipated results are and who should see your ads.
Conversion strategy will work only if your audience database is eligible or your saved audience have enough conversion data of audience. There should be at least 50 conversions in your Facebook to set up the Conversions as an ad delivery result.
I would recommend to keep the “view content” till collect the conversion audience database for Facebook pixel.
Also as mentioned above check with other optimization such as Ads Intelligence, Landing Page Optimization*
Hope this will help you to get more result.

[Lilith]

Hey, @MyPurryFriends!

My name is Lilith, I'm on the Social Care team at Shopify. Congratulations on your new store launch!

Site Feedback

I think you've done a great job on your site. It's well thought out and built with your customer in mind. There is only one item that might help to modify. The pop up that shows up when the site loads is a spin wheel:

This is not necessary to change however it can improve your email subscriber growth. The spin wheel is often a bit overused by new stores, which can be less effective to grow your email list. In most cases, you can opt for a simple branded pop-up with an offer of 10-15% off their first purchase. Since you're using Privy, this can be done with the app. Privy is one of my favorite ones to work with for these pop-ups.

Offering a small discount upfront will improve the efficacy of your popup and will give the customer a solid known reward for allowing you to market to them. The wheel might be best during bigger promotional events, for example, Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM). Using the wheel in limited amounts would keep it interesting and exciting for visitors.

Advertising Tips

Although, I don't have too much information on your ad details I'll give some general tips on this area. If you're running Facebook ads, your pixel will begin to optimize better as you gain more information from your ads and site activity. There aren't any hard and fast rules on how to run your campaigns, but since you're starting off with View Content ads, your pixel will optimize on getting people into your store to view the page you're linking in your ad. This is a great first step to "seasoning" your pixel with data.

Once you've gained at least 100 Add to Carts using the View Content ads, this is when I would normally advise switching to Add to Cart ads. The reason for this is that with data on Add to Cart you'll spend less on your ads aiming at Add to Cart. Otherwise, you'll likely spend much higher amounts to gain any Add to Cart conversions without some previous data that the pixel can learn from.

The best way to tell if you've got the right target audience is to check in on your Conversion funnel found on your Analytics Dashboard. See the image below for an example:

If you're seeing an Add to Cart (ATC) rate of 8-10%, the likelihood that you're hitting the perfect audience is high. If it's lower than that range, you may be off-target. The higher the ATC rate the more interest the visitors appear to have in the product. Once you establish interest you can work on converting purchases.

Let me know if that helped! I'm happy to answer any questions you think of as you work on your business.

[VPcom]

I’ve had a similar experience.  We’ve been running a traffic campaign for a few days; 19,000 impressions and 600 link clicks.  According to Google Analytics and Shopify Dashboard, we’ve had 250 unique visitors this week.  Most stayed for less that 10 seconds and resulting bounce rate was 90%.  Our speed score isn’t great, but it loads instantly during my tests.  What suggestions might you have to isolate the issue?  No add to carts, not one sale in 250 visitors seems statistically improbable.  Thank you for your guidance!

VibrancePresets.com

[Lilith]

HI, @VPcom. Thanks for including your URL in your reply. It sounds like you have a good start to your ads and understanding your conversion funnel. I'm glad that you're taking time to read your analytics and statistics to improve your business revenue.

I took a peek at the site and I have a few things that I noticed right away that might need some attention.

• The site isn't quite aesthetically working, below is an image of some text overlap:

• The site is missing a very clear idea of what you sell or what the product/service is. At first when scrolling for 3 seconds and reading it appears to be a real estate listing site, renovation installations service, photography services bookings, photo editor app, LUTs, or a plugin for other software
• There isn't a call to action on the home page related to what you want potential customers to do to convert sales
• Navigation is slightly confusing, which is related to the uncertainty of what the service/product is
• The homepage is lengthy with too much content that doesn't necessarily help the customer understand what the product is, how much it costs and how to get it

I didn't go into the rest of the site since you mentioned that your immediate bounce rate is higher than 60% and you're not getting any add-to-cart conversions. This means that you will need to focus on the first step of that conversion funnel when the customers land on that page. Keep in mind that you want to give your customers 5 seconds to make a decision on whether your site is worth staying on. The more they need to scroll and dig for basic information the less likely they will stay or consider the offerings.

Of course, appearance isn't the only thing that can have an impact on low add-to-cart rates. Targeting properly will be one of the most important factors, even if you don't modify the site to improve the shopping experience, the majority of the conversions will increase because you have the right customer demographics. I have several help replies in this thread, but this reply here is the one I would recommend you check out for this specific situation. Knowing your customer to the most intimate detail of their personality will be key to success with your ads, otherwise, you will spend a lot of money on ads that take a long time to convert one sale. 

[VPcom]

Thank you so much for the prompt and thoughtful reply Lilith!  I definitely see your points and will explore those resources.

I would really appreciate if you would give me your critique of your experience after clicking the “Shop Now” button above the fold.  My hunch is that a major contributing factor is somewhere in those next 2-3 clicks.  Thank you again!

[Lilith]

@VPcom  sure thing! I just took a peek now at the Shop Now button, I did notice it is a little hidden among the image, perhaps centering it and creating a bolder color to stand out might work best.

Keep in mind that a bounce rate measures the frequency that visitors leave your site as soon as they land on the page. This means they don't click anywhere or go anywhere beyond that page they landed on. If your bounce rate is high, the biggest focus isn't going to be the next pages they go to since they aren't going to other pages, instead the focus would be to heighten the experience in the page they land on and keep them there long enough to want to click on something.

That said, I see you've put a lot of work into your site and thought of information that you feel is important about your offering. That's great!

Beyond the landing page, there might be some areas where some clear visuals and clean images might benefit your site. Think of accessibility as a key for designing sites. If a visitor doesn't bounce off and decides to click on anything they'll want to see clear images and easy short titles to products. Again, this might also be a great time to reconsider redefining the brand content and simplify a bit more. The simpler the better. Customers will have seconds to decide if they want to keep clicking so guiding them in short easy images or text is a fantastic way to increase your views and page conversions.

The image below is the first click on Shop Now. Remember that images need to be clear and easy to see. Here each product image is a little cramped with many different elements which can confuse the potential customer as to what the product is. This might be a great opportunity to create a solid clear brand identity to incorporate into your visual content.

If I click on a product, it is a little overwhelming. I love that you have wanted to show trustworthiness and concise information on installation. That said, trustworthiness doesn't come from badges or "guarantees" as much as it does with how clear your communication, visuals, and brand story are.

Remember to do a 5-second check on your site pages as you design them. The first thing the customer sees as soon as they land on any page should grab attention, be super clear, have a call to action, have a clean and simple appeal in aesthetic, and should read easily at a grade 4-5 level in terms of simplicity to allow for quick and rapid decision making (scrolling further or clicking).

Let me know how you do with your edits and if you have questions about refining ad audience targeting.

[gavinw]

I think @Lilith, as always (thank you for your constant help!), answered most of your queries when it comes to optimizing your Facebook Ads and improving your conversion methods so I don't think I have anything else to add to that.

But after years of running (and failing!) several eCommerce stores over the few years, I know how expensive and bank-breaking Facebook Ads can be, so I implore you to try and explore alternatives.

Have you ever tried Tiktok ads? It may sound too lucrative or dubious at first, but it has generated a considerable amount of conversions for its price for two of my stores.

There are tons of cheaper alternatives out there that could work in your favor! Facebook ads has a steep learning curve, but it is a primary source of leads and conversions since their ad-targeting for a specific audience is simply phenomenal.

Check out this Reddit Thread for the Shopify community and this guide I found on Google if you want to explore your options.

Hope this helps!

[Lilith]

@gavinw you make an excellent point. With so many new options available, Facebook isn't the only place that new entrepreneurs can start advertising on. There is a bit of a learning curve and does need a bit of analysis, patience, and time to optimize them to their full potential. They're excellent for many cases, but in other cases where they aren't working for a long time, it's best to try out different platforms.

TikTok is a great place to advertise, even if you don't pay for ads the algorithm is extraordinarily quick and intuitive that your videos can reach thousands or millions of views rather quickly if the content is engaging. TikTok has also created an app in our app store to help merchants with creating video ads for their platform!

[Astha]

Hi there, 

First of all. I would like to inform you that Facebook ads work in three stages:

• Awareness
• Consideration 
• Conversion
  1. Awareness: In this, you try to get people’s attention. You do that through awesome content that helps them solve some problems. Then you pull them back to your site as this website traffic will help you create a new custom audience.

 2. Consideration: After creating awareness, you capitalize by sending those people offers to keep them engaged with your brand.! In this way, your brand should still be fresh in their minds. The more people continue to see your brand, the more they start trusting you.

3. Conversions: You’ve now done all the hard work. You’ve built up attention and trust. Here’s your time to shine. Once again, you’ll target the brand new leads you just generated in the last step. This time, they will be more ready and willing to buy.

This looks a little time-consuming because it is. But that’s OK because it’ll be worth the effort.

As you are using Lookalike audience it is convenient for the advertisers to target the right kind of audience so that many relevant advertisements can be created for such type of audiences. 

With audience optimization, you can target your Facebook posts to the segments of your page’s audience that are most likely to be interested in it.

Last, but not least, choose your budget wisely. Keep in mind the target audience and the market you wish to serve. Competitor analysis is a good point to start with. Make sure your budget meets the industry standards and it does not pinch your pocket harder.

[AugustoDe]

Hi,

I am having a similar problem to the inicial question. but after reading your comment and watching many videos where most of the people recommend to go straight to conversion as a target and skip the previews steps as you recommend. 

what is your view on that?

[Lilith]

@AugustoDe this is an excellent question. There definitely isn't a right or wrong way to do this. I would recommend reading through the thread as there are some great tips and advice from other partners and myself on this topic. 

From my own experience in working on Facebook Ads for several years, I do believe that bypassing the funnel building will not get you long term growth.

Essentially, going straight to purchase conversion will cost you a bit more since your pixel will be gathering data, trying to understand the customer for your business, and try to convert them at the same time. It will eventually get you some conversions and you can make sales. However, in my experience, this will be more expensive in the long run since you won't be building customer loyalty or repeat customers, which are the cornerstone to successful businesses.

Keep in mind that right now in the 4th quarter of the year, you will encounter significant competition for ad space, impressions, and reach. What this means is that running ads will be more expensive. Brands that pour millions into ads during this quarter of the year, will likely outbid smaller budgets.

If you're wanting to test out the method that skips the funnel building, I would recommend starting around January when there is a bit less competition. This way you can save money on your marketing budget.

Try different methods and see what works for you based on your specific goals for your business!

[eliasjaxson0001]

Facebook is one of the best platforms to run product ads. And Trackify X is the best application for that. 

If you want to get SERIOUS about your FB ads overall with rich data-driven tools and insights, Trackify is HANDS-DOWN the only facebook pixel app out there that really delivers results.

Definitely recommend giving it a shot to see for yourself.

[henryakanno]

Hi,

I visited your web store and it look very good indeed. Great effort.

In terms of ads i will strongly recommend you to work with Google shopping opportunity provided by shopify. We all get tempted to run to Facebook because of the millions of active users worldwide! However, the bottom you´re looking for is SALES and nothing less. Trust me, am not an expert but i can tell you something. Before i determine to join e-commerce, where do i get get information when i want to buy something? you already know the answer! - I google it. I believe me, i have not gotten to know anyone who spend hours searching Facebook on what they want for a wedding day or the kind of cat as pet. People usually ask google to tell them where to get it. Now, my point is not in any way to paint Facebook and other social cycle bad, but indicate the natural truth behind the whole iceberg. There are some businesses and niches that needs ordinary traffic and they are mainly and certainly not shop. You can use Facebook to scrap leads. There are tones of leads on facebook, yes for your email marketing but not primarily e-commerce. That´s all i have for you, i hope you feel me. I wish you good luck in your biz.

[Splash_Market]

Purry Friends,

I am having the same problem. Your site looks great. I think mine does too www.splashmarketmedia.com - but I am getting lots of clicks on my FB ads but no sales - even with an offer for 30% off! Did things end up turning around for you and how did you do it? 

[Lilith]

@Splash_Market what types of ads are you running? There are several factors that can cause you to not get sales, and still have high click rates. However, this totally depends on your Facebook Ad objective, audience targeting, link, product fit, copy, and other areas.

Have you tried to do an analysis of your business marketing plan or ad statistics? If not, I definitely recommend trying out this guide here to specifically help determine some areas that can be adjusted a bit in your Facebook Ads to help you get some traction.

Remember that ads can sometimes take a week or two to fully optimize as it gathers pixel data. The longer you run ads, the more data that the pixel will collect on your site, and in turn your ads will become smarter!

Moreover, using anything other than the purchase/conversion objective will cause Facebook to search for those users that are more likely to achieve that objective. This means that if you are running ads with the objective of page views or clicks, then Facebook would only look for people who will click or view. On the other hand, if you choose the purchase objective (after your pixel is optimized), Facebook will search for users that have a high chance of purchasing on your site.

[Splash_Market]

Hi Lilith,

With this particular ad I used an offer ad, providing a 30 percent off coupon. I got close to 100 clicks before I shut down the ad. I have run an engagement ad that got over 100 likes but only 6 clicks and obviously no sales. I was able to get 6 likes for my facebook page though by inviting people who liked the post to like my page. Other than that, I have run a few engagement ads, which got a lot of impressions but no likes or clicks. I was not spending very much money - $10/day max so maybe if I increased my budget and let the ads run longer as you suggest. I have problems narrowing the audience. Even when I choose an audience of females 25-34 who like camping, which is leaves me with about 800,000 people, it still says my audience is fairly broad. I think my creative and copy is good, so I don't what I'm doing wrong. Maybe it's my site although I thought it was pretty good 🙂 Anyway, I'm taking a break because I'm making some changes to my brand which will narrow the target audience a bit and hopefully make my products visually more appealing. Thanks for your response and I will check out the link you sent. 

[Lilith]

@Splash_Market sounds like you've been leveling up your Facebook ad skills! That's awesome!

One thing I should mention is that most customers that are new to your brand and haven't heard of it, might not jump into a 30% off offer right away. Remember that potential customers need to know, like, and trust you before they buy. 

I'd recommend working on valuable content that speaks to that demographic. This helps them know your brand, what you're about, and trust you. Nurturing customer relationships will help you in the long run since converting past customers is far less expensive than converting new customers. Content marketing is definitely a bigger converter than offers and will also have customers stay on the site a bit longer. This blog post might be a good place to get some tips to help you with this.

On the topic of your target audience, I did notice that if your audience is even 100K Facebook will still see that as broad. Don't worry about that for now since you're trying to get eyes on your site. Make sure that you narrow down the demographics you need especially the interests. We have a page in our Encyclopedia on Buyer Personas that I think will help you tremendously with refining that target market.

[Tracking_expert]

Hi ,

I am working fb ads marketing and fb pixel tracking last 7 years , I can fix any facebook pixel issue , add to cart fire issue ,catalog issue ,purchase tracking issue .hire me 

[Lilith]

@Bimal100 you make some good points! Researching your product and its specific potential customer is crucial. Any business whether it's dropshipping or any other business model needs a good plan and this will help determine exactly the right marketing strategy that will work for each audience and product. Although, long term riding product trends that are selling "hot" right now isn't a great strategy you might get a little boost in sales for a short temporary time. Keeping a good eye on the brand building, engagement and long-term growth will help in allowing any business owner to scale the business rather than chase down each sale full time.

[popsmash]

One additional tip to expand on Lilith's point on growing your email list is to use a giveaway as an incentive, e.g., an Instagram giveaway.

This is cheaper and more effective for a few reasons:

• Instagram users love giveaways. They drive 4X more engagement and 60X more comments than regular posts.
• The incentive helps drive the email opt-in because users have the incentive to confirm their email.
• It’s more cost-effective because you’re just giving one prize (e.g., a $50-$100 prize) instead of giving many people a discount.
• You can drive up ROAS. If you’re already spending on social ads, you get a higher return by boosting your giveaway posts since you also capture email addresses.

There are multiple ways to do it across all social networks, but here’s an example for an Instagram giveaway: Imagine giving away a $50 prize and wanting to give people who join your email list a better chance to win. You might use rules like these:

1. Follow me
2. Tag 2 friends in the comments
3. Subscribe to my email list at my link in bio for 10 bonus entries

You’ll find that, on average, over 40% of the people who enter will ALSO opt-in to your email list.

For example, the results from one customer campaign they shared publicly are below. TL;DR they only had 3,000 Instagram followers, but got 70 new email subscribers from a single 2-3 day campaign. You could imagine a brand with 10X or 1,000X the followers using the same prize and getting many more subscribers since this approach scales well.

The main thing is to get creative in growing your email list. But converting your social followers into email subscribers works especially well because they are already interested in your content. And once they’re on your email list, it’s much easier to track, nurture and convert them.

Lastly, a couple tips: If you start using giveaways to drive opt-ins, automate as much as possible (e.g. our app does it for Shopify, but there are others) and DO NOT use an expensive prize. For example, Hydroflask drives TONS of engagement just giving away $30 water bottles. So rather than do one giveaway with a huge prize, do a couple a month with smaller prizes -- you’ll see much better returns.