22 Jul 2019
Sometimes finding success with Facebook advertising can seem like cracking the Da Vinci code. It seems like everybody has a theory on what works best, but how do you know what’s best for you and your business? Short vs Long: Which Facebook Ad...
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Sometimes finding success with Facebook advertising can seem like cracking the Da Vinci code. It seems like everybody has a theory on what works best, but how do you know what’s best for you and your business?
The team at Adespresso recently conducted an experiment to see whether short or long Facebook ad copy worked best. They wanted to drive downloads of an e-book, and tested 7 different ad sets with varying copy length. Some were one sentence, others were longer paragraphs and some used a combination of bullet points and emojis.
They surveyed marketing experts first, and most of them expected the ‘one sentence’ ads to perform the best. What they found was quite different.
The best performing ads were those with one, three and six paragraphs. These ads generated the most leads, and therefore the lowest Cost Per Lead.
Now, while these longer ads worked well for a more in-depth product such as a marketing e-book, does that mean long ad copy is always best? The fact that 89% of marketers in the experiment predicted success for the eventual three worst-performing ads would suggest not. Shorter ads obviously do work but in the right context.
Customers looking for this type of product need more information before deciding to click through to a link. What is the book about? How can it help my business? Is it free? If you were selling, for example, socks, it’s possible that short ad copy would work better. This is because you don’t need to give too much information to entice customers to check out a range of socks.
A successful Facebook ad campaign results in one key metric (depending on your goal). If you’re selling a product, you want to achieve a high number of leads. You want conversions too, but that has more to do with the product itself, the price, and your product page marketing. The Facebook ad itself is all about generating leads.
Your main goal is to get the lowest Cost Per Lead (CPL). For example, if you pay for an ad to be seen 1000 times (impressions) at a cost of $1 per impression, you’ve spent $1000. If your ad is poorly written and unappealing, and only 20 people click through (leads), then you’ve spent $1000 for 20 leads. That’s a cost of $50 per lead, and that doesn’t even guarantee an actual sale.
On the other hand, a well written, high performing ad may attract 500 people to click through. That reduces your CPL to $2, which is far more effective.
If there’s one thing that the Adespresso experiment shows, it is the importance of testing Facebook ads thoroughly. Their results reflected that poorly received ads cost 2.4 times per lead than the high performers.
Facebook ad optimisation should be part of a wider strategy. It’s not about just creating one ad and hoping for the best. You should always be willing to run a number of different ads concurrently – you’ll soon find out what works well for you and what doesn’t.
Adespresso’s experiment also showed that even for the highest performing ad, there were certain days in two-week period that it performed poorly. This is why it’s important to let ads run for a decent amount of time so you can truly test their effectiveness.
Need professional help with your Facebook ad management? We work closely with our clients to determine and test the best Facebook ad copy for your unique business. Remember, effective Facebook ads that work will cost you less per conversion, so it pays to get it right. Contact us here to see how we can help.
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