Reducing the cost per message of Facebook ads is key to running effective and profitable campaigns. There are several strategies you can use to lower your cost per message and improve results.
Target a Relevant Audience
One of the most important factors in lowering cost per message is targeting a highly relevant audience. The more precisely you can define your target audience based on demographics, interests, behaviors and more, the lower your cost per message will be.
Here are some tips for targeting a relevant audience on Facebook:
- Use detailed targeting options like age, location, gender, interests, job titles, behaviors and more.
- Create custom audiences from your email lists or website visitors.
- Use lookalike audiences to find new people similar to your existing customers.
- Analyze your existing customer data to identify common attributes to target.
- Test different targeting approaches and analyze performance.
The closer your ad messaging and offers are aligned with your audience’s interests and needs, the better results you will achieve at a lower cost per message.
Optimize Ad Creative
Your ad creative has a big impact on cost per message. Well-designed, relevant creatives improve click-through rate and drive down cost per message. Here are some tips for optimizing Facebook ad creative:
- Use high-quality, eye-catching images and video.
- Focus on visuals rather than text – aim for 20% text, 80% visuals.
- Highlight your unique value proposition and key benefits.
- Use headlines and text that speaks directly to your audience.
- Test different images, videos, headlines and text.
- Make creative relevant to placement – feed ads vs stories vs mobile.
Analyze the performance of different creative approaches and continue to optimize based on results.
Choose the Right Bid Strategy
Your bidding strategy also impacts cost per message. The bid amount determines how often your ads are shown to your target audience. Here are some bidding tips:
- Start with manual bidding at lower costs per click/action to gather data.
- Use automatic bidding strategies like lowest cost per result as campaigns scale.
- Set budgets high enough to optimize delivery and frequency.
- Adjust bids based on performance data and cost targets.
- Use accelerated delivery and average frequency metrics to refine.
Test Different Ad Formats
Facebook offers multiple ad formats, each with pros and cons in terms of cost per message. Testing different formats can uncover more cost-effective options. Formats to test include:
- Feed ads – Good for product-focused ads and lower funnel.
- Stories – Immersive, video-centric format still gaining traction.
- Instant Experience – Interactive, engaging canvas format.
- Carousel – Allows multiple images/videos in one ad.
- Collection – Groups multiple products into a collection ad.
- Lead ad – Optimized for driving lead generation.
Analyze results by ad format and allocate budget to the formats that deliver the best cost per message.
Optimize for Mobile
With the majority of Facebook usage happening on mobile, it’s essential to optimize ads for mobile environments. Steps to take include:
- Design creatives specifically for mobile feeds vs desktop.
- Ensure ads stand out on small mobile screens.
- Use simple, uncluttered designs that load fast.
- Make key info and CTA immediately visible.
- Test differences in mobile vs desktop performance.
Include a Strong Call-to-Action
An effective call-to-action is key to driving the desired action and reducing cost per message. Some tips for CTAs:
- Place CTA above the fold and make it stand out.
- Use clear, action-oriented language like “Sign Up Now”.
- Match CTA to objective – sign up, shop now, learn more etc.
- Use contrasting colors for CTA button.
- Test CTA language, design and placement.
Optimize Landing Pages
Optimizing your landing pages can have a big impact on cost per message by improving conversion rates. Best practices include:
- Fast load time and mobile-friendly design.
- Clear headline and minimalist layout.
- Bullets/number lists for easy scanning.
- Highlight benefits and value proposition.
- Use trust factors like testimonials and security badges.
- Make call-to-action stand out.
- Remove distractions and reduce clicks to conversion.
Conduct A/B testing on landing pages to further optimize performance.
Analyze Data and Optimize
Consistently analyzing campaign data and optimizing is key to lowering cost per message over time. Steps for ongoing optimization include:
- Review metrics like CPM, CPC, CTR, conversions and cost per conversion.
- Break down performance by ad sets, audiences and creatives.
- Identify high and low performers to allocate budget accordingly.
- Refresh creatives and audiences that are underperforming.
- Kill ad sets that don’t meet targets after optimization.
- Scale ad sets delivering the lowest cost per message.
Continual testing, learning and optimization will improve results and cost per message as you go.
Conclusion
Lowering the cost per message of your Facebook ads involves both ad strategy optimization and detailed execution. By targeting a relevant audience, creating compelling creatives, bidding effectively, testing different ad formats, optimizing for mobile, using strong CTAs and continually analyzing data, you can steadily decrease cost per message while boosting results.