Facebook ads have become an incredibly popular and effective way for businesses to acquire new customers and drive conversions online. With over 2 billion monthly active users on Facebook, it provides an unparalleled platform to reach a massive audience. However, with so many businesses advertising on Facebook, competition is fierce and driving a high conversion rate from your ads is essential. But what is considered a “good” conversion rate on Facebook ads? And does this vary significantly between industries?
In this article, we will provide benchmarks for average Facebook ad conversion rates across key industries to help guide your Facebook advertising strategy. Having realistic expectations for your conversion rate based on your industry can help you better optimize campaigns, allocate budget, and measure performance. We will also provide tips to help improve your Facebook ad conversion rate regardless of your niche.
What is a Facebook Ad Conversion Rate?
A Facebook ad conversion rate is the percentage of people who take a desired action after clicking on your ad. The action that constitutes a “conversion” depends on the goal of your campaign and can include a purchase, signup, content download, lead generation form submission or any other desired outcome.
To calculate your Facebook ad conversion rate, you divide the number of conversions by the number of clicks your ads receive. For example, if your ad received 100 clicks and 5 people made a purchase after clicking, your conversion rate would be 5%.
Conversion Rate Formula:
Conversions / Clicks x 100 = Conversion Rate %
Tracking conversions and conversion rate is crucial to measuring the success and ROI of your Facebook ads. Over time, you can optimize efforts to improve your conversion rate. Benchmarks by industry help provide context around what is a “good” conversion rate to aim for.
Average Facebook Ad Conversion Rates by Industry
While there are general benchmarks for average conversion rates, performance varies significantly based on industry and precise offerings. Here are average conversion rates on Facebook ads across top industries:
| Industry | Average Conversion Rate |
|---|---|
| Ecommerce | 1-3% |
| Software | 5-8% |
| SaaS | 5-12% |
| Lead Gen/Services | 8-15% |
| Webinars | 1-3% |
Ecommerce
For most ecommerce businesses selling directly on websites, an average conversion rate for Facebook ads falls between 1-3%. However, averages can be misleading. Performance typically depends heavily on the type of product being sold. Low consideration impulse buys will convert better than high consideration purchases.
For example, expect conversion rates on the higher end for products like:
- Beauty, skincare, cosmetics – 2-4%
- Discount, flash sale clothing & accessories – 2-5%
- Pet supplies – 1.5-3.5%
- Toys – 1.5-3.5%
You may see conversion rates on the lower end for products like:
- Furniture – 0.5-1.5%
- Electronics – 0.75-2%
- Automotive – 0.5-1.5%
- High ticket luxury items – 0.2-0.75%
Campaign objective also plays a major role. Catalog sales campaigns tend to perform better than traffic campaigns. Developing detailed customer avatars and dialing in your targeting will also help improve conversion rates.
Software
SaaS and other software solutions tend to perform well on Facebook, with average conversion rates between 5-8%. Software lends itself well to Facebook ads since you can target ads very precisely to business demographics that have an interest or need for your particular software.
Conversion rates can vary based on:
- Entry price point – Free and low cost software will convert better than expensive packages
- Whether you offer a free trial – Trials significantly boost conversions
- How targeted your audience is – More targeted equals higher relevancy and conversions
To hit the higher end of the average for software conversions, offering a very targeted and relevant audience a free trial of your software is a proven formula. Dialing in your audience and personalizing ad creative can also help drive conversions.
SaaS
As a subset of software, SaaS or software-as-a-service products also see strong performance from Facebook ads. However, conversion rates tend to be slightly higher thanks to subscription based pricing models. The continuity of monthly or annual subscriptions versus one time purchases leads to higher conversion rates for SaaS businesses.
Expect conversion rates between 5-12% depending on your average monthly price point. Conversion rates tend to align with the following:
- Under $20 per month – 8-12%
- $21-$49 per month – 6-10%
- $50-$99 per month – 5-8%
- Over $100 per month – 3-6%
The recurring nature of SaaS leads to higher lifetime values. This enables you to be more aggressive with advertising costs per acquisition. Developing highly targeted ads and marketing your free trial options can help maximize conversions.
Lead Generation
Lead generation tends to perform exceptionally well on Facebook. When you offer free, gated content like guides, templates, assessments in exchange for contact information, expect conversion rates of 8-15% or more. Conversion rates are highly dependent on:
- Quality of audience targeting – hyper-specific is better
- Relevance of offer – does it align perfectly with their needs
- Urgency conveyed in ad copy
- Perceived value of the gated content
Lead gen ads are ideal when paired with tools like Facebook Lead Ads that allow capturing lead information directly within the ad unit. Reducing friction and conveying urgency and value are key to boosting conversion rates. Provide hyper valuable content and target it to exactly who needs that content, and your ads will convert very well.
Webinars
Webinar promotions tend to have lower conversion rates on Facebook, averaging 1-3%. While lower than other objectives, a qualified registration for a webinar still holds high value. Conversion rates depend most on:
- Topic relevance – Will the content align perfectly with their interests?
- Incentives/giveaways – Are you offering bonuses for registering?
- Speaker authority – Does your speaker establish credibility?
- Urgency – Is the event or open seats limited?
Boosting conversions for webinars requires conveying why that specific webinar is a can’t miss opportunity for your target audience. Make sure the topic resonates and share key takeaways registrants can expect. Utilize scarcity and urgency as needed to motivate signups. Share speaker credentials to build authority. Consider lead generation offers to nurture prospects if they don’t convert on the first ad they see.
How to Improve Facebook Ad Conversion Rates
While benchmarks provide a useful starting point, taking steps to optimize campaigns for higher conversion rates is key to success. Here are 7 proven tips to help improve Facebook ad conversion rates:
1. Dial In Your Targeting
One of the biggest levers in boosting Facebook ad conversion rate is highly targeted and relevant audiences. Using precise interest, behavior, and demographic targeting ensures you are serving your ads to those most likely to convert. Develop detailed customer avatars and lookalike audiences based on your existing converting customers. The tighter you can define your ideal audience, the higher converting your ads will be.
2. Personalize Your Ad Creative
Make sure your ads speak directly to your target audience. Use messaging that resonates with their needs and pain points. Dynamic creative and customized audiences allow you to tailor ad copy and creative. Personalized ads convert better than generic, one-size-fits-all messaging.
3. Highlight Value In Your Offer
Clearly convey the value of your offer in your ad creative and landing page experience. Emphasize the benefits prospects will receive and solutions to their issues. For gated content and lead gen offers, ensure you deliver massive value after prospects convert so they are more likely to convert again in the future.
4. Use Video Ads
Video ads capture attention and tell a story much better than static images alone. Leverage video ads to explain your offer, highlight social proof, and convey benefits. Video views and engagement are also better signals to Facebook’s algorithm than clicks or impressions. Higher relevance scores can lower costs and increase conversions.
5. Reduce Friction
Minimize friction in the conversion process from ad to landing page. Ensure forms are short with minimal fields required. Pass data from Facebook leads ads directly into your CRM. Make signing up or checking out as quick and simple as possible. Less steps and friction leads to higher conversion rates.
6. Retarget Engaged Audiences
Create saved or lookalike audiences of those who previously engaged with your ads but didn’t convert. Retargeting to these audiences can help turn previous video viewers, ad clickers, landing page visitors and more into conversions with continued messaging.
7. Continually Test And Optimize
Regularly test new targeting options, ad creative, formats and more to identify what resonates best with your audiences. Try different offers, angles and funnels to determine what converts best. Consistently optimizing your ads based on performance data is key to boosting conversion rates over time.
Conclusion
Facebook ad conversion rates vary based on industry and precise offer. However, utilizing targeting,creative optimization, video, retargeting and continual testing will help improve conversions regardless of your niche. Keep realistic expectations based on averages for your industry, but look to exceed benchmarks with ongoing experimentation and honing your approach.
With precise audience targeting, compelling creative, frictionless conversions and continual optimizations, you can develop high converting Facebook ad campaigns in any industry.