When running Facebook ads, it’s important to test different elements to determine what works best for your business. With so many options to test, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. The most impactful components to test first are the ad creative, targeting, and messaging. Let’s explore why these three factors are crucial to test upfront when launching Facebook ad campaigns.
Test Different Ad Creatives
The visuals and copy in your ad creative make the very first impression on potential customers. You want your creative to catch attention and inspire the desired action, whether that’s a click, conversion, or purchase. Even minor changes to the imagery, text, or layout used in your Facebook ads can make a major difference in performance.
When launching a new campaign, develop a few different ad creative options to test against each other. Consider testing variations on:
- Images or videos used
- Ad copy headlines and body text
- Calls-to-action
- Ad formats such as single image, carousel, slideshow, etc.
Be sure to keep the core offer or value proposition consistent across the different creatives. This way you are isolating the impact of creative elements. Use Facebook’s A/B testing or split testing tools to try out your different ad creative ideas while keeping other factors equal.
Analyze the results to see which visuals, text, layouts, and other creative elements perform best. Use the learnings to optimize your ads and drive better results. Minor creative tweaks can make a big difference, so testing ad creative should be an ongoing effort.
Test Different Targeting Options
Who you target your Facebook ads to also significantly impacts performance. Facebook gives you powerful options to target your ads by location, demographics, interests, behaviors, and more. Finding the right targeting is crucial to ensure your ads reach people likely to be interested.
When first launching Facebook ads, test a few different targeting approaches to see what works best. You may want to try:
- Narrow vs. broad targeting: Test very specific narrow audiences vs. targeting larger broad groups. See which approach provides the highest engagement and conversions at the best costs.
- Interest targeting: Try targeting different interest categories like hobbies, purchase behaviors, job roles, and more.
- Lookalike audiences: Create lookalike audiences modeled after your existing customers. Test lookalikes from 1% matches on up to 10% matches.
- Demographics: Test targeting by age ranges, life events, gender, location, income levels, education, and other demographics.
- Custom audiences: Try targeting custom audiences like your email lists, website visitors, past purchasers, or other valuable groups.
Continually monitor your ads and analyze which targeting options achieve your KPIs most efficiently. Refine your targeting over time based on the data.
Test Messaging and Value Propositions
What you say in your Facebook ads also deserves heavy testing. Your messaging should focus on highlighting unique value propositions, resonating with the target audience, and motivating the desired action.
When first launching campaigns, develop a few ad variations that test different messaging approaches. Try testing:
- Emphasizing different benefits, features or incentives
- Using different emotional appeals or tones of voice
- Focusing on different selling points or competitive advantages
- Promoting different offers such as discounts, limited-time promotions, etc.
- Using different calls-to-action
Look at how messaging impacts cost-per-result as well as the relevance score Facebook assigns your ads. Optimize based on what message strategies have the highest impact.
Use Testing to Continually Refine
Ad creative, targeting settings, and messaging should be tested on an ongoing basis – not just when first launching campaigns. Here are some tips for continually refining through testing:
- Develop new ad creative on a regular schedule to keep your ads fresh.
- Stay on top of changes in your target audience and adjust targeting accordingly.
- Update messaging around seasonal trends, promotions, and current events.
- Use different test ideas for cold audiences vs. remarketing.
- Conduct regular A/B testing with your top-performing ads to eke out incremental gains.
Set aside time each month to review results and run new tests. Look for small tweaks that can yield significant lift. Testing will keep your Facebook ad performance improving over time.
Top Elements to Test on Facebook Ads
In summary, the top elements to test when first launching Facebook ads include:
| Element | Examples of What to Test |
|---|---|
| Ad Creative |
|
| Targeting |
|
| Messaging |
|
Regularly test new variations of these core elements to optimize your Facebook ad results. Follow the data and double down on what drives the highest engagement and conversions.
Tips for Effective Facebook Ad Testing
Here are some additional tips for running effective Facebook ad tests:
Isolate a Single Variable
When comparing two ads or targeting approaches, keep all other elements the same. This isolates the impact of the component you are testing.
Test for a Long Enough Time Period
Let your Facebook ad tests run long enough to gather statistically significant results, which usually takes at least 5-7 days.
Test Consistently Over Time
Keep testing new variations of messaging, creative, and targeting every month. Don’t just test when first launching.
Follow Facebook’s Best Practices
Refer to Facebook Blueprint’s guidelines for creating effective, compliant ads and tests.
Analyze Relevant Metrics
Judge the impact of tests based on metrics like cost-per-result and relevance score, not vanity metrics like reach.
Apply Learnings
Actually implement what you learn by optimizing targeting settings, creatives, etc. based on the test results.
Conclusion
Testing is crucial to unlocking the full potential of your Facebook ad campaigns. Start by testing different ad creatives, targeting approaches, and messaging when first launching campaigns. Continually monitor, refine, and test new variations over time. Following the data from testing will help optimize your Facebook ads to deliver the very best results.