Every demographic and audience responds differently to a Facebook ad, which is why split tests are essential in your Facebook marketing. Some are quick to click because of a snappy headline while others are put off by too many images that make the ad look busy. Your business market to more than one demographic, and there’s a good chance those demographics won’t have the same taste in ads.
So how do you find out what your demographic likes and dislikes in an ad? What compels them to click on a right panel ad or on a sponsored post? To find out, you need to do some split testing to see what your audience is most likely to respond to and how you can better your approach to Facebook advertising.
If you’re ready to stop guessing what your audience wants and find out for sure, then check out these four Facebook advertising split tests to boost your conversion rate and improve your overall Facebook marketing strategy.
Copy Split Tests
Right panel ads on Facebook allow for very little room for copy. You’ve got to make your pitch in just a few short words and hope its enough to generate your leads, but if the ad isn’t compelling, then your leads won’t convert.
To make sure that you’re giving just the right amount of information, you need to split test your copy to ensure that it’s something your audience will relate and respond to. Though you may think that images and headlines are more important, it’s actually surprising how much good copy can improve conversion rates overall.
Create two identical ads where the only variable is the copy and see which one performs better. Try out different tones with your audience and swap your usual call-to-action (CTA) for a new one. Get down into the root of your copy and choose different synonyms for certain words to see if it makes a difference.
You never know what will resonate with your audience so be creative with your copy, so try as many new ad copies as possible. You may find that your audience responds to a completely different style of copy than you previously thought.
Headline Tests
A good headline grabs the reader’s attention and propels it through the rest of the copy. If the headline is weak, chances are people won’t read your ad or even skim it. They’ll just ignore it.
Headlines can be split tested for length and content easily, and this is usually the best place to start. Test long headlines against short headlines and then go on to test types of headlines.
Image Split tests
They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, and a well-chosen image can win over 1,000 leads. Images are eye-grabbing, and when it comes to advertising on Facebook, they tend to snatch our attention quickly. If your ad features a dull and boring ad, then there are good chance viewers will come to associate your product with dull and boring.
Change this by split testing your images to see what your audience likes and what is just not interesting. In certain industries (particularly those that are e-commerce), great images can make up for a flat or boring copy, so if your copy game isn’t strong, these images can generate strong leads.
Test multiple images against each other to see which ones your audience prefers. Test images of people against images of inanimate objects and see which one does better. Keep running these tests until you have a clear idea of what does and does not perform well with your audience.
You can also roll the dice and test copy-only ads against image ads. Some images don’t fit in with what the ad is actually promoting, and they sometimes mislead customers when the copy and image don’t make sense together. On the other hand, text can be boring, but maybe that’s what your audience prefers. Try a split test – one with an image and one with just text. You’ll quickly see which one your group prefers.
Target location Tests
You know of course that you can target Facebook users based on their geographical location, but did you know that you can be even more specific? You can target certain neighbourhoods and postcodes so you can get a general picture of where your leads live and so much more.
Testing postcodes against one another can tell you a lot about the product you’re promoting and who your true demographic is. This will help you narrow down who you should be targeting and stop you from wasting your time chasing leads that have no interest in your product.
Let’s say for example that your property development company is promoting a home in an in-demand and very wealthy neighbourhood in Sydney. Should you target a zip code with a lot of expensive apartment complexes (families looking for their first homes) or other wealthy Sydney neighbourhoods (families looking to move up)? You won’t know until you test your location and find out.
So tell us, which of these Facebook advertising tips will you try out first?
