You could have the best creative, copy and offer in the world, but if you are targeting someone that has no interest or need for your product, you are wasting your money and you will never get them to convert.
This is where Facebook really shines - it allows you to create 'audiences'.
An audience is a group of people on Facebook that you can show specific adverts to. Audiences can be created from a wide range of variables.
You can create audiences from people that have never interacted with or bought from your store before, but are likely to be interested in and have a need for your products (Cold traffic).
You can create audiences of people that have visited your site, viewed certain product pages or engaged with your facebook videos, ads or posts (Warm Traffic).
And you can create audiences out of those that have actually purchased from you (Hot Traffic).
As if this isn't enough, you can then use these audiences to create lookalike audiences - where Facebook will take the numerous data points from the audience you have created, then go out and find people just like them - in the view that they will also be interested in (and therefore buy) your products. This allows you to reach a much wider audience.
Many e-commerce sellers make the mistake of picking one audience type and running with that, without even realising all of the potential audiences you already have at your fingertips.
No shaming going on here - Hands up, I was one of them.
You can create audiences of people that have visited your site, viewed certain product pages or engaged with your facebook videos, ads or posts (Warm Traffic).
And you can create audiences out of those that have actually purchased from you (Hot Traffic).
As if this isn't enough, you can then use these audiences to create lookalike audiences - where Facebook will take the numerous data points from the audience you have created, then go out and find people just like them - in the view that they will also be interested in (and therefore buy) your products. This allows you to reach a much wider audience.
Many e-commerce sellers make the mistake of picking one audience type and running with that, without even realising all of the potential audiences you already have at your fingertips.
No shaming going on here - Hands up, I was one of them.
The wrong way to run Facebook Ad campaigns
Whilst I did use the customer data that I had (newsletter, discount coupon sign ups, website purchases) - I combined all of it into one audience (leads, email list and buyers) rather than keeping them separate.
I created a lookalike out of this combined set of data and ran one conversion campaign to a sales funnel, rather than testing and comparing the different lists.
I converted enough of this cold traffic to justify leaving the campaign running, but the sales weren’t profitable. And I wasn’t retargeting the huge percentage of people who didn’t purchase! Nor was I continually creating and testing new audiences or creatives.
What I should have done....
I should have kept the various lists separate (rather than combining buyers and non buyers in one audience!). I also should have created a lookalike audience of the customers that actually purchased from me, targeting them as cold traffic and driving them to my sales page.
I should have then been retargeting everyone that interacted with the business. And this should have been done with a message that resonated for where they were in their purchase journey.
For example, if they had visited my site and even initiated checkout - I should have been retargeting them with an add to remind them to complete purchase.
If they had visited a product page and then left, I should have been retargeting them with ads that provided more information and overcame their likely objections - driving them back to make the sale.
I should have created various audiences for cold traffic, as these are new prospects - but I should only be allowing a certain percentage of my budget for this. I should have then been allocating the majority of my budget into retargeting the warm traffic as these people had already showed an interest and were more likely to convert. These people were a step closer to a purchase.
I should have been continually testing new audiences and updating my custom audiences. Facebook has an amazing algorithm and the more information you feed it, the better it can target your ideal customer and improve your ad performance. The algorithm can only optimise if it has enough options to choose from
There were lots of others things I could have / should have done - but you get the idea....
So what Audiences should you use for eCommerce?
The number of audiences you can test at one time will be budget dependant - so here are just five key audiences that you should start with…
1. Buyers! This is your hot traffic. This will also be the smallest of your audiences and you need to look after it. Show your buyers ads for other products that they might be interested in. They have already purchased from you so already know, trust and like you - making it an easier sell. But make sure your ads aren't shown too often and that they don't appear spammy or like a hard sell.
2. Abandoned Check out. This is a super warm audience for you to target. Why did they not complete the purchase when they were so close? They might have been distracted, forgotten, had an emergency... and they might just need reminding to purchase. Or they might have still had an objection that you hadn't quite overcome in your sales copy and might need that one last nudge or reassurance.
3. Adding to Cart. This is a warm audience and these buyers are actively involved and ready to purchase - but did you know that almost 2/3rds of carts get abandoned?! That’s a chunky proportion isn’t it?! This is usually because they still have some objections that haven't been addressed - or the lack of urgency in the offer and sales message have deterred the process. This as another strong audience to target and gently push over the line!
2. Abandoned Check out. This is a super warm audience for you to target. Why did they not complete the purchase when they were so close? They might have been distracted, forgotten, had an emergency... and they might just need reminding to purchase. Or they might have still had an objection that you hadn't quite overcome in your sales copy and might need that one last nudge or reassurance.
3. Adding to Cart. This is a warm audience and these buyers are actively involved and ready to purchase - but did you know that almost 2/3rds of carts get abandoned?! That’s a chunky proportion isn’t it?! This is usually because they still have some objections that haven't been addressed - or the lack of urgency in the offer and sales message have deterred the process. This as another strong audience to target and gently push over the line!
4. Visited product pages. Yet another warm audience for you to target! They have been interested enough to learn about your product and consume some of your content. They might still be on the fence, they might want to learn a little more, they might need to be reminded of the benefits of your product or they might still need convincing that your product is the solution to their problem. Whatever the reason, you can retarget them and try and address their concerns in your advert. This group of people is more likely to convert than cold traffic.
5. New audience based on interests and lookalikes. You can also test a range of cold traffic audiences including those that have specific interests that match your niche or product and lookalike audiences from your Amazon sales data, your website sales
As you can see, Facebook offers a HUGE opportunity to find audiences that could be interested in your company and products. It’s just a case of testing them and seeing what works!
I hope this post has given you a little more clarity on Facebook audiences and helped you understand how you can use your own company data to create more meaningful ad campaigns that target the right people, in the right way, at the right time.
As always, feel free to drop any questions in the comments below.
Have a great day! 😃
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