Post on 17-Aug-2020
Sep-17
1
We Spent $100,000 on Facebook Ads.
Here’s what We Learned
Jonathan Taylor
Senior Marketing Manager
Klipfolio
@Knowbots
Let’s start at the beginning...
Sep-17
2
We’re a scrappy, lean digital marketing team
Challenges:
Need to grow I Sustainability I Measureable I Low CPAs
We’d heard of success
But it seemed remote.
Sep-17
3
Case Study: PageCloud’s Facebook Presale
Quick Stats
● Epic Presale
○ $1.2 million USD in revenue
● Video!
○ Used video from successful
TechCrunch Disrupt pitch
○ 25 million video views
● Most successful pre-sale
campaign for a Canadian
software company
Accepted into Facebook’s Startup program Committed $10,000 on initial program Launched a small number of landing pages
May 2016 - 1st Experiment
Sep-17
4
Defining Success
Generating trials at a rate that is acceptable to the business
What is Cost-per-Action?
● Action defined within Facebook
● For us, Action = Trial
● CPA maps nicely to Cost-per-
Lead
● Target: $50 / Trial
Average CPA: $49/trial Landing page conversion rate: 12% Total trials: 205 Program was a success
Initial Success
Sep-17
5
Time to celebrate, right?
Our success got noticed
What if...
● Facebook Ads was a
sustainable avenue of growth
● Challenged by business to
grow trials within target CPA
● A home run campaign
● Given $100K
Sep-17
6
Check Point
Launch CPA Target: $50
0$ 100,000$
BOOM
We started spending like mad men.
Sep-17
7
CPAs would double and triple overnight. Two major issues: 1. Ad frequency 2. On-page conversion rates
Big problem...
Check Point
Launch CPA Target: $50
0$
Week 4 CPA: $75
$100,000 10,000$
Sep-17
8
Our scrappy team needed a system
We looked at the data, and saw something interesting...
Sep-17
9
Ad Frequency What is Ad Frequency?
● The average number of times
someone sees your ad
● Calculation:
○ Impressions / Reach
● Annoyance factor
● Ad fatigue
Ad frequency is your empathy metric
Sep-17
10
Facebook is an interruptive advertising platform.
Unlike AdWords, you don’t have intent on
your side.
You’re competing against memes, your mom, and political discussions.
We forgot something
Ad Frequency and CPAs are closely related
Ads launched. Frequency = 1.7
Ads go stale. Frequency = 4.5
New creative launched.
Sep-17
11
Solution: A creative refresh
Lesson: Build a process for creative refreshes
Our process
● Week 1
○ Design new creative
● Week 2
○ Test new creative
● Week 3
○ Pick winning variants
● Week 4
○ Analysis and deconstruction
Sep-17
12
Check Point
Launch CPA Target: $50
0$
Week 4 CPA: $75
$100,000
Week 6 CPA: $55
$20,000
Of course, we wanted to set our sights even higher
Sep-17
13
On page conversion rate
What is Conversion Rate?
● The number of conversions on
your landing page
● Calculation:
○ Visitors / Conversions
● Audience-Product fit
● Ad parity
Initially, we were happy
with our LPs
● Solid 12% on-page conversion
rate
● Follows industry best practices
● Featured in Unbounce’s Q4
2016 Lookbook
Sep-17
14
What if… we turned CPAs into a lever of growth?
Budget CPA Trials
100,000 65 1538
100,000 60 1666
100,000 55* 1818
100,000 50 2000
100,000 45 2222
100,000 40 2500
Always be CROing
Sep-17
15
Tested everything on the page from headlines to button colours
Sep-17
16
We drove up conversions
● Improved conversion rate to
14%
But we also ticked off our
customers...
Sep-17
17
Check Point
Launch CPA Target: $50
0$
Week 4 CPA: $75
$100,000
Week 6 CPA: $55
$50,000
Week 8 CPA: $40 But customers unhappy!
Use Video
Sep-17
18
Check Point
Launch CPA Target: $50
0$
Week 4 CPA: $75
$100,000
Week 6 CPA: $55
$60,000
Week 8 CPA: $40 But customers unhappy!
Week 9 CPA: $50 Customers are =)
Incremental Results Add Up
Sep-17
19
And can influence developments elsewhere
Check Point
Launch CPA Target: $50
0$
Week 4 CPA: $75
$100,000
Week 6 CPA: $55
$70,000
Week 8 CPA: $40 But customers unhappy!
Week 9 CPA: $50 Customers are =)
Week 10 CPA: $48
Sep-17
20
Video Converts!
Check Point
Launch CPA Target: $50
0$
Week 4 CPA: $75
$100,000
Week 6 CPA: $55
Week 8 CPA: $40 But customers unhappy!
Week 9 CPA: $50 Customers are =)
Week 10 CPA: $48
Week 12 CPA: $45
Sep-17
21
Take me to the results!
Final Report
Sep-17
22
Fully commit to your process Half-hearted campaigns get half-hearted results Singles and doubles win the game Test, test, test Build a process and stick to it Creative refreshes are essential Dig into the data Understand correlations and how they relate to your audience’s perception of you Engage with video Video is critical for conversion Measure and analyze everything Identify problems and report your success
Lessons
Unbounce High converting landing pages made easy. https://unbounce.com/
Useful Tools
Vidyard Video engagement and rockstar video analytics https://www.vidyard.com/
Klipfolio Metrics monitoring, KPI tracking, and dashboard reporting https://www.klipfolio.com/
Sep-17
23
Ask me anything at the Post-Presentation Huddle!
jtaylor@klipfolio.com
@knowbots