Split Testing with Facebook Ads

One of the best advantages to using Facebook Ads is their ability to send you a massive amount of traffic in a short period of time. Once you have some ads running with a decent click through rate, you can easily throw a bunch of new ads up to see what converts best. A couple of months ago I was running a weight loss targeted campaign that ended up serving over 30,324,503 impressions and 27,538 clicks. What I wanted to show you in this post, was how much of a difference an image can make in your advertising.

In the chart below you will see five of the images I was using in my ad campaign. The text for all five campaigns were the same, only the images were different.

2,637,259 Impressions
3,288 Clicks (.12 CTR)
3,205,582 Impressions
3,221 Clicks (.10 CTR)
3,858,594 Impressions
3,092 Clicks (.08 CTR)
3,962,476 Impressions
3,000 Clicks (.08 CTR)
3,260,100 Impressions
2,251 Clicks (.07 CTR)

For those of you wondering what the total campaign stats looked like, here are the figures straight from Facebook.

Without any real explanation, (besides what people prefer to click)… the top ad was pulling in clicks at almost double the rate as the bottom image in the chart. This just goes to show you how important split testing is. Not only should you be testing your “text” ad copy multiple times… but definitely your “image” ad copy!

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74 Comments »

Comment by Jarret
2008-08-15 01:39:24

Great post Zac.

I currently just started with FaceBook a few days ago and have split tested a few ads so far. They all seem to be getting the same CTR so I am still working on trying out different images as well as different ad copy.

I just wish that you could modify the ad text and image without having to create an entirely new ad.

 
Comment by SEO Tricks
2008-08-15 03:28:10

Good post Zac, I started off with facebook few days back they are pretty good

 
Comment by John
2008-08-15 06:03:30

Were you paying CPC or CPM?

I have no idea how you got those ads approved. It a pain in the ass on Facebook.

2008-08-15 08:45:20

cpc … cpm is just a huge waste of time and money regardless of what you’re marketing

 
Comment by Jeremy Waller
2008-08-15 09:57:12

No kidding. I actually tried to create a weight loss campaign on Facebook. I went through 6 ads and couldn’t get any of them approved.

Any secrets here Zac?

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-15 11:35:42

Facebook has recently changed their advertising terms and it’s a lot tougher to get ads approved now. I would say to just keep changing ads around until you start getting them approved. It sucks, but it works.

 
 
Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-15 11:36:33

This and all of my facebook campaigns are on a cpc basis.

 
 
Comment by Neil
2008-08-15 09:53:30

haha so those are your ads! I was seeing them quite a bit for a while.

 
Comment by Miguel Alvarez
2008-08-15 11:06:30

How well does that type of FB traffic convert once it hits your landing page? (Does it convert at about the same rate as adsense traffic?)

Cheers!
Miguel Alvarez

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-15 11:34:22

Really depends on the offer. Facebook traffic seems like HIT or MISS.

 
 
2008-08-15 11:18:06

this is an interesting topic. I know there are a lot of people that are interested in trying this but do not want to waste the money to try. How much is it to advertise for a month on Facebook?

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-15 11:33:20

No minimums. Just depends on your cpc amounts and how much you want to spend.

 
 
Comment by Rakesh
2008-08-15 11:30:05

That was a nice testing..so how was the conversion?? did you make any profit?

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-15 11:33:52

On this campaign, profit was around 30%. It performed much better in the beginning, then conversions kept getting lower.

 
 
Comment by Jonathan Volk
2008-08-15 13:01:54

Cool Case Study! :) Thanks

 
Comment by Jon
2008-08-15 13:07:20

Nice case study.

But which of these 5 images had the best conversion rate?

 
Comment by CDFnetworks
2008-08-15 13:09:44

Thats a great CPC at .30 Wish I could get my ads down that low.

 
Comment by Think Like An SOB
2008-08-15 13:55:01

Do create landing pages for FB or do direct linking to the offer?

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-15 14:36:21

This campaign was direct linking.

 
 
Comment by BlogSavvy
2008-08-15 15:00:52

Zac, thanks for giving freely, the information is very helpful for those jusst getting started with affiliate marketing. keep it up!

 
Comment by Tundra
2008-08-15 16:50:04

Haha, seems like the bigger the pecs, the more clicks it gets. Good case study.

 
Comment by Chris Jacobson
2008-08-15 18:13:30

Explain this, Zac: As an experiment I tried using all of the images you posted above in a Facebook ad. All of them got disapproved because the image didn’t meet the terms of use.

The text was fine, just the image.

Explain how you got any ads approved using these images…

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-16 10:36:51

Facebook Ads are now more strict on the ads they approve. I would not expect these to get approved under their new terms. What they allow is not minimal…

2008-08-26 11:19:19

I tried using one of the images as well for a ClickBank product and it was a no go. I had 6 ads disapproved when using the 1st image and I even changed to a stone frickin’ statue with great abs and they still wouldn’t approve it.

Maybe one day they’ll get their heads screwed on straight.

2008-08-26 11:21:41

I guess I didn’t clarify…that was on Facebook.

 
 
 
 
Comment by Billy
2008-08-15 19:31:38

Wow this is very good information thanks for sharing!

 
Comment by matthew berman
2008-08-15 19:48:53

have you been able to get these types of ads past their approval process lately?

 
Comment by matthew berman
2008-08-15 19:49:33

also, would you mind sharing which campaign this was for?

 
Comment by Green Directory
2008-08-15 20:12:15

Great Post again Zac — not much of a Facebook user, but definitely worth considering!

 
Comment by Nick Throlson
2008-08-15 22:23:30

dam I gotta get in on face book make some money some great stats zac

 
Comment by Edgar
2008-08-16 00:11:00

you spend almost 9 thousand dollars, zac what is a good amount to spend before given up?

I will hate to spend a thousand dollars and make less when do you know its time to stop?

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-16 10:38:04

All depends on your profit margins and how much of a margin you are comfortable with. It got to a point when the margin was dropping low enough that I just stopped the campaign.

 
 
Comment by WAHM Tara
2008-08-16 07:14:44

I know pics make a big difference, which is why may male marketers like ot use half naked women pictures, so I am wondering if your clicks were males or females…. Nice study!

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-16 10:38:28

Mostly male.

 
 
Comment by ibusinesstalk
2008-08-16 12:12:36

DId you make money from this campaigns?

by the way, I haven’t got my t-shirt and sticker from ML signup…I am sure you are getting small but several hundred $$ from my commission..

I want 2 t-shirts since you forgot mine…:P

anyway, another great post..

 
Comment by yahoo web hosting
2008-08-16 23:55:01

Wow.Thanks for sharing. I’m not sure I’d have the kahunas to spend 8gs on a campaign. i was thinking about starting in facebook with 250bucks free, but it seems with the low conversion rate, i’m going to get killed and lose that 250 real quick.

 
Comment by Samer Bazzi
2008-08-17 12:50:04

Zac,

The last three posts have been excellent quality, thank you so much. Keep it up.

-Sam

 
Comment by Nicole Price
2008-08-18 02:11:27

What do you suppose made the difference? I cant really see that much of a difference in all of those photos.

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-19 14:21:39

It’s amazing what makes some people click and not others… that’s why we must split test non stop.

 
 
2008-08-18 07:27:41

This is nice post by you..

 
Comment by WebTrafficROI.com
2008-08-18 14:12:29

I wonder what the major difference in the images are except for the colour shades.. that would impact clicks…Can you share the conversions from the different images ads , the less clicked ads could have better conversions….

 
Comment by Nicholas Chase
2008-08-18 15:00:02

Zac, Interesting post. I’m just starting with Yahoo Search Marketing and some Hub Pages adsense. May try MSN next week, lot’s to learn. Respectfully, Nicholas http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Guitar-Hub

 
Comment by Zak Show
2008-08-18 18:30:02

Interesting!

 
Comment by Project Wealthy
2008-08-19 11:09:58

Can you earn any money from advertising on Facebook?

Comment by Zac Johnson
2008-08-19 14:22:32

Definitely! It’s not as easy as it was before to get ads approved, but keep working at it and you can still make good money.

Comment by Mr. Javo
2008-08-20 23:04:31

I tried to get an ad about fitness with a girl showing her abs and FB refused my add because I was showing “nudity images” =S, how could you show that???? tell me your secret! :twisted:

 
 
 
Comment by myCutegalaxy!
2008-08-19 13:06:31

Very nice post Zac, and a good point out about the images. Will try it out!

 
Comment by Mr. Javo
2008-08-20 23:02:54

Hey nice tips, thank you for sharing this experience. Certainly an image can attract more/less people, the impact will be different…

 
Comment by Webmaster Resources
2008-08-23 22:08:30

I am not able to get my ad approved for Search Engine Optimization Services!! :(

 
Comment by Otooo
2008-08-24 03:26:32

It sure does make a difference - just like text PPC advertising - u gotta catch their eye

 
Comment by tfpromo
2008-08-25 17:08:47

Wondering if you could answer a question..When you launch one of these campaigns, at what point do you feel it will be a success? By that I mean, how many clicks in (without a conversion) do you decide whether to let it run or pull the plug…

 
Comment by Eva White
2008-08-27 08:52:49

Hmmm, nice pictures!

BTW, nice case study too.:}

 
Comment by Geneva
2008-08-28 16:00:26

thanks for the post on this zac, very helpful. I think the top 2 look like real guys/homemade shots, opposed to the bottom 3 airbrushed/mannequins.

 
Comment by lopcxf fowzxqpvi
2008-09-27 08:33:54

qgyk polyuka hsjlyi hfuca yqeu tnkuwlajh thuboj

 
Comment by elmo live
2008-10-21 15:11:33

I should probalby just use my abs on my campagn..look a lot better than those!!

Okay, enough with the jokes, deff test your images!!

 
Comment by digga live
2008-10-29 15:14:11

I’d like to try facebook ads sometime, I hear there strict. Anyone else have trouble getting there ads accepted?

 
Comment by Eleonora
2009-01-26 19:21:18

Hack again?!

 
Comment by Custom Term Paper
2009-07-17 05:56:22

havent heard about this from anyone else yet. but will surely give it a try now.
i have a facebook account but i do not use it much. rarely i guess

Custom Term Paper’s last blog post..Un astudentessa racconta la propria preparazione agli esami universitari a Bari

 
Comment by oes tsetnoc
2009-11-17 08:51:48

Wow, I never thought that it can increase the traffic like that. Thanks for informing!

 
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