If you want to get cheap clicks and conversions from Facebook ads then ad testing is a must. In this article I will show you how to use Facebook Ad testing and what elements you should test first.
How Facebook Ad Testing Works
Facebook lets you create more than one ad for your campaign. When you do this Facebook will show all your ads to the same audience. After you let your campaign run for a while you can look at those ads and see which ones are working best for you. Then simply turn off the loosers and let your winners run.
To create an ad test simply go into Facebook’s Power-Editor at http://www.facebook.com/ads/manage/powereditor/. Choose the Ad Set that want to run an ad test with and click the Ads button. Here you will be in the create ad screen.
Create your first ad and then press the duplicate button:
Facebook will make an exact duplicate of your ad. Now you can change it around. Make sure to give your new ad a new name. You can make as many duplicates as you want. I typically will make 4 to 8 copies of my ad and will test one element at a time.
Once you make your ads press the upload button in power editor. Facebook will start showing all the variations of your ads as soon as they are approved.
The ads you are creating here are called “Dark Posts” and will not show up on your Facebook page. You do not need to worry about floodding your page with the same status update (ad) over and over.
What To Test?
Pictures
I usually start with the exact same ad and only change the picture. Usually I will make 4 to 8 different ads with different pictures in them. You will be surprised how much a picture can change how well your ad preforms. So start there.
Headlines
Next I will find the winning ad (the best picture) and make 3 copies of it. This time I change the headline. So I am testing the headline now since I already have the best picture. By this time you should start seeing cheaper clicks and conversions.
Call To Action Buttons
After your Headline is tested out try changing the call to action button. Make 3 or 4 copies of your ad and choose the different buttons Facebook gives you. One of them will preform better than the others.
Ad Text
Believe it or not the final thing you test is your actual ad text. The reason is because most people will never see it. It is usually burried below the “read more…” link. Your headlines, pictures, and call to action buttons will give you a bigger boost. So start in the order I listed above for the fast results.
Ad Testing Tips
Facebook does not show your ads evenly. If you are testing 5 ads do not expect them to all get the same number of views. Facebook is smart enough to know which ads seem to be preforming better and will show those more often. For this reason do not discount an ad that has not had a lot (like over 1,000) impressions yet. It just may not have ad a chance to be seen by enough people.
Test one thing at a time. Yeah I know. It’s tempting to completely redo an ad and test it against your original. The problem with this approach is IF your new ad wins you will have no idea why. When you keep everything the same and only change a picture you know it was the picture that got the ad convert better. Same for the headline. But if you changed both the ad and headline you wouldn’t know which one made the difference.
Facebook gives you a great built in testing platform with their ad system. Make sure to use it. Otherwise you will be leaving money on the table. I can tell you pretty much nobody gets it right the first time so you need to test. We are all really bad at guessing which ads will win. Let your audience tell you. Do not try to guess.
If you want to learn more about Facebook Advertising and how to grow your business with it. Then check out my free webinar where I show you how to grow your business with Facebook in 7 proven steps.