Deal with Custom Audiences in Facebook
Custom Audiences = Complexity Explosion
In our previous article reviewing the basics of Facebook Ads, we touched on the importance of building custom audiences with Facebook’s features.
Age, gender, location, and Interests can all be modified for custom audiences… and… well… the sheer number of combinations that can be made from these factors alone is remarkably complex. Even the term for its growing sophistication takes your head for a spin… combinatorial explosions. Sheesh.
But no worries – this blog post takes a deeper dive into the complexity that comes with building multi-factor custom audiences on Facebook. While each essential for succeeding with a modest marketing budget on Facebook, so all Shopify business owners, take out a piece of paper and #2 pencil! This analysis goes “all in” on the complexity of creating custom audiences for Facebook
Why Are Custom Audiences So Important for Facebook Ads?
The first point to note: you need to build multiple custom audience combinations for marketing success on Facebook. It’s a response to the sea of 2 billion users out there, being exposed to ad banner after ad banner as they scroll down their news feed.
Think of it like this – if you had the time and resources to create a unique, tailor-made ad for each individual customer, sales would increase infinitely. So long as the data-gathering methods are clearly stated, consumers vastly prefer customized ads to overly generalized ones. Because you can create up to 500 custom audiences on Meta, we suggest taking full advantage of that by creating more custom audiences, not less.
Now, here’s where the concept of “combinatorial explosions” comes in – curating an individual ad for anything over a few customers is impossible. That would mean creating a “custom audience” of one, potentially thousands of times over. What if you are trying to reach a customer base of 50,000?
The Basics of Building Custom Facebook Audiences
After clicking “custom audience” on Facebook ad’s interface, there are four broad categories you can break the “audience factors” into:
Data source
Helps you target potential customers based on how they have engaged with your online store so far. Have they visited the site already? Specific web pages? Have they spent a substantial amount of time browsing? And are you pulling from web traffic, Facebook page engagement, Instagram, or some other data source? Remember, these customers may be in varying stages of the “AIDA” framework (awareness, Interest, Desire, Action). Therefore, breaking down your custom audience by analyzing their story through data points will inform how to further engage them to increase sales.
Demographics
Pretty straightforward – are you aiming for male, female, or nonbinary audiences? What age brackets? For example, if you are selling cheap vintage tees with a female cut, you are likely targeting women ages 16-35. Overall, demographics are a key component of creating effective custom audiences that drive sales.
Location
Aiming to reach the entire USA is far more costly than trying to reach a single state or region. So, make sure to tinker with different location settings based on your customer data. If you cast too broad a net, you’ll dilute the ability to keep engaging with that customer base; it will become too cost-prohibitive.
Interests
This is where things get interesting. Stacking and layering interests is key to creating target audiences. As you narrow down and tailor each custom audience, you can add interests that create a fuller picture of the users you are trying to reach. Most importantly, focus on the fact you can target individuals with “Interest A or Interest B,” as well as, “Interest A and also Interest B.” Both serve very different functions, as explained below!
“Stacking” or “Layering Interests” – Be Specific as Possible to Increase Ad Effectiveness
Specificity is crucial to have your ads compete with larger-budget businesses. For example, you could adjust the settings to advertise only to males 18-34 on the East Coast who have an expressed interest in sports or sports apparel
Even more, you can “stack” or “layer” interests to bring laser-precision to your custom audiences. Using the example above, interest stacking could set an audience that shows ads only to males 18-34 on the East Coast, who have an expressed interest in sports/sports apparel or have liked the official NBA, NFL, MLB, or NHL Facebook pages!
In contrast to “stacking,” interest layering more effectively narrows down your target audience. You could set an audience that shows ads only to males 18-34 on the East Coast, who have an expressed interest in sports/sports apparel and also have liked the official NBA, NFL, MLB, or NHL Facebook pages! Effectively “layering” interests for your custom audiences mean each ad creative will be tailor-made for different segments of your audience. The more layers, the more precise the audience. You can also exclude certain segments of these audiences to make the ad campaign’s target outreach even more efficient
Depending on the size of your business, the “sweet spot” may be anywhere from 50,000 to 1 million+ Just remember… the budget goes up the larger audience you have! On modest marketing budgets, it’s better to reach an audience of 1,000 with multiple ads to drive engagement, rather than reach an audience of 100,000 just once. The latter will be breezed over by users, driving no traffic nor sales to your store.
Conclusion: Deal Better with the Complexity of Custom Audiences thanks to Automated Software
Figuring out which custom audiences to create, based on which data sources, demographics, locations, and interests, becomes an exercise in compounding complexity. There are hypothetically hundreds to thousands of effective custom audience combinations for your store, and knowing which ones optimize your store for sales success is a full time job, if even possible.
Therefore, we recommend deploying automated software provided by Ad360 to bring laser-precision to your custom audience curation for Faceboook Ads. Not only do we specialize in analyzing user data for promotional campaigns, the time saved going through it yourself will be a massive burden lifted from your shoulders.
Concluding, Ad360 offers a free demo to help optimize your Faceboook ads and custom audience curation. We’ll handle the complexity of combinatorial explosions for you 😊 Cheers, and happy selling!
Boost your Shopify Store with Facebook Ads
Simple, Bold Strategies to Boost Sales with Facebook Ads
Introduction – Reach a Sea of Two Billion
While Gen Z may complain that Facebook is “lame” now, or “Meta” as we should be calling now, that is far from the truth when it comes to using Facebook Ad campaigns. 2 billion users is nothing to scoff at, and Facebook has built a remarkable ad platform to help Shopify business owners reach a wider target audience.
This blog post examines how Facebook ads are unique from Google Ads, as well as how targeting potential customers based on interests – rather than preferred keywords – could be the keystone to increasing your sales!
The Basics: Account Setup & Goals
First things first, you need a Facebook business account set up with an ad account in place. Once you have Pixel (Facebook’s answer to Google Analytics) activated, connect your Shopify store! You can do so by downloading the “Connect Meta” app on Shopify.
Next up, pick the “goal” of your ad. If you were in the military, this would act as the primary objective – we’d recommend starting with “boosting traffic” or “conversions” to start, but Meta lists 11 different objectives here. Depending on where you feel your target customers are in the “sales funnel,” you may want to simply bring awareness, get views, generate leads, or drive engagement.
Target Audiences: Time to Pick your Lane
Perhaps the most important decision for any ad campaign is designating your target audience. Facebook allows you to segment customers into the following classifications:
1. Age
Self-explanatory. Are you targeting the Gen Z or old folks? Picking a specific age demographic usually helps your ad campaigns effectiveness and efficiency in driving sales.
2. Location
Again, straight-forward. You can narrow down what region of the world you are placing your ads. With Ad360’s software supporting your Facebook ad campaign, you can narrow down the search to a single city block!
3. Interests
This is where Facebook Ads can differ significantly in their function from Google ads. Because Facebook collects profile data on all 2 billion+ users, setting customer interests can focus on their hobbies, interest categories, page likes, searchable keywords, Facebook usage, or online buying history.
Pick hobbies listed on the Facebook Ad dashboard that align with your product (e.g. – a basketball player is targeted with Nike shoes ad). Interests listed in their “Information about me” (e.g. – a fashion lover is targeted by a vintage clothing site) can also be important to consider when optimizing your ad placements for maximum sales growth!
“Stacking” or “Layering Interests” – Get as Specific as Possible to Increase Ad Effectiveness
Specificity is crucial to have your ads compete with larger-budget businesses. For example, you could adjust the settings to advertise only to males 18-34 on the East Coast who have an expressed interest in sports or sports apparel
Even more, you can “stack” or “layer” interests to bring laser-precision to your custom audiences. Using the example above, interest stacking could set an audience that shows ads only to males 18-34 on the East Coast, who have an expressed interest in sports/sports apparel or have liked the official NBA, NFL, MLB, or NHL Facebook pages!
Interest Layering more effectively narrows down your target audience; it could set an audience that shows ads only to males 18-34 on the East Coast, who have an expressed interest in sports/sports apparel and also have liked the official NBA, NFL, MLB, or NHL Facebook pages!
In short, effectively “layering” interests for your custom audiences mean each ad creative will be tailor-made for different segments of your audience. The more layers, the more precise the audience. You can also exclude certain segments of these audiences to make the ad campaign’s target outreach even more efficient.
Conclusion: What to Do if Facebook Ads Feels Too Technical or Overwhelming
In conclusion, there are a lot of moving variables that factor into your Facebook ad campaigns. Straddling this granular level of detail over several social media platforms can definitely make your head spin. If you feel you could use some support analyzing and bringing all your different ad channels under one roof, reach out for a free demo by Ad360 today! We’ll make it our mission to optimize your next Facebook ad campaign for success 😊
Google Ad Secrets for your Shopify Store
Introduction – Being “Seen” on Google Search
With 8.5 billion searches executed a day, Google Ads are a primary promotional tool for Shopify owners. However, it’s not as easy as “1, 2 3,” to suddenly begin boosting traffic to your store and converting sales with Google ads. In fact, a large majority of Shopify store owners express a certain level of discontent when trying to optimize their Google ads efforts.
One even said, “It’s at the point where I would pay someone to do my Google Ad campaigns if they know what they are doing.”
… Well guess what! This blog provides the 360° view on how to organize Google ad campaigns to maximized sales. There is a way to compete with retail giants with Google ads, so long as you are razor sharp in establishing your target audience, network, and keyword phrases. Read below to learn how to approach your Google ad campaigns for increased sales and Shopify success!
Basics of Setting up Google Ad Campaigns
To start, let’s establish that Google Shopping ads reach over a billion users, and 75% of shoppers regularly use Google products when browsing online. While starting a Google Ad campaign does cost money upfront, it is a worthy investment if you can establish a strong marketing strategy beforehand.
First, you need to establish a location and network – what region are you trying to reach with your ads? The Entire USA? A region like the West Coast? A single state, city, or neighborhood? Precision here will save you money, so make sure you know exactly who you want to reach
From there, Google has multiple networks to run ads on, but we’ll focus on search engine ads and Google Display ads to provide the basics. Simply put, search engine ads are the “promoted results” that appear at the top of the page when users conduct a search. With the right keywords, your products will be displayed right alongside giants like Wal Mart and Amazon. That way, shoppers are exposed to your store, appearing as just a viable option as any! The exposure from promoted search ads drive sales for Shopify stores, so they are worth considering.
The second major network are Google display ads, which appear as those little banners or sidebars that pop up while users search the web. In other words, a potential customer may be looking up news or their favorite content from a Google search, and the display network is smart enough to follow them and, should you place a bid, display your ad across the internet for searches that originated with Google. The Google Display Network reaches 90% of all internet users around the world so… yeah. Worth checking out to increase your Shopify store sales 😊
Keywords, Keywords, KEYwords
It takes a bit of vision and research, but picking the right keywords for each ad campaign is a crucial step to optimizing their success. Every business and niche product has a different set of keywords, but it’s best to ask, “What are most likely the words and phrases people type in when looking for a product like mine?” Conduct market research from there to make sure you align your keywords with what likely customers type into the Google search bar.
Generating Quality Ad Banners
After conducting the necessary market research, it is time to tap into your inner graphic designer, and create a quality ad. While they understand their product intimately, a lot of Shopify store owners struggle to make their brand stand out or “pop” off the page through ads. Be aware that Ad360 provides instant ad banner generation with its software. We extract the products and pricing directly from your Shopify store, providing over a dozen options to pick from. That way, you can run effective A/B testing to see which banners best increase sales to your store!
Conclusion: Delegate Google Ad Campaigns to Free Up Time
Now, making sense of your store’s Google analytics readout can be quite a chore and very time-consuming. Ad360 makes it our businesses to evaluate customer data & google analytics for you!
That way, you can focus on quality products and service, while we handle maximizing the Return on Ads Spent (ROAS) for your store. If you are interested in delegating these Google Ad Campaigns, reach out for a free demo by Ad360 today!
Make Sense of Bounce Rate To Boost Sales!
Introduction – Bouncing Across the Web
When you browse the web, consider how quickly you can navigate to a page, decide in a fraction of a second, “Mmmm… no.” Then, you repeat the same bouncy activity on a new site, hopping webpage to webpage until you finally find a landing page that catches your attention.
… What about all those pages you bounced through without a second thought?? What if your business ends up like that?!!?
That is why analyzing your online business’s bounce rate is so important!
This blog covers the basics of bounce rates, the percent of visitors who navigate from your site after seeing only one page. We’ll cover how to frame your bounce rate among other key analytics, as well as marketing strategies to reduce the bounce rate. Reduced bounce rate = increased sales, so it’s worth a quick look!
Bounce Rate: A “Bird’s Eye View” of Your Site Activity
It’s best to think of bounce rate as a general “top-down” web metric. While bounce rates do not tell the whole story of your site, they do give an interesting perspective on how many folks click through your page without thinking twice.
For optimizing your online store and increasing sales, it’s worth paying attention to a fundamental metric like bounce rate. Just remember it is only one piece of the Google analytics puzzle, so there is hope for your business even if it currently has a high bounce rate!
Key Steps to Improve your Bounce Rate & Increase Sales
With that said, below are key steps you can take today to improve your bounce rate and boost customer sales. Review to improve your online marketing savvy:
- Page load time
Starting off with a straightforward one here – your webpages should take no longer than 2-3 seconds to load! Why? Over half of visitors will bounce after a 3 second delay.
Run a quick test yourself on a device outside your network to see how quickly your site loads. You may to compress site data, reduce site redirections, streamline Javascript/HTML code, improve server infrastructure, or use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) to help boost up your page load time. User Google’s pagespeed tool linked here to check your load time! Sometime as simple as reducing the size of images on a page can improve its speed, so make sure to check your page load time out!
- “Let your webpages breathe”
Remember the example in the intro – browsing the web is usually a passive activity. Your site must cater to the visitor, not the other way around. If the webpage they land on is cluttered, they’ll say, “Oh geez, I don’t what I’m supposed to look at,” and move on.
Thus, it’s best to break up your webpage info. Do not be afraid of having some blank space in between content! In fact, it “lets the user up” to breath and gives them a second to process your site’s presentation.
- Use heat map analytics to see exactly where visitors’ eyeballs are first drawn
Heat map analytics can be a useful tool for showing exactly where visitors are drawn to most on your webpage. The heat map will “light up” orange/red, informing you where their eyes are first drawn to. Knowing that key info helps you reconstruct the user experience from their point of view. Doing so is a surefire way to increase your online sales!
- Cut down on excessive widgets and sidebars
Having key widgets or sidebars helps bring a helpful dynamic element to your site. However, some businesses use them to the point it overtakes and distracts from the actual content! Moreover, added sidebars could also contain Javascript or HTML errors that cause issues for users. Tactfully employ widgets, as they will potentially sap your customer’s attention away from placing an order.
- Give each webpage a central focus that funnels visitors to a sales deal
Help visitors keep their eye on the prize! Each webpage should contain a healthy balance of content and “call to action” buttons that funnel them along to the checkout page. In other words, make sure each webpage brings it back to your “bread and butter” for increasing sales.
- Clear, easy search bar that covers all your pages
The best-performing websites have an easy-to-use, fluid search bar that searches all content within the site. Think of it like constructing a “Mini-Google” that helps visitors sift through all the products and pages you have available! The quick the search bar loads as the user types, the more likely they are to purchase products and boost your sales.
- Optimize mobile versions of your online store for increased sales
Some Shopify owners think they are all set after setting up a “desktop” version of their site… but remember we live in the Instagram Era. You neeeeeeeeed to craft a mobile-friendly version of your store that effectively condenses your webpages down to a phone screen. This is why successful businesses research creating a separate “app version” of their product. They want to streamline the mobile user experience to boost their sales!
Conclusion – Ad360 is Here to Help Reduce your Bounce Rate!
If you feel implementing any of the above-mentioned ideas sounds too time-consuming, reach out to try a free demo at Ad360 today! We offer a free evaluation of your website’s metrics, providing concrete, actionable marketing solutions for your site. That way, you can be happy, productive, and successful while you increase your sales online 😊 Cheers, we hope that you enjoyed this breakdown of bounce rates!
Starting with $0 and 1 product on Shopify
Several persons recently asked us what Shopify themes they should be using and how much it would cost them.
In particular, one person was wondering which theme would suit well a single product store.
The great news is that Shopify has a wonderful Theme store, with themes of all kinds. Regardless of your industry, product, or type of business, we’re sure you’ll find several that you’ll like 🙂
There are nice themes for all sorts of tastes, with varied aspects and designs. Some themes need to be purchased for a once-off fee, but there are Free themes available as well!
In particular, there are 6 great free themes that use the latest architecture called v2.0 Online Store themes. These 6 themes are definitely a great place to start!
In addition to being beautiful and performant, the v2.0 Online Stores by Shopify are very flexible and adaptable, making them good choices for single product websites. Indeed, you want to compensate for the lack of collections by adding more info and context around your brand and product benefits.
In the video below, we’re reviewing the Dawn, Taste, and Sense themes with the angle of how to adapt them for a single product website and we’re showing at the end of the video a concrete example of a great single product website.
If you’d like help setting up a store, or want a more in-depth analysis of your advertising setup / targeting options / campaigns data, feel free to book a call with Ad360!