Online Entrepreneurs #05 Holiday Guide: The Science of Scaling an Offer on Facebook

Happy Holidays!

I hope you are having a wonderful time with those special people in your life.

And because it’s Christmas, I have a special gift for you.

Today, I am going to talk a bit about the art and science of scaling an offer.

With the algorithm getting really, really good at finding the right people, scaling a Facebook offer boils down to these 3 things (in order of importance):

1. The offer

2. The creatives

3. The ad campaign set-up

The Offer:

Think of your offer as the heart of your scaling strategy.

In my last post, I talked a bit about the importance of out-of-the box thinking. 

And, I had shared how some ecomm businesses are using the SLO model to increase their revenues.

Now, alongside funnel design and creativity, knowing your numbers is as important, if not more.

Knowing your numbers will help you objectively gauge the strength of your offer.

For example, these are some of the metrics I like to focus on:

• Cost per unique outbound click

• Is there a huge fall-off from the ad to the website?

• Cost per checkout page visit

• What % of revenues are coming in through cross-selling, upselling, and email?

Number crunching helps me figure out the funnel leaks, and then take the necessary corrective next steps.

Recently, I went over the numbers for a SLO funnel to discover that upsell 1, the biggest AOV contributor, was hugely underperforming.

The fix?

We clubbed a consulting call with upsell 1, and in the process, added $21 to the AOV.

I hope you are seeing why knowing your numbers is vital for scaling your offer.

Okay,

Let’s move on to the second thing on our agenda today…

The ad creatives

This includes the ad video/image and copy.

Unlike Google search ads, where the prospect is actively searching for a solution, your prospects on Facebook and Instagram are often just mindlessly scrolling.

Which is why, the image or video thumb are really, really important since they do the job of a pattern interrupt.

This is especially true if you are marketing a simple, easily understandable ecomm product.

But, if you are marketing a product that requires some explaining, the intro copy is probably as important as the image/video thumb, if not more.

This intro ad copy is the ad body copy that you can view before the “Click More…”

For example, apart from Scoreify, I also own an ecommerce business called Truswing. One of our most popular products in our store is the TruSwing Pro.

Now, unlike some of our other products like “flight practice balls” or “portable hitting nets”,  a buyer typically has a bunch of questions about the TruSwing Pro.

And unlike these other simpler products, the benefits and uses for the TruSwing Pro are not instantly evident from the ad creative.

Which is why, I like to test out different images AND different intro copy angles when I am running paid ads for TruSwing Pro.

And now, let's talk a bit about the…

The ad campaign set-up

In a nut-shell, scaling ads is about isolating winners, and shifting media spend.

This is the primary role of a media buyer. 

Though, this has evolved/broadened quite a bit, but that’s a topic for another day.

See,

When you are trying to split-test and isolate winners, there are a couple of ways you can go about it.

First, you can have 5-10 different ads in a single ad-set.

Where the only thing that is different is the image or the video. Everything else is the same ~ same headline, same copy etc.

Or, you can split test multiple image variations, copy variations, headline variations using dynamic ads.

And once you have enough data, you can set up another campaign with just the winning variation.

I also like to use automated rules for turning ads off.

For example, you can run ads to 3,000 impressions, and then have automated rules to turn them off if they don’t hit your criteria.

And lastly, when it comes to increasing ad budget, you can stick to the tried-and-tested formula of 20% increase, every 2 days.

This has been true for years now. 

However, if your ad costs are increasing, and this strategy is not working for you, you can set up an automated rule to increase your campaign budget by 2%-4%, every single day.

A slower rate of increase gives the algorithm more time to adjust and learn.

I hope I have given you enough food for thought here.

Happy holidays and happy scaling!