How to increase store sales with Meta Ads?

Although experts predicted that Facebook’s time was coming to an end due to the growing popularity of TikTok, the platform is doing well, and many entrepreneurs are still choosing to advertise their e-commerce business on Facebook and Instagram through Meta ads. However, not everyone is aware of effective strategies.How to increase your online store sales with Meta Ads without spending mythical millions of coins? See our practical tips.

Why Meta ads are important for e-commerce?

The power of e-commerce is based solely on online channels, so if you want to effectively reach your online audience, you need to diversify your promotion channels. One effective solution is to choose Meta Ads, an advertising system that allows you to promote your business for a fee on Facebook and Instagram. What is the reason for choosing this platform for online store promotion?

• Huge user base – the Meta ecosystem and their affiliated platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, What’s App) are used daily by millions of users who are also customers of online stores.
• Wide targeting capabilities – Meta’s advertising ecosystem allows you to target and retarget users who are your ideal customers and could potentially be interested in your offer.
• Multiple ad formats and detailed analytics – in Meta Ads you will choose not only text ads, but also video ads or ads in Stories and Reels, and what’s more, you will be able to analyze each ad in detail thanks to in-depth statistics.

9 tricks to boost your store sales with Meta Ads

What aspects of Facebook creative should you consider when creating an ad? See what should be particularly important to you in promoting your store in the Meta ecosystem.

1. Create a not-to-be-missed offer

Without an enticing offer, you can’t expect advertising to succeed. Your offer must be so good that potential customers will feel that they have found the best opportunity and it would be foolish not to take advantage of it. How to achieve this effect

• Show your audience specific elements that differentiate your products from those of your competitors. This could be high-quality materials, exceptional customer service or ongoing discounts.
• Introduce a sense of urgency. Encourage your audience to take action as soon as possible by adding time discounts, countdowns or limits on the number of products.
• Personalize your offerings. Meta allows you to segment your audience and display ads to more than one specific demographic group. Create campaigns that target different audience segments and present them with different offers.

2. Create a target audience with similar interests

After launching your first Meta campaign, you will have gathered enough data toreach new audiences using the similar audiences feature. Meta allows you to compile a list of potential buyers based on the current profiles of existing interested customers. All you need to do is upload a copy of the list of users found in your database, which can be email subscribers or simply interested leads, or you can create a custom audience from people who have used your app or visited your site. In the latter case, you need to activate the Meta Pixel.

3. Retarget users who have not finalized their purchases

Remarketing is a smart way to convince interested audiences that your product will add value to their lives. All the people who visited your site and selected products but did not complete their purchases can be targeted with Meta ads. Chances are that these are very interested buyers, so it’s worth tracking them. The problem of so-called prorated shopping carts is common in e-commerce. It is known that you will not convince every recipient to buy, but you can reduce the number of people who abandon their purchase. Using Meta Ads, you can retarget these users with better offers (e.g. including a discount) to convince them to complete their purchase and perhaps buy more products. See the most common mistakes in Meta Ads remarketing campaigns.

Learn how to implement effective retargeting for your store.

4. Build and promote a referral program

Referral programs are very beneficial because they automate the marketing process for your brand, making it completely maintenance-free. When you set up a referral program and influencers start promoting your brand, you increase the chance of reaching the right audience at the right time and through people your customers trust.

Investing in a referral program will also give you UGC (User-Generated Content), which you can import into your marketing tools and publish engaging organic posts, as well as build converting paid campaigns. There are several benefits of having a referral program for your e-commerce business:

• You get credible reviews and testimonials, which make your products seem trustworthy.
• Customers acquired through referrals are generally more valuable and loyal than those acquired through traditional advertising.

Check out the guide to affiliate marketing.

5. Build custom audiences

Non-standard audiences is an advanced targeting option in Meta Ads that allows you to reach audiences who have already interacted with your brand in some way. With this strategy, you are able to use data about user activity across channels to reach people who are more likely to buy with your ad. Which non-standard audiences for an online store is it worth targeting with Facebook Ads?

• Email list recipients,
• Recipients visiting your website,
• receivers of your mobile app,
• people who interacted with your brand on social media, e.g. through likes, comments, shares,
• customers who abandoned the product cart,
• customers who bought specific products within a certain period of time,

Sprsaw how to save abandoned shopping carts in e-commerce.

6. Create engaging video ads

A picture expresses more than a thousand words, and video… even more! An effective video campaign engages much more powerfully than text or static images alone. Take advantage of this to promote your store in Meta Ads, combining the impact on multiple senses at the same time. How to squeeze even more out of your store’s video ads?

• Pose a strong opening – remember that the first seconds of the video are crucial to keep the viewer’s attention. Don’t waste them – start with a dynamic, engaging introduction that will grab the viewer’s attention in the first three seconds. This can be a visual effect, intriguing text or a surprising element.
• Create short videos, preferably lasting no more than 15-30 seconds You have a limited amount of time, so focus on the main message rather than the details.
• Care for high quality – good lighting, aesthetically pleasing performance and clear sound. Prepare the video in different formats (square, vertical, horizontal) to suit both Facebook and Instagram display.
• Use storytelling and tell a story to engage the viewer emotionally. This can be a story related to the product, the opinion of a satisfied customer or a presentation of the brand’s values. Be authentic – show real situations and emotions.
• Add subtitles for those watching the video without sound and use dynamic graphics, animations or visual effects to make the video more attractive and attention-grabbing. See more secrets to effective video in advertising campaigns.

7. Create compelling ad text

With the help of content, you can not only appeal to your audience, but also convince them. However, promoting your store in Meta Ads will not be effective if you use clichéd advertising texts. How to increase in-store sales with advertising texts on FB and Instagram and what should the perfect advertising message for these platforms contain?”

• A compelling headline – short, concise, but attention-grabbing and curiosity-inducing.
• Value to the recipient (unique selling proposition) – focus on the benefits the recipient will get from your product or service. Show how you solve his problems or meet his needs.
• Strong CTA (call to action) – should be clear and direct (e.g., Buy Now, Take Advantage of Discount).
• Social proof of validity – add snippets of reviews and testimonials from real customers from various channels lib numbers proving the popularity of the product (e.g. more than 10,000 copies sold). List the certifications and awards you can boast of.

8. Create a product catalog

Product catalog in Meta Ads is a tool that allows you to manage and promote your online store’s assortment on Meta platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.Product catalog is a digital database containing information about all products available in your store, such as name, price, description, images, categories and other specifications You can add products to the catalog manually, using a CSV file or through integration with an e-commerce platform. You will use this catalog to:

• carousel ads,
• Avantage+ shopping campaigns,
• themed promotions (e.g., product bundles for summer) and promotions and complementary products (smartphone, case, headphones, dedicated charger),
• personalization – Meta Advantage+’s catalog ads feature collects data from your audience and displays personalized ads to them based on the products they browse on your site or app.

9. Plan an exciting giveaway

Gifts don’t get boring for anyone or ever, and for you, organizing a contest can be a source of valuable data about your recipients. With giveaways, you can:

• convert contest participants into new subscribers to whom you then target ads,
• start a panto mail that will build awareness of your brand at little cost,
• simultaneously increase reach, engagement and sales by encouraging participants to like, comment and share your brand’s content.

Summary

Increasing online store sales with Meta Ads requires a strategic approach that includes a variety of marketing techniques. Precise targeting to reach the right audiences and the use of advanced tools such as custom audiences or ads using a product catalog are key. However, if you take your creativity to new heights, you stand a chance to stand out in the market and outperform the competition.