One of the biggest misconceptions about Facebook’s marketing potential is whether Facebook can be a good traffic source for customers who buy stuff from online stores. For every positive story you hear of merchants killing it with Facebook traffic, you’d probably also have read dozens of more merchants who are frustrated with Facebook.
They really cannot make heads or tails of Facebook’s traffic as far as their e-commerce sales are concerned. So instead, they’re drawing a blank. For their life, they cannot convert a heavy volume of traffic from the social network into actual buyers of products.
The bottom line is that there are many horror stories of low e-commerce conversions. Of course, I’m not saying that there are absolutely no conversions at all. But, unfortunately, nobody can make that claim.
But the problem is, you cannot run a successful online store with a few sales here and there. So it would be best if you had an increase or at least a stable predictable conversion rate. So it would help if you had a minimum baseline of predictable conversions.
A lot of people have horror stories because they focus on direct sales. They think that if they post an ad on Facebook selling some trinket and showing it to enough eyeballs, people will buy.
That is a common misconception about Facebook, and this can get expensive very quickly. It really can. This mentality pretty much makes up the bulk of low e-commerce conversion horror stories involving Facebook. They’re all about a direct ad that fails to generate a direct sale.
The truth about Facebook e-commerce conversion rates
Here’s the good news. Facebook can deliver e-commerce sales. However, often, it’s not in the form that you would like. Seriously. You have to be more creative. How does this work? Well, Facebook traffic can convert if you retarget.
In other words, people who have found your website on their own and who have gone to internal pages may have a Facebook account. The next time they log on to their Facebook account, at the same time you’re running a retargeting campaign, your ads will be visible to them. Your ads will remind them to go back to your shopping cart or your website. Again, this is proven to increase ROI.
Facebook can also deliver e-commerce sales through squeeze/funnel page marketing. In other words, you use Facebook to recruit people to your mailing list. Then you use your mailing list for the heavy-lifting, as far as selling stuff to your list goes. At the very minimum, every business should be requesting email addresses from their customers.
Another way Facebook can deliver e-commerce results for your business is through a Facebook page boost. You target lookalike audiences based on the interest of people who already like your page.
Then, you send out content. Using this content, you can profile the interests of the typical high-engagement members of your page. Once you get this essential piece of consumer intelligence, you can run a lookalike audience campaign on Facebook targeting people with those same interests.
The idea is: if you know the interest of the person who buys from you and you advertise to another person with the same set of interests, the chance of that second person buying is much higher than a complete and total stranger.
The bottom line? Yes. Facebook can deliver e-commerce sales, but you have to use its tools the right way. You can’t just go in there, advertise an affiliate link, or a direct link to your store, or a direct link to your product, and expect a sale. It doesn’t work that way. Sure, you can convert occasionally, but chances are you’re not going to get the results you’re expecting. So instead, you should use the techniques outlined above.
If you’re looking for social media marketing, redesign your website and establish your business’s online presence, ensure you check out our services. We have friendly and highly experienced professionals to help you with all your design and digital marketing needs.
Contact us to book your appointment with a web strategist. “Are you looking for help with Facebook Marketing?” Our team has years of experience helping companies increase their online sales and brand awareness.
Contact our friendly team today to schedule a meeting with a web strategist for a free consultation and quote.
