Although Facebook’s huge community totals an average of 1.52 billion daily active users, connecting with those users from a marketing standpoint isn’t always easy. Just posting on Facebook isn’t enough anymore, and unfortunately, neither are traditional Sponsored Posts in some cases.
One way to stand out and boost sales is by promoting a discount or deal with the ads platform instead. Today, we look at how to create Facebook offers, why marketers should want to, and a variety of Facebook offer ads examples.
What are Facebook offer ads?
Offer ads are promoted discounts you can share with existing followers and other target audiences on Facebook to encourage them to shop on your website, your physical store, or both. They display like many other Facebook ad formats, natively in users’ News Feeds:
Facebook offer claim ads are available on both mobile and desktop in three different formats:
1. Online offer ads
These can only be used on a website, and only by Pages with at least 400 likes. People who claim mobile offer ads receive a discount code, are sent to a website to shop, and can use the offer code at checkout:
2. In-store offer ads
True to its name, these ads can only be used in a physical store. People who claim in-store offer ads receive a barcode or QR code that is pulled from a mobile device at checkout:
Users also get an email with the offer details, in case they prefer to print it out.
3. In-store or online offer ads
These ads can be redeemed online or in a physical store.
Now that you know the three different offer ad types, let’s review why you’d want to use them and how they can benefit you.
Why should you use Facebook offer ads?
1. Reach new people
Offer ads help you connect with current customers and acquire new ones. They get greater reach than other ad types because users pay more attention to money-saving offers than traditional brand messages delivered through sponsored posts. People are also more likely to share offer ads, which helps further extend your reach.
2. Boost sales
Offer ads are meant to get people into your stores, either online or in person. A discount is more likely to generate sales than a traditional sponsored post that doesn’t offer any money-saving promotion.
3. Create a sense of urgency
Many Facebook offers include description copy at the bottom of the ad announcing a limited time offer:
Some even include an “offers remaining” count, or a specific expiration date corresponding to the end of the offer:
Any of these details can motivate potential customers to purchase if they know time or quantity is limited.
4. Send automatic reminders
Viewers can save each offer ad type by clicking the three dots in the top-right corner of the ad and clicking “Save offer:”
When someone saves an offer, it’s stored in their Offers bookmark to use later and reminded about it on Facebook up to three times (depending on their personal notification preferences).
Users who save online offers are reminded to use them when they switch devices and again before the offer expires.
People who save in-store offers will also get reminders before the offer expires, but also when they’re physically nearby the store (as long as their phone has location sharing enabled).
As the advertiser, you can see how many people are interested in your offer by viewing “Offers Saved” in your ads reporting. This analytics feature provides insight into how many people view your offer, how many click it, and how many redeem it if you’re using a Conversions or Store Traffic advertising objective.
However, there are two details to consider before creating an ad:
- You can’t edit an offer ad after it’s created. If you want to make any changes, or even extend the offer, you must create an entirely new campaign.
- Claimed offers do not equate to purchases, which may lead to a significant difference between users who claim your offer and those who purchase.
Here’s a look at one company who saw great success with Facebook offer ads.
Swish: A Facebook offer ads case study
Swish used Facebook video and offer ads to promote a 50% discount redeemable at any 7-Eleven store in the Philippines. They intended to raise awareness and encourage customers to visit a retail store to make a purchase.
Since the company wasn’t running any other promotions, they measured the lift in offline sales that resulted from the campaign. From June to November 2017, the campaign produced:
- 66% increase in offline sales, compared to the previous month
- 4.5x return on ad spend
- 18,856 claimed offers
Swish’s campaign proved that Facebook offer ads are a powerful way to induce trials for products and make an impact on sales. Tammy Grace C. Ballelos, Assistant Product Manager, elaborates:
Trying Facebook’s offer ads for the first time, we proved that Facebook is a highly effective way to induce trial, helping to link digital marketing with offline sales directly. Considering the stellar results, including a 66% increase in offline sales, we consider Facebook to be a crucial part of our digital marketing strategy—especially for promoting trial and reaching millennials.
How to create offer ads on Facebook
You can do it one of two ways:
Directly on your page
When logged into an admin account, click “Offers.” This will take you through the set-up process. Once the offer is final, you’ll need to “Boost” the post.
In Ads Manager
- Choose from the Traffic, Conversions, or Store Visits objectives:
- The Traffic objective lets you choose where you want to drive traffic (either to your Website or Messenger).
- The Conversions objective lets you promote a website and use a conversion pixel. (If you don’t have a pixel, you must create one).
- The Store Visits objective lets you drive more in-store sales by creating an offer people can save and redeem at your physical store.
- In the section labeled “Offer,” switch the toggle button ON.
- Choose the Page you’re creating the offer for and click “Create Offer.”
- Add details about your offer, choose where it can be redeemed, and set up a unique code or barcode (optional). Then click “Create.”
Note: The Details Page preview shows how your offer ad will display, the Notification preview shows the reminder people will get to redeem your offer, and the Email preview shows how your offer will display in a customer’s inbox:
6. Choose your Audience, Placements, Budget, and Schedule for your offer ad. Then click “Continue.”
7. Choose a format and images/video for your ad, and enter some text that describes your promotion. Then click “Place Order.”
Before you place your ad order, though, there are some rules and best practices to consider.
Best practices for ad creation
Some suggestions for how to make Facebook offer ads work include:
Provide substantial discounts
There’s no minimum discount or value required, but more substantial discounts generally perform better. Offer discounts of at least 20% off typically reach more people than offers of lesser value. Candid offers 25% off their starter kit:
And Yumi offers six jars of their baby superfood for free with purchase:
Use an engaging image or video
Photos or videos of people using a product or service often perform better than photos of a product or service by itself:
(Note: Your Page’s profile picture will show next to your offer in most places, so it’s best not to use the same photo for both.)
Set a reasonable expiration date
When deciding when to run your ad, give people at least a few days to see, save, and claim your offer. Also, allow enough time for your promo to be shared and discussed on Facebook. The ideal offer length is seven days.
Keep it simple
Define your terms and conditions as simple as possible. Keep the language natural and direct, and avoid any unnecessary steps for customers. Make sure your headline is attention-grabbing and features the value of your offer.
Know the ad specs
- Image size: 1,200 x 628 pixels
- Image ratio: 1.9:1
- Offer title: Up to 25 characters
- Ad copy text: Up to 90 characters
- Video size: at least 1,280 by 720 pixels
Sync them with post-click landing pages
Directing prospects to a post-click landing page, rather than homepage or product page, enables you to capture their contact information to nurture them down your sales funnel:
Pin it
Pin your offer to the top of your Facebook Page, so visitors see it anytime on your feed.
Create an offer ad users can’t refuse
Facebook offer ads complement any digital marketers advertising strategy when there’s a potential purchase on the line. Reach new audiences, encourage them to shop, and boost your sales by promoting an offer ad that Facebook users can’t ignore.
For the most up to date ad specs and targeting options so you can create the most optimized offer ad, refer to the Instapage digital advertising specs guide.
