11 Facebook Ads That Can Boost eCommerce Sales: 2022 Guide

There are many ad formats you can run for your business. Do you know which is best to boost your sales?

Geoff Low

April 7, 2022

Demanding People (and Shoppers)

People are extremely demanding.

Or more specifically, online shoppers are extremely demanding.

Shoppers are getting lazier and lazier, in a good way.

They want things fast. They want convenient and quick ways to get the things they want.

In 3 clicks, you get the dress delivered to your doorstep within a week.

You google “Men’s casual watch” are presented with an abundance of shopping options, brands, and compare the best prices.

Here’s a quick stat for you – “Australian Ecommerce market value will be A$35.2 billion by 2021!” - Statista

Facebook eCommerce For Your Business – Will it work?

As an ecommerce business owner, which social media marketing channel should you use? And more importantly, will it work?

Based on our work with eCommerce clients, we find social media has a unique edge. For starters, 54% of Australia uses Facebook.

The problem? Not all of them are looking to buy your product.

Here’s the hard truth: it’s hard to sell on Social Media.

But with a little knowledge and investment in your time, selling and converting customers on Facebook is possible.

Here are 11 types ads of ads that we found to be best to help you boost your eCommerce sales in 2020.

Single Product Ads

*Source: https://adparlor.com/blog/we-ran-557k-in-e-commerce-facebook-ads-heres-what-we-found/*

If you’ve got a winning product to sell, single product ads are for you. The whole intention with single product ads is showcasing the pros and desires of what that product can deliver to your customers. A quick checklist you should have when running single product ads:

Clear image (HD), and aspect ratio relevant to placement (Horizontal: 16:9, Square: 1:1, Vertical: 4:5 or 2:3)
Minimal text on image to reduce noise and distraction
A good offer alongside a good product (Whether it’s % off, reduced $ off, etc)
Talk about the benefits and products of your product, how it can meet your customers’ needs.

Carousel Ads (aka Multi-Product Ads)

*Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/news/product-ads*

If your store has got multiple products to showcase or sell, then carousel ads are for you. Using the same checklist as above, just ensure you have HD images for your different products. Carousel ads are also great for telling a story or splitting a single horizontal image into multiple parts. See example below.

Source: https://manojnegi.in/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Facebook-Carousel-Ad-type-sample.png

Brand Awareness Ads

When you open a new eCommerce store, you might not necessarily be well known yet or getting much traffic, let alone sales. Selling products straight off the bat might be difficult, so building brand awareness and trust is probably your immediate strategy.

When you run brand awareness ads, don’t try to sell. Make it fun, engaging and talk to your customers, who exactly you are and what products you offer. Write ads in a way that makes your target customer realise they’re needing your product! (naturally if you make them realise that then they’ll likely buy from you next!)

Single Video Ads

If you feel like static images don’t do justice for your products, then video ads are for you. The only downside to creating video ads is probably the effort put into it compared to static images.

The limit to video ads is unlimited, so go wild! Tell a story, showcase a feature of your product, or show the amazing benefits it has to offer!

Facebook Collection Ads

*Source: https://adespresso.com/blog/facebook-ad-types-collection-ads-carousel/*

Very similar to carousel ads, however there is a key difference. Despite the similarity in use of multi-images, collection ads are tailored e-commerce and product discovery (optimised for mobile). You’re even able to showcase a video on top of four images, collection ads are a great way to emphases your product and capture your customer’s attention.

Instant Experience Ads

Instant experience ads give your prospects and customers a totally different experience. Most ads run images or videos with a CTA (call-to-action) button, which either prompts them to buy, learn more, etc.

Instant experience ads, however, do not have a CTA at the end of the ad. Instead, it’s a swipe up feature (like Instagram) which opens a mini page (think of it as a mini landing page) which you can use to build trust and sell your product.

There are templates you can use, and many ways you can implement this – based on your creativity. *Do note that Instant Experience ads are best used on mobile only! *

You are free to tell a story, explain in detail the benefits, etc. Sky is the limit!

Dynamic Retargeting Ads

*Source: https://newsfeed.org/how-to-get-started-with-facebooks-dynamic-ads/*

This is the holy grail for eCommerce stores and the sales machine for basically any online business out there. You need to have retargeting/remarketing ads to generate sales. Full stop.

With a product-based business, you have something called dynamic retargeting ads, which means Facebook will show specific products that your prospect has previously viewed. Not just any product, but products where your customers have already shown interest in. That’s right - imagine how powerful that is.

If you don’t have retargeting campaigns set up, you won’t get the sales your business requires.

Traffic Ads

Like brand awareness ads, except there’s a specific intention in driving traffic to your products. Traffic campaigns can be used in many ways, here are some to note:

Build traffic for your retargeting campaigns (retargeting campaigns won’t work unless you have that audience to target, whether it’s website audience, landing page viewers, etc)
Drive them to a specific landing page to view your offer or product (and then for retargeting later)
Driving traffic to a landing page can also be used to generate sales, especially when your audience size is too small for a conversion campaign
If you want your audience to be aware of an offer or product, you can drive traffic there and build the audience

Page Post Engagement (PPE) Ads

Source: https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-ad-examples/

Sometimes, social credibility can really pull the weight and generate the sales you need. What would customers rather buy, or rather, what would you buy – A product ad where there’s 0 engagement on it (no likes, no comments, no shares), or a product ad where there’s many likes, comments and people sharing it?

It’s the same logic when you go to a restaurant. You’d rather go to a restaurant where there’s many people than one where it’s empty (generally).

Running a PPE (post engagement) campaign can really help build social proof you might just need to boost sales. Keep in mind that this is especially handy when your audience size is small as well!

Giveaway Ads

*https://www.shortstack.com/blog/19-successful-instagram-and-facebook-contest-examples/*

Not really an ad, but an idea to boost sales – usually when you have a new offer or product you want to promote. Giveaways are probably the best way to garner interest and gain attention from customers. Obviously, don’t giveaway too much that you’d be at a loss.

This is a handy tip, when the giveaway starts to hurt you a little and is making you feel uncomfortable, that’s when you know the customers would love it. If it’s something you’re totally comfortable giving away, the prize might not be as attractive as you think. Just something to keep in mind.

Simple Contest Ads

Probably not as intense as giveaways, but sometimes a simple contest can do the trick. This Is where you can be creative and engage with your customers in a fun & social way.

Whether it’s tagging 3 friends, or sharing on their Facebook feed, perhaps even a riddle, do it in a way where you’re engaging with your customers socially.

It adds flare and personality to your business and builds relationships with them. Don’t underestimate how your customers engage and trust your brand.