You’ve heard me talk about the product launch process and how it can bring big cash infusions to your business, but if you want to amplify that even more using Facebook Ads to grow your pre-launch list and bring new customers into your business is a great way to add fuel to the fire.
And yes, Facebook Ads still work, even after all the iOS14 updates. Tune in to hear how to do it and stay until the end for a special invite.
Nicole Diedrich is the owner of Diedrich Marketing Strategies, a boutique agency that helps eCommerce business owners grow their customer base through her targeted audience-building technique. Over the last few years Nicole has generated over $3M in net new revenue for her clients and she’s eCommerce Badassery’s resident FB ads strategist and co-host of the Lounge Membership.
On this week’s podcast episode we’re diving deep into what we’ve learned about Facebook Ads since her last time on the show at the end of 2021 and how she uses Facebook Ads in her client’s launches to bring in new customers.
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How to Have Successful Facebook Ads After iOS14
For this process to make sense today, I recommend you go back and listen to Nicole’s previous episode on the podcast. Episode # Facebook Ads after iOS14. In this episode we talk about how to see success with ads after iOS14, what other agencies have been doing wrong, and her simple Facebook ads funnel strategy to get around the iOS14 tracking limitation.
What’s New in Facebook Ads in 2022
With so many changes in the digital marketing industry around privacy, changes in consumer behavior and updates to the back-end of Facebook, keeping up with what’s new in the world of Facebook Ads can be exhausting. Here are some things that have changed since the last time we talked about Facebook Ads.
FB ads tracking + Proper setup
Since the changes with iOS14, Facebook has been diligently working on updating its tracking methods to make them more accurate. That’s why it’s really important that your account is set up properly, by adding your pixel to your website and verifying your domain. This will make it easier to track conversions from your paid ads.
You can also use outbound clicks to track your ads performance and that is accurate about 66% of the time. In most cases, FB Ads will show fewer conversions from ads than you actually received.
Build Look-a-Like Audiences from Your First-Party Data
When you have your pixel properly installed, your domain verified and you’re properly integrated with your eCommerce platform, you can use that first-party data to build out lookalike audiences on Facebook to find new customers.
Broaden Your Interest Targeted Audiences for Facebook Ads
In episode 91: Facebook Ads for eCommerce, Nicole walks through her process for creating her 3-tier detailed targeted audiences. This is the thing that Nicole has always done differently from other ad agencies and why even after iOS14 her clients are seeing major success with ads without spending tens of thousands of dollars waiting for the Facebook algorithm to figure it out.
Since then, Nicole will still use interest-based audiences, but she goes a little bit broader by starting only with the first tier of interests and then will adjust based on what she learns. But the end goal is still to keep detailed targeted audiences. The difference is, that she starts off broad so she can get more data, faster.
The More Niche Your Business is, The More Successful Your Ads Will Be
This is marketing 101, but if you are trying to be everything to everyone, you are nothing to no one. The more niche your products and customer base are, the better targeted your audience and ads will be, the more successful and more revenue those ads will generate.
Even if your business isn’t super niche as a whole, you can create individual niches within that and then create different journeys for those different customers so you can create specific audiences.
Try Lead Generation Ads for eCommerce
What has been working really well lately, especially for the launch process which we’ll talk more about shortly, is running ads specifically for growing your email list vs. trying to convert them directly into a product sale.
Lots of people will say that lead gen for eCommerce doesn’t work, but that’s not the case at all.
Lead Generation Ads Only Work if You Have an Email Nurture Sequence to Back it Up
Once you get someone into your sales funnel, through a lead generation ad or any marketing activity, it’s important that you send them into an email series that nurtures them toward the sale.
Facebook Ads Will Not Fix a Failing Business
Facebook ads are not a magic bullet and will amplify what’s happening in your business, good or bad. It’s important you have all your foundations in place first. Yes, it takes some work upfront, but once you have the machine running, using Facebook ads to fill up your funnel can work wonders.
Don’t Get Hung Up on Creative & Focus on Copy Instead
A lesson learned from our own launch of the Lounge Membership is that just because you think a piece of creative is ugly or janky, doesn’t mean that it isn’t going to be successful.
We tested a bunch of different creatives, including a reel video, an image with movement, and fancier, prettier graphics with program mockups, and ultimately the so-called ugly one has outperformed every other creative we tried.
Ultimately, you need to be able to show your customers that you have the solution to their problem and as long as you can articulate that in your copy, they’ll be able to say, yes, they have what I need.
And even if the ad creative isn’t exactly what you would like it to be, remember that the only thing you’re trying to do is get them into your business orbit and they’ll see your brand and all the pretty when they’re on your website and in your emails.
How to Use Facebook Ads for Your Product Launches
When you’re launching new products, collections or even a big sale or promotion you can use ads to amplify your results. The first step in the product launch process is building a list of people who are interested in what you have to sell. And ads are a great way to build that list.
Once your product or promotion is live, then you can use FB conversion ads to retarget the customers who opted-in to the pre-launch list to let them know that the launch is live and use that as a complement to your emails.
But, if you are going to use ads for your launch, there are two things you MUST have in place for it to be worth it. First, you need a landing page, somewhere to send people to AND you MUST have a nurture sequence so you can warm them up before launch day.
Create a Landing Page to Collect Email Addresses for Your Pre-Launch
When you’re using paid ads for lead generation, instead of using the built-in Facebook form where people sign up right inside of Facebook, you’ll want to build out a landing page on your website instead.
The easiest way to do this is to create a page on your website and then use an embedded form from your email marketing platform. This way you can trigger a special welcome series for this list, which we’ll talk about more in a bit.
As you get more sophisticated with your launch strategy, you can even create different landing pages, one for organic traffic and one for paid traffic, so you can dig a little deeper into the data and see how each is performing.
How to Lay Out Your Landing Page
When you’re creating this landing page, make sure that all of the most important information is above the fold, which means the user doesn’t have to scroll down in order to see the signup form. This might be harder on mobile and that’s okay; the customer is used to scrolling on mobile, but on desktop, you definitely want to have a 2-column layout.
Should Your Landing Page Have a Navigation Bar?
Traditionally in online marketing, landing pages do not include the navigation bar of a website, but Nicole has found that when she leaves the navigation bar of an eCommerce website on the page customers end up making purchases after they have signed up for the pre-launch list.
This also adds legitimacy to the website and brand so this brand new customer that you just pulled in from ads can see that you’re a real business that offers beautiful products, has customer reviews, a customer service contact, etc.
Give Users an Incentive to Sign Up For Your Email List
While email is still a very powerful tool in the online space, people have become more protective of their inboxes, so we do want to give some sort of incentive in exchange for signing up for this list. Ultimately, what’s in it for them? Traditionally, early access when you have limited quantities or a small discount goes a really long way to getting people to sign up.
Create an Email Nurture Automation
One of the most important parts of this process, especially if you’re investing in your launch with ads, is to have a series of emails that are sent to the customer after they signup on your landing page. This will likely be a combination of an automated flow and some one-off campaign emails depending on the timing.
But if you spend money to grow your pre-launch list and then you’re silent until launch day and you just ask them to buy your stuff, it’s not going to convert well.
You want this to be a customized version of your regular welcome series and either in the automation itself or in some campaigns that you send after the fact to be sneak peeks and hints at the products or promotions that you’re launching so the customer can get excited. If you want to learn more about this hype-up process. Check out episode 127 of the podcast where we walk through the entire eCommerce product launch process end to end.
If you don’t have the time or resources to create this nurture sequence, don’t bother doing ads to cold audiences. It’s unlikely your launch will convert well enough to justify the additional ad spend.
How Long to Run Facebook Ads Before Your Launch
This will depend a little bit on your business, product, and customer, but typically you should run these lead generation ads for at least 2 weeks before your launch day. Three weeks is even better, especially if you’re new to the launch process.
This gives you ample time to warm them up and let them get comfortable with you before you ask them to make a purchase.
If you’re a more established business and have trained your audience to expect this launch process or you have limited qty available and you know the majority of your organic audience is going to buy most of the units available, then you can shorten the time frame to about 5 days of pre-launch list building.
You’ll also want to turn off these ads at least 48 hours before your launch, so everyone is able to get at least 2 emails from your welcome flow before you send them your launch email.
How to Allocate Your Facebook Ads Budget for Your Pre-Launch
First, you’ll need to decide how much money you’re going to allocate toward this. If you’re already doing Facebook ads, a good starting point is to allocate 50% of your existing budget to your launch process.
How much your overall budget should be is a topic for another day, but there is a podcast episode coming out that will help you calculate this.
Once you decide on your total budget, then you can split it up between the lead generation portion and the retargeting portion.
For example:
- Your entire Facebook Ads budget is $5000
- You’ll allocate 50% of that budget to your launch = $2500
- Then you’ll allocate 75% of the launch budget to the lead generation part = $1875
- The remaining 25% is used for retargeting ads = $625
Why Do Some eCommerce Product Launches Flop?
Usually, if a product launch doesn’t go well it’s because the product you are launching hasn’t been proven to convert organically yet, or you don’t have the email nurturing sequence and launch follow-through in place.
When you first start using ads to fuel this launch process, you’re better off leading with a proven best-selling product. Maybe it’s a restock of an existing product or a variation on one in a different color.
And you also want to make sure that your offer is enticing enough. You always have to think about what’s in it for the customer. What sort of incentive are you giving them, is there any urgency for this item? Why do they NEED to get this right now instead of just waiting until later?
You Need to Know How to Speak to Your Ideal Customer + Get them to Take Action
When it comes to making your offer enticing, one of the most important parts of that is really knowing how to create copy and content that converts into sales.
Really dig deep into WHY they want this product. How it’s going to benefit them, make their life better, solve their problem, or instill confidence into them. The more specific you can get, the more you can tap into the real reason why they want the product you sell, the more likely they’re going to be inspired to buy.
What Mistakes Do Business eCommerce Business Owners Make with Their Launches?
One of the things that makes this process so amazing is that it truly has the power to really boost your revenue and give you a cash injection. Your business is being marketed to your perfect customer and you’re taking them through this process that gets them really excited about what you’re selling.
But with that comes the responsibility of actually being able to support those sales on the backend. By fulfilling and shipping them in a timely manner, managing the influx of customer service inquiries, and all the other little things that pop up as you scale your business.
If you want to make a great first impression on these new customers, make sure you’re truly ready to handle them.
How Do I Know if My eCommerce Business is Ready for The Product Launch Process?
Any eCommerce business that releases new products on a quarterly, seasonal, or bi-monthly basis is going to be a great fit for this process, as long as their business is prepared to go all in and can support the influx of new customers and sales.
It’s a really great option when you have a limited quantity available of your products as well because that naturally adds urgency and is a great reason for people to get on your pre-launch list.
What Kind of Revenue Can I Expect to See by Implementing the Product Launch System?
This is going to depend on your business and the price point of your products, but other eCommerce businesses have seen revenue anywhere from $10k-$80k just during the launch with a large majority of those sales coming just from new customers brought in through FB Ads.
Even eCommerce businesses that haven’t hit $200k in an entire year have hit their first $10k days with this launch process, making it the biggest sales day ever.
When you REALLY commit to the process and see it all the way through, increasing your visibility through ads can bring really amazing results.
Want to Learn More About How to Use Ads in Your Product Launches?
Join us, September 12th – September 16th, 2022 and learn the entire product launch process during our Confused to Conversion workshop!
Listen to the Episode
Episodes Mentioned
91. Facebook Ads for eCommerce with Nicole Diedrich
69. How to Create Content That Converts
