The Facebook Ads Funnel Guide – How to Design a Perfect Facebook Funnel for Your Business

Facebook Ads Funnel is one of the most powerful, evergreen marketing strategies that will help generate new leads, increase ROI and grow your business. There’s no doubt that Facebook Ads are a powerhouse when it comes to generating both leads and sales. However, the chances of someone buying your product or service the first time they see your ad or engagewith your brand arequite slim.
Facebook Ads Funnel is one of the most powerful, evergreen marketing strategies that will help generate new leads, increase ROI and grow your business. There’s no doubt that Facebook Ads are a powerhouse when it comes to generating both leads and sales. However, the chances of someone buying your product or service the first time they see your ad or engagewith your brand arequite slim.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Facebook Ads Funnel is one of the most powerful, evergreen marketing strategies that will help generate new leads, increase ROI and grow your business.

There’s no doubt that Facebook Ads are a powerhouse when it comes to generating both leads and sales. However, the chances of someone buying your product or service the first time they see your ad or engage with your brand are quite slim.

To get people actually converting on your core offer, you need multiple touchpoints. And you need a funnel to move prospects from one point to the next.

Unfortunately, often DIY marketers overlook the potential of Facebook funnels because they seem too complex. Also, with so many moving parts, it can be confusing and easy to mess up.

To set you up for success, here’s how to create a perfect Facebook Ads funnel to boost your conversions and maximize your ROI.

What is a Facebook Ads funnel

Facebook Ads funnel is a sequence of ad campaigns designed to take users along the buyer’s journey, from complete strangers to paying customers.

Technically speaking, the Facebook Ads funnel consists of multiple campaigns with multiple ads that include different value propositions delivered to the right audience at the right moment.

facebook ads funnel infographic

The Facebook Ads funnel consists of three main stages:

  • Awareness – Top of the Funnel (TOFU)
  • Consideration – Middle of the Funnel (MOFU)
  • Conversion/Decision – Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU)

This is followed by the Post-Purchase stage where your goal is to turn existing buyers into loyal customers and even brand advocates. This increases your customer lifetime value (CLV) and radically improves your advertising profitability, as explained in our PPC guide.

That’s our 3+1 Facebook Ads funnel design.

Facebook Ads allow you to target users at every stage of the buyer’s journey:

  1. Strangers (cold audience) – Those not aware of your brand and products/service
  2. Prospects (warm audience) – People that are aware of you and have shown some form of interest
  3. Leads (hot audience) – Highly interested users that shared their contact info and want to learn more or try your product/service
  4. Customers – Buyers of your products/service
  5. Loyal Promoters – Delighted customers that love your products/service so much they buy from you regularly, as well as share and promote your brand (for free).

Facebook is one of the rare marketing channels that allows you to build a full-funnel in just one platform.

You can do this by moving users from one stage of the funnel to the next and showing them different ads that resonate at each step of the buyer’s journey.

IMPORTANT: Although Facebook’s very powerful, you should never put all your eggs in one basket. For best results aim for an omnichannel marketing approach which numerous studies prove to bring the best results.

A Facebook Ads funnel will potentially increase your conversion rates, grow sales and even save money on advertising.

Without a Facebook funnel, you’d be wasting ad dollars pitching your products/service to cold audiences that are just not going to convert.

Many inexperienced marketers try Facebook Ads, run it for a while and give up once they see the acquisition costs are too high or they’re not getting enough conversions.

The problem is that they’re going straight for the sale, pitching products to complete strangers. The goals are completely misaligned with the audience as most users aren’t ready to buy after just one ad.

 

Why most users aren’t ready to buy after just one ad

Most users aren’t going to convert on your core offer (buy from you) after just one Facebook ad. That’s because they’re just introduced to your brand for the first time. They still don’t know you, don’t trust you and probably don’t care about your brand yet.

You may be tempted to go straight for the sale with just one ad, however, that’s unlikely to work.

While sales are the ultimate goal, very few will buy your product/service the first time they see your ad. High-value conversions typically happen once a user interacts with your brand over multiple touchpoints.

People on Facebook and Instagram aren’t actively looking for products to buy. Instead, they’re socializing with friends, reading the news or watching funny cat videos.

cat video on facebook

Your ads are an interruption of that experience. That’s why you need a scroll-stopping ad that’s going to grab users’ full attention.

But even so, if you do manage to grab attention, don’t expect users to immediately buy from you. Remember, they still don’t know nor trust you enough to spend their hard-earned cash.

The reason for this lies in the fundamentals of human psychology you see every day.

Imagine you’re meeting a girl you like at a party.

You wouldn’t try to go in for the kiss straight away. At least I hope not.

You’d get rejected or even slapped.

via GIPHY

To stand a chance, you need to win her affection. You need to woo her.

So, first, grab her attention, introduce yourself and strike up a conversation.

Then if she’s into you and shows interest, ask for her number.

Next, go out on a date or two.

And finally, if you manage to win her over, go in for the kiss.

Replace the party with Facebook, dates with ad campaigns, and a kiss with a sale, and you see how the Facebook Ads funnel unfolds.

The analogy continues even after the first kiss (sale). If you’re a good kisser she’s going to brag about you to all her friends (brand advocacy).
And if you’re a keeper, she’ll become your lifelong partner (customer loyalty).

Ok, enough with the love advice. Let me show you how to build a perfect Facebook Ads sales funnel for your business.

 

How to create a perfect Facebook Ads funnel

Building a perfect Facebook Ads funnel is the process of mapping out and configuring your Facebook campaign sequence across the buyer’s journey. From attracting and warming up cold audiences all the way to converting them into delighted customers.

The funnel building process includes choosing the right Facebook campaign objective, targeting the right audience and using optimal ad format and messaging that resonate at each stage of the funnel.

IMPORTANT: Ads on Facebook and Instagram belong to the same advertising platform – Facebook Ads. That’s why you’ll see ad examples from both social networks.

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Stage 1: TOFU – Turn Strangers into Prospects

At the Top of the Funnel (TOFU) or the Awareness stage, your Facebook ad goal is to attract new audiences.

Unless you’re a household brand like Nike, IKEA or Coca Cola, these new audiences are complete strangers to your business. That’s why we call them “cold audience;” they don’t know you, don’t trust you, and aren’t interested yet.

If you want to warm up these cold audiences and convert strangers into prospects, you need to educate them about the “life-changing” benefits of your products/service.

Instead of starting your funnel with a Conversion objective, raise awareness and make people realize they need your product/service. Do this by highlighting their interests, needs and problems, and how you can solve all that.

Focus your ads on the unique benefits you offer. Make this stage informational and educational.

Comedy works great at this stage as well.

Casper, a mattress company, subtly shows how awesome the mattresses are without coming off salesy.
casper mattress video ad on facebook

The mattress is so good that star athletes like John Tavares take the whole concept of “eat, breathe and sleep hockey” to a whole new level by sleeping at the rink on one of them.

Also, be sure not to ask for too much at this stage.

It’s way too early for asking users to convert for a free trial, demo, quote or consultation. Even though it’s all free, most people will hesitate because giving up contact information in exchange for freebies is still too much of a commitment for a complete stranger.

However, depending on your business model and target audience, a free downloadable like a report, e-book or checklist can work well even in the Awareness stage.

Make your offer as non-threatening as possible.

And don’t worry about not getting many sales yet. All efforts at this stage will set up a strong foundation for later phases and boost your conversion rates when it matters the most.

 

a) Audience targeting for the Awareness stage

In the Awareness stage, you’re trying to reach completely new users. For the most part, you should use the following two types of Facebook Audiences:

  • Saved Audience
  • Lookalike Audience

Saved Audience is perfect for prospecting because it allows you to target users based on their demographics, location, interests, behaviour, etc.
create a saved audience on facebook

For instance, you can target women between 25-55, who live in Canada and are interested in dog grooming.

Use all the information you know about your ideal customer when building out a ‘Saved Audience’ for prospecting.

But remember, you also want to start with relatively broad targeting to reach as many people as you can and allow the Facebook algorithm to work its magic.

The other type of audience you should use for the Awareness stage is a Lookalike Audience of your past converters.

If you already have some customer data from before, Facebook can find other users that are similar to your past buyers. This is a very powerful technique as it can help you reach new people that are more likely to convert.

create a lookalike audience on facebook

You can create a Lookalike Audience from your existing customers or site visitors.

Also, you can create a Lookalike Audience that is similar to your most valuable customers based on their lifetime value (LTV or CLV).

 

b) Top of the Funnel campaign objectives

Choosing your Facebook campaign objective determines what goal (or action) you want Facebook to optimize for. The best campaign objectives for the Awareness stage are:

  • Brand Awareness
  • Reach
  • Traffic
  • Video Views
  • Messages

top of the funnel facebook ad objectives

Your initial goal might not be your ultimate conversion goal, but a cue that helps you reach users who sign up or buy and weed out low-quality traffic.

Avoid objectives such as Conversions, Catalog Sales and Lead Generation during the Awareness stage, as they don’t tend to work well with cold audiences.

PRO TIP: However, if you have a strong conversion history, you can test the Conversion objective and see it helps drive more leads/sales than other objectives.

Since your ads won’t convert well and because there’s a higher demand for these objectives, it will also end up costing you more.

It’s best to focus on micro-conversions such as reach, traffic and video views in the Awareness stage.

Be specific about the immediate goal you want your audience to accomplish and choose your objective accordingly.

No matter how small or insignificant it may seem for your bottom-line, a good combination of the right audience and a corresponding objective will lay the groundwork that will pay off in the later stages many times over.

 

c) Optimal ad type for the Awareness stage

Since cold audiences are completely new to your brand, you want to use Facebook ad formats that instantly grab attention and embed in users’ minds.

Ad types that are proven to work the best in the Awareness stage are:

  • Video ads
  • Collection ads
  • Image ads
  • Carousel ads
  • Instant Experience ads

One of the best ways to start the buyer’s journey is with a Facebook video ad.

Videos are an excellent ad format because they allow you to introduce your brand and highlight the unique benefits of your products/service in an engaging way.

Video ads are a perfect scroll-stopper for cold audiences that see your brand for the first time. And focusing your video ads on your unique value proposition can leave a strong first impression.

Daily Life’s Facebook ad shows a burning candle with a simple message “Do you feel burnt out?” to spark curiosity.
instagram video ad of a burning candle

Tailored Athlete uses video to capture the eyes of complete strangers by showing off how their shirts and jeans fit perfectly.
tailored athlete video ad on instagram

The Facebook ad highlights that the jeans are so comfortable and stretchy that you can even do backflips in them.

Telling a compelling story about what makes your product/service awesome and unique will provide a memorable experience. So, next time users see your ads (in later funnel phases), your brand will be instantly recognizable.

But there’s another critical benefit of using videos for your initial interaction with cold audiences.

Facebook Ads funnel that initiates with a video (aka Video Funnels) provides a unique opportunity to retarget an audience based on how much of a video they watched.

It’s perfect for moving users to the next stage of the funnel.

create a custom audience based on video views on facebook

You can create a Custom Audience based on people that have watched 25% or 50% of your video which will be used for the next stage, Consideration.

When you choose the Video View objective Facebook charges you on a CPM (cost per thousand) basis, which is a fraction of the cost of running other campaign types.

Video-based campaigns allow you to reach a vast audience, embed your brand into users’ minds and lower your customer acquisition costs (CAC).

And don’t be intimidated by creating and editing a video. You can use simple tools like Canva, Offeo and Animoto to create your video ads.

You can also repurpose your Live Facebook Videos. Hell, you can even use Facebook’s Video Creation Kit to turn still images into video ads.
facebook video creation kit

Collections ads, on the other hand, allow you to combine the power of video and images to tell an immersive story, as well as show off your products, or highlight key features.

Klein Watches uses collection ads to depict the lifestyle of someone wearing its watches, while also showing off different watch styles.
collection ad on facebook
If you don’t have videos, image and carousel ads will also work well in the Awareness stage.
carousel ad on facebook advertising a travel agency

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to create new Custom Audiences based on users that engaged with a specific image or carousel ad.

Just be sure to use appropriate ad copy and CTA that sounds less threatening to cold audiences.

 

d) Best ad copy, CTA and offer for cold audiences

When advertising to cold audiences you need to be patient. Go easy on your prospects.

Use Facebook ads to get noticed, introduce your brand and warm up those complete strangers. Get them interested.

Provide useful, engaging and fun content with offers that don’t require users to do too much work.

Some good examples of Awareness stage offers include getting users to:

  • Watch a video
  • Visit your website
  • Take a quiz
  • Check out your product page
  • Read a blog post or a guide, etc.

Any action that doesn’t require commitment is a good fit for cold audiences. Another reason why those video views, mentioned in the previous section, will get you great results.

Even a free giveaway can be a tough ask for cold audiences if it requires giving up contact info. So, tread carefully.

Also, make sure your Facebook ads communicate the need for your product/service. Focus your ad copy on unique features and benefits instead of directly pitching like a door to door salesman.

Use this ad from Fresh Cove as a fine example.
awareness stage facebook ad advertising the benefits of fresh cove underware

There’s no pitching. The Instagram ad only spotlights the value proposition: odour resistant, natural moisture management properties and enhanced breathability.

There’s no mention of price, discounts or other sales pitches, just a compelling statement:

“Your manhood deserves the best.”

Hard to argue that!

This Facebook ad by Bellabeat asks the question:

“What if one jewelry piece could change your life?!”
facebook ad promoting benefits as part of an awareness campaign

Basically, all these ad examples don’t ask for anything more than for users to click and learn more.

While we’re on the subject, some proven Facebook Ads CTAs for Top of the Funnel are:

  • Learn More
  • Watch More
  • See Menu
  • Listen Now
  • Send Message

If you have paid attention to all the examples so far, you probably noticed a pattern: most CTAs in the Awareness stage include the “Learn now” button.

That’s because it’s the least intimidating call-to-action text for cold audiences.

In some instances, you can also try CTAs like “shop now,” “download,” and “sign up.” So, be sure to A/B test your call-to-action buttons to find the one that resonates best with your cold audience.

One thing you should definitely avoid during the Awareness stage is talking about the price in your Facebook ads.

Pitching your products directly to cold audiences isn’t going to work. Remember, these people are complete strangers to your brand, and being too salesy at this stage will only drive them off.

Save your higher-commitment offers for the next two stages.

 

Stage 2: MOFU – Turn Prospects into Leads

In the Middle of the Funnel (MOFU), your goal is to turn prospects into leads by collecting their contact information for further nurturing.

Use warmed-up audiences from the previous stage and get them interested enough to want to try out your product/service.

You want prospects to consider buying your products, hence the name Consideration stage.

Ideally, prospects should come to your website or landing page, get exposed to your core offer (products/service) and leave their contact info. So, make sure you have a professionally designed website with an optimized user experience.

The Consideration stage is a good time to be more direct and ask for users’ email in exchange for something of value, like a downloadable pdf, special offer, free sample or trial, webinar, etc.
otraport consideration ad advertising free guide

In this stage, it’s also a good practice to have a dedicated landing page optimized for lead capturing.

Ontraport has a dedicated squeeze page where users can leave their email in exchange for the free business optimization guide.

ontraport free guide landing page

Capturing lead information is essential. You can use email remarketing to nurture leads and gradually bring them closer to the purchase.

Prospects are still far away from making a buying decision, so be careful not to scare them off by being too pushy.

The Consideration stage is also an opportunity to build trust.

Prospects that try your products or download your lead magnets are getting up close and personal with your brand. But even more so, they get a glimpse of what it’s like to be your customer. So, ensure it’s a smooth experience.

 

a) Audience targeting for the Consideration stage

In the Consideration stage, target audiences that previously engaged with your Top of the Funnel ads. These users have expressed an interest either by clicking through and visiting your site or by watching your video ads.

Best Facebook audiences for the Consideration stage are Custom audiences consisting of:

  • Facebook Page engagers
  • Instagram engagers
  • Video viewers (25%, 50%, 3-second, 10-second and 15-second “True Play” viewers)
  • Instant Experience ad engagers
  • On-Facebook Listings engagers
  • Facebook Shopping engagers

Create a Custom Audience of users that have previously clicked on your Facebook ads, visited your landing pages and shown some interest in your product/service.

Include people that you just attracted in the previous funnel step.

create facebook custom audience based on traffic or engagement for consideration stage

Use Custom Audiences to retarget to users that have visited your website, interacted with your Facebook Page, etc.

Now is the time to target users that have watched a significant portion of your video ads (ideally 25 or 50%).
create facebook audience based on people that watched 50% of a video
You can also target users who have opened your Instant Experience or Collection ads.
create facebook audience based on people that opened a collection ad on facebook

If you have listings on Facebook and/or using the Facebook Shops feature, creating audiences to target users that view or engage is also worth testing for in the MOFU stage.

 

b) Middle of the Funnel campaign objectives

In the Middle of the Funnel or the Consideration stage, you want to turn prospects into leads by collecting their contact info. That’s why you want to choose campaign objectives that focus on lead generation, including:

  • Traffic
  • Engagement
  • Lead Generation
  • Messages
  • Conversions

facebook ads funnel objectives for the consideration stage

Traffic objectives can work pretty well if you want to drive more clicks and visitors to a high-performing landing page or a product page.

Messages objective is good if your business model involves direct communication with potential customers.

Facebook recently introduced a new Lead Generation objective that unlocks Lead Form Ads. This ad format allows users to fill out a form directly from your ad, without leaving Facebook.
facebook lead form ads

Lead Form ads provide a frictionless user experience and could potentially increase your sign-up rates.

They can also save you the trouble of creating a dedicated landing page.

However, these ads are only available on mobile. Plus, they may not offer all the customization options you’d want.

Finally, if you’re getting good results with your MOFU campaigns, you can test out the Conversion objective and see how it performs in terms of conversion rates and acquisition costs.

 

c) Optimal ad type for the Consideration stage

In the Consideration stage, some of the best performing ad formats are:

  • Image ads
  • Carousel ads

By far the most used Facebook ad format for the Consideration stage are image ads.

ConsenSys, a blockchain developer tool uses image ads to offer free downloadables.
facebook ad promoting a downloadable lead magnet

Other formats like Carousel can work just as well, both for e-commerce…
facebook ad promoting a sign-up for e-commerce

…and other business models, like SAAS Analytics tools.
facebook ad promoting a sign-up for a SAAS company

Things are more straightforward in the Consideration stage. At this step, prospects are already acquainted with your brand and products.

That’s why there’s not much need for complex ad formats. Keep it simple and focus on delivering the right message.

 

d) Best ad copy, CTA and offer for warm audiences

In the Consideration stage, prospects are warmed up and interested, you just have to give them a nudge to turn that interest into desire. It’s also time to aim for high-value actions like sign-ups.

To get people to submit their contact info you need an irresistible lead magnet.

Remember that what you ask in your Facebook ads should be proportional to the perceived value of what people are getting.

A freebie in exchange for a phone number or email should be a fair trade. And it will gradually build trust, which is essential for closing the deal down the line.

Proven lead magnet offers for the Consideration stage are:

  • Free trials
  • Webinars
  • Free samples
  • Special deals and discounts
  • Product demos
  • Downloadable e-books, reports, case studies, etc.
  • Giveaways

ArchiTonic invites prospects to sign up for a chance to win a masterfully designed, ergonomic office chair.
instagram ad promoting a giveaway

Axis, a company that automates your existing “dumb” window shades offers a cool discount in exchange for a sign-up.
instagram ad promoting a discount for those that sign-up

If you’re an e-commerce merchant with easy-to-understand products, you can also invite users to your product pages with a “shop now” CTA…
facebook ad promoting an e-commerce business
…and let the product page take care of the lead capture with a pop-up form.
lead capture popup on the e-commerce landing page

Just make sure to target your warm audiences with a different offer from the one you’re showing to cold audiences.

Unlike the Awareness ads, where your ad copy focused only on the features and benefits, in the Consideration stage you also want to highlight things like:

  • Social proof
  • No risk
  • The perceived value of the freebie, etc.

Lumin offers a Free 1-Month Trial of their skincare subscription service.
facebook ad promoting a free trial

The ad copy includes cues like “60,000 happy members,” “try free for 30 days” and even star ratings and a testimonial.

Since the target audience knows you better and is interested in your products/services, you can use a bit more aggressive language for your call-to-action.

Good CTA buttons for the Consideration stage include:

  • Sign up
  • Get offer
  • Download
  • Get Quote
  • Subscribe
  • Learn more
  • Book now
  • Shop now
  • Install now (for apps)

 

Stage 3: BOFU – Turn Leads into Customers

At the Bottom of your Facebook Ads Funnel, the goal is to turn leads into paying customers. Finally, it’s time to start selling directly!

In the earlier stages, you’ve introduced your brand, got users interested, and built trust with freebies and lead magnets. And now the audience is as hot as it’ll ever be.

Be sure to clearly communicate your value proposition to get leads excited and wanting your products.

You also want users to act fast, get them while their hot.

MizuTowel reinstates the unique value proposition in their BOFU Facebook ads, while at the same time offering a limited time 40% discount to create a sense of urgency.
instagram ad promoting a 40% discount

The main idea for the Conversion stage is to get prospects and leads to convert on your core offer, which means to get them buying your product or signing up for your service.

 

a) Audience targeting for the Conversion stage

Audience targeting in the Conversion stage should be very specific, focusing on Custom Audiences made up largely of your existing leads and those similar to them.

You also want to make sure to exclude any users that became customers during the earlier stages.

During the Conversion stage use Custom audiences to target the following users:

  • All website visitors
  • Visitors to specific pages
  • Collection page visitors (e-commerce)
  • Product page viewers (e-commerce)
  • Add to cart users (e-commerce)
  • Initiate checkout users (e-commerce)
  • Users that completed each step in your conversion funnel (lead generation)

In case you’re advertising for a lead generation website, create Custom audiences to target each user that completed each of the steps in your conversion funnel. For example, create audiences for each step: Step 1: service page visitors, Step 2: quote page visitors, etc.

Set up Facebook Custom Audiences to reach past website visitors, leads and people that interacted with your ads in the previous funnel stages.

You can target all website visitors, those that stayed on your site for a specific amount of time or users that visited a specific page, such as a lead magnet Thank You page.
facebook custom audience based on people that visited specific pages

If you’re running an online store, choose the Catalog Sales campaign objective and you’ll be able to retarget users that viewed or added to cart but haven’t purchased yet with Dynamic Product Ads.
facebook audience based on people that added to cart but haven't purchased
This is a powerful audience targeting strategy that can recover abandoned carts and boost your sales.

One key thing for BOFU Facebook retargeting is to always exclude users that completed the next step.

facebook ads shopping funnel retargeting setup

For instance, when targeting users that visited the product page, exclude users that added products to the cart. Similarly, when targeting shoppers that added products to the cart, exclude users that initiated checkout. And so on.

 

b) Bottom of the Funnel campaign objectives

Your Bottom of the Funnel is all about acquiring a customer. That’s why you should obviously optimize your Facebook Funnel campaigns for conversions.

Make sure to set up a Facebook Pixel with conversion tracking to pass revenue and conversion data back to your Facebook ad campaign. This helps FB understand what works and optimize campaigns for even better performance.

The main three Facebook campaign objectives to use in the Bottom of the Funnel stage are:

  • Conversions
  • Catalog Sales
  • Store Traffic

facebook ads objectives for the bottom of the funnel stage

Conversion objective is universally a good choice for BOFU campaigns since it optimizes for maximum conversions. And since at this stage your audience is already pre-heated, there’s a high chance of them converting.

Catalog Sales objective works great for e-commerce businesses that integrate their product feed with Facebook to track “add to cart” actions, purchases, abandoned carts and more.

You can upload your WooCommerce product catalogue to Facebook using a simple plugin like the official Facebook for WooCommerce.

The Catalog Sales objective optimizes your campaign to reach as many sales on your e-commerce as possible. It also allows you to create Dynamic Product Ads which we’ll cover in the next section.

Don’t forget to monitor your conversion performance, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), revenue and other KPIs to get a complete overview of your Facebook Funnel results.

Finally, the Store Visits objective is good for merchants running physical stores that want to attract foot traffic to their shop.

 

c) Optimal ad type for the Conversion stage

The best performing Facebook ad formats for the Conversion stage are:

  • Image ads
  • DPA (Dynamic Product Ads)
  • Carousel ads

Image ads are a good fit if you’re selling one core product or service. No need to complicate things, focus your campaign on that single product.

Deliver Carousel ads to show new or bestselling products to recent website visitors.
facebook carousel ads that promote a discount

Dynamic Product Ads automatically show the right products to people who have expressed interest in them.

For example, if a shopper views a coffee mug, an umbrella and a pen on your e-commerce, the next time around, Facebook will dynamically retarget that user with these exact products.

Like Bunny uses Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) to remind you of the items you were browsing. To bolster the offer, there’s also a special, 50% limited time discount.
facebook DPA ads that promote a product user added to cart but hasn't purchased

Ingenious ad copy including the question “Is this your style?” hints that the exact outfit you were looking at before is available and waiting for you.

 

d) Best ad copy, CTA and offer for hot audiences

Hot audiences are close to making the final purchase. You just need to give them a small nudge.

Your ad messaging should be specific, direct and to the point.

Boost users’ confidence and reinforce their buying decision. Make your offer irresistible!

No more sweet-talking, in the Conversion stage it’s time to highlight the value of the deal. Ideally, your ad copy should include things like:

  • Price (especially if it’s an attractive price)
  • Shipping options (i.e. free shipping, fast delivery)
  • Special deals and discounts
  • Amount saved
  • Free gift
  • Social proof
  • Sense of urgency
  • Risk-free (guarantee) purchase, etc.

Make sure to address any last objections potential customers might have. Whether it’s the price, shipping cost or any other purchasing obstacle.

My Perfect Cosmetics company reinforces buyer’s confidence with a 40% discount and a full money-back guarantee.
instagram add promoting a 40% discount and a money back guarantee

You also don’t want potential customers to hesitate and overthink your offer. That’s why it’s critical to create a sense of urgency.

Mentioning things like how long the offer lasts, or limited quantity will deliver the final blow and get you that coveted sale.

Strong CTAs work best at the Conversion stage:

  • Shop now
  • Get offer
  • Sign up
  • Subscribe

Be confident in your ad messaging and you’ll have the customer in the bag.

But a sale doesn’t mean the end of the buyer’s journey. It’s just the start of a new relationship.

 

Stage 4: Post-purchase– Increase your CLV

Your best customers are the ones you already have. Don’t neglect existing customers, nurture them with post-purchase Facebook ads.

Turning existing buyers into loyal customers and promoters will increase the customer lifetime value (CLV) and also generate new referrals through word-of-mouth promotion.

In the Post-purchase phase use Facebook ads to incentivize two main actions:

  • Repeat purchases
  • Word of mouth promotion

Existing customers are the most profitable since it’s cheap and easy to re-acquire them.

When a customer buys repeatedly it increases the CLV in relation to the acquisition costs (CAC). A better CLV to CAC ratio means the customer is more profitable.

customer lifetime value vs customer acquisition cost ratio

But even more so, these loyal customers can take away some of the heavy liftings and promote your brand to their social network. And people trust reviews and word-of-mouth promotion.

This phase is the most straightforward.

Since existing customers already bought from you, you don’t need to bend backwards to grab their attention. Just show them some appreciation and offer a good incentive for a repeat purchase.

 

a) Audience targeting for the Post-purchase stage

Post-purchase audience targeting is based on just one type of Facebook audience – Custom Audience.

Build a new Custom Audience based on your previous buyers.

You can get even more granular with your setup and segment your existing customers based on CLV data.
facebook audience based on a customer list

With CLV segmentation you can increase the budget for re-engaging the most valuable customers and allocate a smaller amount for the rest.

 

b) Post-purchase campaign objectives

Your Post-purchase phase goal is to get repeat purchases, so conversion-based objectives will work best. Depending on your business model, focus on the following three:

  • Conversions
  • Catalog Sales
  • Store Traffic

Using these objectives Facebook will optimize your campaigns to generate as many repeat sales as possible within your budget.

For even better performance, optimize this campaign for Value to receive higher-value purchases and improve your return on ad spend (ROAS).
facebook ad delivery optimization based on CLV

 

c) Optimal ad type for the Post-purchase stage

In terms of ad format, in the Post-purchase phase it’s best to use:

  • Video ads
  • Image ads
  • Carousel ads
  • DPA (Dynamic Product Ads)

Video ads can work great if you want to introduce a new product you just launched to existing customers. A video is the best choice for explaining the benefits and features.

Similarly, Carousel and DPA ads can show off new product collections, especially useful for e-commerce merchants that sell multiple products.

Image ads work best for promoting a special offer for existing customers.

 

d) Best ad copy, CTA and offer for existing customers

Existing customers know you well, they trust you and hopefully love your products/service. You also know a lot about them and their preferences. Use your Facebook ad messaging to establish a closer relationship, keep things personal and light.

One of the best ways to make your customers/clients happy is to show them you care and provide high-quality service.

Delight your loyal customers with free gifts, exclusive offers, special discounts, referral incentives, etc.

Post-purchase Facebook ads work great in the following cases:

  • When you’re launching a new product
  • Asking for reviews and feedback
  • Incentivizing social media shares
  • Asking for referrals
  • Encouraging user-generated content (UGC) which you can use in your promos
  • Providing more useful content on how to use your products/service
  • Reminding users when their supplies are about to run out

An essential Post-purchase tactic is to target people when their product is about to run out. Use Facebook ads to remind existing customers to come back to your site and reorder.

Goli knows when it’s time for a refill. This Facebook ad is aimed at loyal customers that are about to run out of their supply.

facebook ad that promotes discount to existing customers

A 10% coupon is a good enough incentive to get delighted customers coming back for more.

For this to work, configure a special Custom Audience that will target users who made a purchase for example 30 or 45 days ago, depending on how much supplies last.

Here is an example: if the package you’re selling is a one month’s supply of tea, create a campaign that targets a ‘45-day purchaser’ audience and excludes a 25-day purchaser audience.
facebook ad audience targeting based on existing customers that might be interested in restocking the product

In terms of CTAs, use the same types as in the Conversion stage:

  • Shop now
  • Get offer
  • Sign up
  • Subscribe

 

How to move users from one stage of the funnel to the next

Moving users through your Facebook funnel is done by creating Custom Audiences that include and exclude users based on the actions they take.

For instance, when creating your Conversion stage Custom Audience, you can choose to include users that visited your product page or landing page and exclude those that already converted.
including and excluding users from facebook custom audience to move users along the facebook ads funnel

Excluding users is extremely important for your Facebook funnel.

Without the Exclude function, you’ll end up showing ads from all previous funnel stages even to users that reached the Bottom of the Funnel. That would be a complete mess and a waste of your ad dollars.

Remember to always exclude the people who have already converted during one funnel stage from the current stage’s remarketing audience; they’ll be moved to the next stage.

 

Conclusion

The Facebook Ads Funnel is an extremely powerful marketing strategy. With it, you can reach new customers with the right ad at the right moment, and boost conversions, generate more sales and grow your business.

Depending on your business model and target market, you may need more touch points for each step of the funnel.

You also may need multiple funnels to promote different products, discounts, locations, etc.

Tracking how people move through your funnels can quickly become confusing and complicated.

Be meticulous and map out the entire funnel journey before configuring your Facebook campaigns.

If you have any questions or comments, drop a line down below.

Or, if you need help building your Facebook funnel, reach out to the pros. Contact us to learn how we can help elevate your business. ?

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