Want to improve your cost per click for Facebook ads?
Wondering how much influence visuals have on Facebook ad performance?
From font style to background images, the design choices you make can have a deep impact on the overall results of your Facebook ad campaigns.
In this article, you’ll discover five tips for creating B2B Facebook ad images that generate results.
A Data-Backed Approach to Facebook Ad Design
Many expert marketers recommend focusing on the copy of your ad, and while this is great advice, it’s also important to combine your copy with a click-worthy image.
What makes an image click-worthy? To determine which specific visual elements result in the most clicks at the lowest cost, I analyzed the response to almost 50 images from a single ebook promotion campaign. I made no changes to the audience, copy, budget, or duration of the ad, only to the social media images themselves.
Keeping in mind graphic design trends, the test consisted of a single Facebook campaign and individual ad sets, with each set comprised of its own ad for each visual. Each ad ran for two weeks and at the end, I tested the top five ads again for good measure.
If you want to run your own experiment, take a look at the image components I tested:
Font style: serif and sans serif font styles; uppercase versus lowercase font pairings
Text size and position: larger text versus smaller text; left- and right-aligned text versus centered, top or bottom placement of text
- Image color: four color palettes for image backgrounds; vibrant, pastel, neutral, and dark
- Illustration usage: images that are illustration- and icon-heavy
- Stock images: images consisting only of various stock photos of a person, animal, location, and food or beverage
- Calls to action: inclusion and exclusion of a clear call to action
- Company branding/logo usage: visuals heavily branded with company colors and logos versus product shots
- Memes and pop-culture references: the effectiveness of popular memes on click-through rate
- Image fractions: showing only part of a larger image
- Before and after: “before and after” visuals
- Charts and data visuals: use of charts, graphs, and data
- #1 Use a Darker Background Color
Visuals that included a darker background color received 136% more clicks than the sample average. On top of that, the cost per click for ads with a darker background was 18% less than the average cost per click.
Of those who clicked on the ad, 87% submitted their email addresses to access the ebook.
Darker colors can convey power, authority, and sophistication. So when you present new information, a black background can associate your message with intelligence to some degree.
Another reason this image likely worked is that the dark background stands out from the white background of the Facebook news feed. No matter what the reason, people agree that black is appealing for Facebook ad visuals.
#2 Include a Clear Call to Action
During this experiment, I also tested visuals that included a product shot and a clear call to action. Images like the one below had a cost per click of 47% less than the average and received on average 35% more clicks than the average ad set.
If you include a visual of an actual book or show the product in tangible form, you can play to your audience’s sense of touch. People like to see what they’re getting, even if the offering is a digital product.
A call to action is also crucial when you want your audience to take action and remain engaged. The clear Download Now message demands an immediate response from the person viewing your add. Of the people who clicked this ad, 94% submitted their email address to download the ebook.
Read the rest of these tips on Social Media Examiner.