Facebook Ads For E-Commerce: Best Types To Choose From (With Tips)

Do you know that the number of people actively using Facebook monthly can amount to almost 2.9 billion users? (Statista, 2023). This is a considerably huge number and you can see eCommerce marketers and advertisers trying to leverage it in every possible way. As a result, the number of active advertisers using Facebook reached 10 million in 2023 (Social Pilot, 2023).

As an eCommerce marketer, if you want your eCommerce store to stand a chance in today’s highly competitive market, you need to start working on your Facebook Ads. In this era of digital marketing, Facebook Ads are a must-have tool for eCommerce stores looking to grow and succeed. It offers businesses a unique opportunity to connect with their audiences and achieve their marketing goals.

In this article, you will find everything you need to know about Facebook Ads. We will start by walking you through the benefits of Facebook Ads and the reasons why you should use them for your eCommerce store. After that, we will provide you with a comprehensive guide to the different types of Facebook Ads so that you can informatively decide which ones are most suitable for your business.

Table of Content:

• Why Should You Use Facebook Ads For Your E-Commerce Store?
• Types Of Facebook Ads For E-Commerce:

1. Image Ads
2. Video Ads
3. Carousel Ads
4. Instant Experience Ads
5. Messenger Ads
6. Collection Ads
7. Lead Ads
8. Dynamic Ads
9. Poll Ads
10. Story Ads
11. Augmented Reality Ads

Why Should You Use Facebook Ads For Your E-Commerce Store?

Image source: litcommerce.com

There are many compelling reasons why you should start using Facebook Ads for your eCommerce store. In the following points, we will summarize some of the most significant benefits that Facebook Ads can provide for eCommerce businesses.

• Higher Reach: With around 2.9 billion monthly active users, Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. This means that businesses can reach a massive audience of potential customers through Facebook Ads.

Moreover, Facebook Ads will help you reach more audiences than with just organic posts on social media. With paid ads, your content will get more views and impressions, better engagement; and hence, more conversions. 

• Better Targeting: Facebook is known for its advanced and super customizable targeting options, which allow eCommerce businesses to reach specific segments of people based on factors such as demographics, interests, behaviors, recent purchases, and even major life events. This means that your eCommerce store can deliver highly targeted ads to the people who are most likely to be interested in your products.

Facebook is a platform that is highly rich in customer data, which you can use to micro-target the audiences that are suitable for your eCommerce store. Moreover, it allows you to identify the warm audiences from the cold ones. Warm audiences are those who have already heard about your brand, while cold audiences are those who haven’t.

Speaking of audiences, there are two specific audience-related options that Facebook offers that can be of great benefit to your advertising campaigns: Lookalike Audiences, and Block Lists.

• Retargeting Option: Facebook has one of the strongest retargeting strategies that help optimize conversion rates. It is a strategy that involves showing ads to people who have already interacted with your brand, expressed interest in what you offer, or visited your website. It's a way to re-engage with these potential customers and encourage them to take further action, such as making a purchase.

If you are paying attention, you should start noticing by now that all the benefits of Facebook Ads are related to each other in some way. For example, the retargeting option is a great tool to re-engage the warm audiences we’ve talked about in the previous point. 

There is no need to wonder how you can use this amazing feature because the answer is simply in two words: Facebook Pixel. It is a small piece of code provided by Facebook that you can place on your website to track user behavior and gather data on your website visitors, which will help you retarget them later.

• Cost-Effective: Facebook Ads can be highly cost-effective compared to other forms of advertising. With the ability to set a budget for your ads, you can control your spending. Facebook Ads are considered low cost and statistics show that the average cost decreased by 6%, in 2022 (WordStream, 2022).
• Opportunities For Customization And Personalization: One of the biggest reasons why you should use Facebook Ads for your eCommerce store is that you can customize and optimize your advertising campaigns as much as you want. 

With Facebook Ads, you can customize your ads based on the specific objectives and the goals you’re trying to achieve. Whether you want to generate leads, increase conversions, or create brand awareness, Facebook allows you to create an ad based on that. Additionally, the high customizability of Facebook Ads enables you to experiment with various advertisement formats and placements with ease. This makes it possible for you to discover the most efficient combinations that appeal to your intended audience.

As for the personalization opportunities, they are reflected in being able to create ads that are more relevant and engaging to each target audience. 

• Access To Multiple Platforms: In this point, we refer to the fact that Facebook Ads gives you the chance to advertise on Instagram as well as on Facebook. Ever since Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012, Facebook has built out its ad network to give easy access to both platforms. This gives your eCommerce store the chance to reach an even wider range of audiences. 
• Everything Is Measurable: Facebook provides accurate reports and robust analytics. The Facebook Ads Manager aggregates data for your and gives you all the performance insights that you need without having to exert additional effort. Facebook Ads Manager measures everything, such as reach, post engagement, impressions…etc. It provides you with different types of reports that will be of great help to you.

Furthermore, speaking of measurable data, Facebook Ads has features called “Estimated Reach” and “Estimated Daily Results” that show estimates about how many people can be reached, and how many results can be gained per day. 

• Regular Testing And Optimizing: For the past few years, Facebook has been extremely focused on developing different types of tools and AI-powered features that increase the chances of eCommerce businesses being more profitable. Among these tools is one that allows you to test different ad variations to find the best-performing one. 

Types Of Facebook Ads For E-Commerce

We are now going to thoroughly discuss the different types of Facebook Ads so that you can have all the information you need before deciding which type to go for. To be honest, the high degree of flexibility offered by the variety of Facebook Ads types is another reason why you should be using them for your eCommerce store.

1- Facebook Image Ads

Image source: karolakarlson.com

This is the simplest, most common, and most straightforward type of Facebook Ad. It can also be called “Photo Ads” and it consists of a static image that appears in the Facebook News Feed. This image is accompanied by an ad copy and a call-to-action (CTA). This type is typically suitable if your objective is to create brand awareness for your eCommerce store and is easy to create with Facebook's Ad Manager.

Tips:

• Make sure you are using high-quality images that are appealing to your target audience.
• Make sure your images meet Facebook's recommended dimensions and aspect ratio for optimal display on both desktop and mobile devices.
• Leverage this type of Facebook Ad to promote specific products and include links to these products’ pages on your eCommerce website. 

2- Facebook Video Ads

This type of Facebook Ad uses video content to engage users and showcase a product or service. These ads can be displayed in-feed or in-stream and are suitable if your objective is to increase engagement or build brand awareness. 

The content format is not the only thing that differentiates Video Ads from Image Ads. Another crucial point of difference is that Video Ads tend to be more engaging; and hence, effective. To better illustrate, according to a survey conducted by Hubspot in 2018, Facebook Video Ads get 20% more clicks that Image Ads (HubSpot, 2018).

Tips:

• Focus on the first few seconds of the video and make sure they are eye-catching and capture the user’s attention as quickly as possible.
• Make sure the video is short and to the point but fun and creative at the same time.
• Take into consideration users who watch videos with the sound off and make sure to write an ad copy that still conveys your message.

** Read this article to learn about the best types of eCommerce video ads to use.

3- Carousel Ads

Image source: bluefrogdm.com

Facebook Carousel Ads is a format that can allow your eCommerce business to showcase multiple images or videos within a single ad unit. Carousel Ads can feature up to 10 images or videos. This is ideal for promoting a range of products or services, highlighting different features or benefits.

Tips:

• Benefit from Carousel Ads by using it to tell a story through a sequence of images.
• Choose the order of your images or videos carefully or let Facebook do it for you if you are not sure about the best way to set the order.

4- Instant Experience Ads

Image source: adintime.com

Facebook Instant Experience Ads, previously known as Canvas ads, is a full-screen ad format that provides immersive content experiences to audiences Instant Experience Ads offer a range of features and capabilities that are similar to other types of Facebook ads. To demonstrate, they can include a range of multimedia content, such as images, videos, and carousel ads. 

This type is very suitable for mobile commerce because it is designed to create a more interactive mobile experience for users. 

Tips:

• Leverage this type of Facebook Ad to make the most of your investment by using the images and videos you created for other Facebook ad types and repurposing them into an Instant Experience Ad.
• Do not let the opportunity to add a lot of images or videos tempt you to overcomplicate your message. Keep it simple as much as possible. 

5- Dynamic Ads

Image source: adespresso.com

According to Facebook, Dynamic Ads can be used to advertise your eCommerce store’s inventory "to people who have expressed interest on your website, in your app or elsewhere on the Internet.” 

This type of Facebook Ad is usually in the Carousel format and it establishes a connection between three things: 

• Your online store’s product catalog.
• Your Facebook Events Manager (A tool that allows businesses to manage and track their events, ads, and campaigns on Facebook).
• Facebook Pixel.

Through this connection, Facebook Dynamic Ads spares you the hassle of having to create a separate ad for each item in your inventory. It allows you to create an ad template that automatically uses images and details from a catalog of the items that you wish to promote.

Facebook Dynamic Ads also allows for the personalization of the ad creative based on each user’s behavior on your eCommerce website. This means that users are more likely to see products that they are interested in, which can lead to increased engagement, conversions, and sales.

Tips:

• Leverage Facebook Dynamic Ads for retargeting purposes.

6- Collection Ads

Facebook Collection Ads are considered to be essential for eCommerce. It is a type of interactive advertising format that allows businesses to display their products in a visually engaging way. These ads are designed to capture users' attention and provide an immersive shopping experience within the Facebook and Instagram feeds.

Facebook Collection Ads consist of a feature image or video, along with four smaller product images that users can scroll through horizontally. Clicking on one of these product images will redirect the user to a full-screen Instant Experience ad.

Tips: 

• The fact that Collection Ads turn into Instant Experience Ads is great. However, it is important to use it wisely. Make sure your Instant Experience is relevant to the products in your Collection Ad, and make it easy for users to navigate back to your website or product page if they want to make a purchase.

** Check out this article for a more detailed comparison between Carousel Ads and Collection Ads.

7- Messenger Ads

Image source: digitalairstrike

Facebook Messenger Ads are a type of ad format that allows businesses to reach users directly through Facebook Messenger. These ads can appear in a user's Messenger inbox as a message from a business and can include text, images, and even interactive elements like buttons and quick replies.

Tips:

• Make sure you are targeting the right audiences and writing compelling messages that resonate with them.

8- Lead Ads

Facebook Lead Ads are a type that allows businesses to collect leads directly within Facebook, without requiring users to leave the platform. These ads can include a variety of form fields, such as name, email address, phone number, and more, and are perfectly suitable for lead-generation campaigns. 

The best thing about this method of collecting leads is that it is very easy and appealing to users. To demonstrate, given the fact that you are collecting leads via Facebook, which already has a lot of the users’ information, most of the fields required will be automatically filled by Facebook. In this case, instead of having to manually fill in everything, the user can just review the information and add anything missing.

Tips: 

• Use this type of Facebook Ad if you are trying to build or grow your email list, and try to leverage automation by connecting your Facebook Lead Ad to your email service provider.
• Optimize your form fields to make sure you are collecting relevant information.
• Regularly follow up with the leads you get from your Facebook Lead Ads.

9- Poll Ads

Facebook Poll Ads allow businesses to create interactive polls within their ads. These ads can allow your eCommerce business to ask customers questions related to their products or services, and receive instant feedback. This type of Facebook Ad is ideal if you are looking to boost engagement with your audience or enhance brand awareness. 

Tips:

• Use a variety of images and videos to create these types of ads.
• Make sure you ask interesting and relevant questions and provide clear answer options.
• Do not forget to track the results of the poll and gather all insights.

10- Story Ads

Image source: clipchamp.com

Statistics show that, daily, 500 million people use Instagram stories and 300 million people use Facebook stories (FindStack, 2023). This proves that the opportunities to reach more customers through Facebook Story Ads are huge. Similar to Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories are short-lived, full-screen vertical videos or images that disappear after 24 hours. Remember that you can advertise on both Facebook and Instagram through the Facebook ads manager. 

Tips:

• Always take into consideration that Stories Ads appear in a vertical form and create your images and videos accordingly.

11- Augmented Reality Ads

Image source: adgully.com

Facebook Augmented Reality Ads should be on the agenda of any eCommerce business that is trying to follow the most recent digital marketing trends. 

These ads are extremely interactive and provide a highly engaging and immersive experience to mobile users. When a user encounters the ad in their feed and clicks on it, they will be presented with clear instructions on how to engage with the ad. This will initiate the AR experience, allowing users to view and interact with the advertised products in a virtual environment. 

Tips:

• Always remember that while it is important to create an immersive experience, don't overload your AR ad with too many elements. Keep it simple and focused on your product or message.

Finally, before you leave, check out this article to get inspired by the best eCommerce Facebook Ads examples.

Final Thoughts:

To sum up, Facebook ads offer a wide range of advertising options to eCommerce stores of all sizes, from image and video ads to dynamic and augmented reality ads. With its advanced targeting capabilities, eCommerce businesses can reach their desired audience effectively and efficiently. Additionally, Facebook provides a variety of tools and features to help businesses create personalized and engaging ads, such as the Facebook Pixel, Instant Experience Ads, and lead generation forms. 

To achieve the best results for your eCommerce store with Facebook ads, you should carefully study the most effective Facebook Ads strategies and follow them. In addition to this, you should start chasing automation in every possible way. However, you don’t have to look very far because Converted.in is bringing you an amazing automation tool that will greatly help you. This tool can easily:

• Conduct all types of customer segmentation for you. 
• Create, customize, launch, and automate personalized ads, SMS, and email marketing campaigns. 
• Gather your customers’ data, which may be scattered across different places, into one place, like a hub.

Book your demo now and start growing your eCommerce store with Facebook Ads.