Tips on how to get the highest CTR on Facebook Ads?

Let's start with what is CTR (Clicks-Through Rate)

It is an indicator that determines the percentage of users who interacted with your ad (clicked on a link, photo, video, banner, etc.) after seeing it. Calculating CTR is easy as 1 2 3:

Instead of manually calculating CTR, Facebook allows you to add this indicator as the analysis field of advertising campaigns. Selecting the "Performance and Clicks" preset, you will see the CTR indicator. You can also set up custom columns for more convenient analysis and optimization of advertising campaigns.

What is the difference between link clicks and all clicks?

Link clicks are the number of clicks on your advertising call-to-action button (like clicking the "Buy Now" button on your ad, etc.). While all clicks - include link clicks and other clicks on your ad (e.g., clicks on a link in a text or Facebook/Instagram page). You can calculate the CTR indicator strictly with the "Link clicks" indicator.

What is the perfect and average CTR for Facebook ads?

How to understand that your Facebook ad CTR is good? For better perception, let's have some practice analyzing the general three years statistics.

2019 showed that the average CTR on Facebook for all industries was 0.89%. At the end of the year, according to various estimates, analysts predicted an increase in the average CTR for the following year. And they were right - 2020 showed an increase in the CTR indicator and reached 0.99%. However, at the end of 2021, the CTR for Facebook ads dropped to 0.90%. In this case, the average CTR is calculated based on 18 industries, contrasting much, sometimes more than double.

The graph illustrates that ads for the legal branch had the highest CTR on Facebook advertising.
Lawyers are the lucky men when promoting their services, as they can get a CTR of 1.61%.

So if your ad campaign indicates 5-6% CTR, is it considered successful?
That's not quite the case if you will dive to the bottom.

For a clear comparison, imagine we have a total 1000 number of impressions. If your CTR on Facebook advertising is 5% - it means that 50 users out of 1000 clicked on your advertising. On the one hand, it may look like you have already found your target audience, which actively interacts with advertising and is interested in your products. On the other hand, if you have created a colorful and stylish photo or video for your advertising, how can you be sure that it does not just catch the eye, ignoring the main aim of a promotion? How to understand the quality of the audience that clicked on the ad? There is a solution: with the Facebook Pixel/Facebook API, you can track the actions and define what percentage of customers have already bought a product or used your services.

The Facebook Pixel is a piece of JavaScript code integrated into the website. When users interact with website pages, Pixel gathers this information and shares it with Facebook. Thanks to this feature, you can set up and track events and their conversions.

Using this data, you can make conclusions about the quality of your target audience. If you’re getting a few conversions - your target is wrong. If you are getting many conversions - congratulations, you kicked the goal, and your audience has seen the relevant advertising.

Another reason for a low conversion number can be your website. It has to be filled with goods and services, be intuitive for users, without complicated registration forms, and with a pleasant understandable design. It frequently happens that even after testing various audiences and meticulously optimizing advertising campaigns, conversions are still low. That is a classy example of a failed website that does not convert potential customers into leads.

What can you do if your website looks poor, or you do not even have it? It's not the end of the world - you still can transfer users to the Facebook application form when using Facebook advertising campaigns. It is a reasonable substitute for the website. With Facebook forms, it is easier to calculate the conversion rate of your target audience. However, ensure that your advertising does not mislead the audience. Sometimes ads wrongly describe the offer, leading to a sales decline on Facebook. 

What other metrics are crucial when analyzing Facebook ads?

 All the indicators displayed on Facebook ads are important and will provide a prospect for better analysis and advertising optimization. We want to highlight the most important ones:

• Frequency
• CPC (cost per link click)
• CTR
• Video average playing time

Frequency

Frequency is an indicator that shows the number of impressions of your photo/video creative to the same person over a certain period. That is one of the most meaningful indicators for analyzing your advertising. There is no ideal frequency indicator, as it is optimized and adjusted depending on your advertising goals. However, the general rule still exists. The frequency indicator should not exceed 2-3 values in the last seven days for:

• Cold advertising campaigns, customized to an audience with only selected interests or without any,
• and for Look-a-Like advertising campaigns.

The maximum number of photo/video creative impressions per user should not exceed two or three times per week. Otherwise, your ad will become annoying, and instead of generating profitable results, it will only push away potential customers. For retargeting advertising campaigns, the frequency indicator will be augmented since a customer who has already visited your website or landing page traps into the advertising funnel and sees your ad again. The optimal frequency value is from 3 to 5 for seven days.

High-frequency values may also mean - that your budget is way bigger than the audience. In such cases, it is better to manually adjust the frequency of impressions by reducing your advertising budget.
A few times a year, there actually are some exceptions when the high ad frequency becomes your substantial benefit. For example, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, a big sale with huge discounts, or a new store opening - these are your moments. Before events, you can reach the maximum audience by actively reminding people about your sales.

CPC

CPC (cost per link click) is an indicator that demonstrates the average price for one click on a link. It helps to track down the effectiveness of a campaign, the directness of photo/video creative, and the quality of the selected target audience.
To calculate the CPC, you should divide the total amount spent on advertising by the total number of clicks on the link. CPC statistics are well understood only after receiving the first results and calculating the ROAS parameter (return on advertising investment). Let's have some practice! Having the $0.01 price per click, with a total of 10,000 clicks, you will spend $100 and earn $150. Or it can be $1, and the total number of clicks is 100, then you will pay $100 and make $250. It all depends on the audience you choose.

CTR

We already know about CTR and how to find the optimal and ideal CTR for Facebook ads. Constant analysis and optimization of CTR campaigns allow you to increase sales and attract more customers.

Video average playing time

Video average play time - is an indicator of the average duration of watching your advertising video creative. Additionally, in the advertising tool analytics, you can see detailed information about the moment in the video that gets the most customers' attention and at which point users get bored. We recommend using this advertising tool because nowadays, short videos are much more popular and give better results than photos. Creating a video should be accompanied by an idea of the target audience that is ready to pay, as well as the understanding that the most necessary part of the video is the first 3-4 seconds, when you should grab the attention and provoke the user to make a click.

Conclusion

Of course, there are many more indicators of Facebook advertising analysis, but they all influence each other. Each marketer has to understand the strategic goal of business development and follow it to build the advertising campaign's goals. Based on this information, you can optimize ideal CTR, CPC, Frequency, and other indicators for your advertising campaigns.