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Facebook Ad Objectives: How to Choose The Right One (eCommerce Edition)

If you are looking for the best way to use the updated Facebook ad objectives and make your Facebook campaigns shine, you will need to get a grip on all of the them. Bear in mind that the most important thing is to connect your marketing goals correctly to Facebook ads objectives in order to get the most out of them.

Let’s dive into updated Facebook ad objectives and see which one could step up your performance, as well as how to navigate the shorter list of campaign objectives.

Major update of Facebook ad objectives - ODAX

The campaign objectives in Meta Ads Manager have been updated and the 11 objectives you knew are now zipped into 6 using the Outcome-Driven Ad Experiences (ODAX) approach. Important thing is, all 11 of them are still here, but the form and path you are finding them has changed. 

The six new Facebook ad objectives are:

  • Awareness
  • Traffic
  • Engagement
  • Leads
  • App promotion
  • Sales
A list of 6 Facebook ad objectives and how their selection looks on Meta.

With this updated setup, the choice of objectives is more aligned and clear with marketing goals, which means you don't lose time trying to figure out what each objective does. After choosing objectives, you can get creative in the actual setup of the campaign and fine-tune other options.

Also, this new look of Facebook ad objectives will prevent you from creating new ad sets or ads within existing campaigns that use the original objectives. So make sure you proactively convert existing Facebook campaigns by duplicating them.

Awareness: Spotlight your client's brand and capture the attention of potential buyers

The Awareness ads objective is perfect for reaching the top of your sales funnel (TOF). Choose this objective when you want to engage potential buyers who are likely to remember your products on your eCommerce site.

Whether it's through impressions, reach, or ad recall, Facebook aims to display your ad to an audience likely interested in your business, laying the groundwork for future sales.

Previous Facebook ad objectives merged into Awareness:

  • Brand awareness
  • Reach
  • Video views
  • Store traffic

Traffic: Encourage your audience to explore channels

The goal of this objective is to drive traffic outside of Facebook, i.e., back to your webshop, website, or app. If you have a new product page or a landing page and you want customers to visit them, then this is the objective for you. 

With this objective you can educate your audience and get them interested in your products instead of selling straight away. In the setup you can choose the destination (conversion location).

Ad examples of products on discounts.
Link the webshop and drive traffic to a specific product line.

Decide where you want your ad clicks to go – your website, Messenger, or WhatsApp. Meta then shows your ad to the audience most likely to click, directing them to your chosen spot. There, potential customers can learn more about what you offer, getting closer to a purchase.

The only Facebook ad objective that remained the same as the original one is Traffic.

Engagement: Win affection of your targeted audience

Engagement ad objective is great when you are trying to reach the middle of your funnel, those that are already interested in the products you are selling in your store. 

With an engagement objective, you are targeting audiences most likely to interact with you through messages, video views, post engagement or event responses.

Previous Facebook ad objectives merged into Engagement:

  • Engagement
  • Video views
  • Messages
  • Conversions

Facebook Leads: Build stronger customer relationship with just one click 

The Facebook Leads objective allows you to reach potential buyers without redirecting them away from Facebook. In other words, instead of directing them to your store, you invite them to provide their contact information, or chat with you, allowing you to build your customer base. This way, you can collect leads via messages, phone calls or signups.

Three dynamic product ad examples.
Keep your audience updated about ongoing discounts.

For example, you can set up Instant Forms to gather info from interested customers or to share some cool offers.

This is a neat way of building stronger relationships with your customers or making sure your creative is sparking interest. 

For instance, if you are trying to get potential customers who want to sign up for a monthly,  newsletter, or download your new lead generation playbook, this Facebook ads objective can help you with that.

Previous Facebook ad objectives merged into Leads:

  • Lead generation
  • Messages
  • Conversions

App promotion: Find audiences who'd love to get your app

This Facebook ads objective is pretty niche, meant only for advertisers with their own app.

If your online store operates through an app, this objective can really boost your app downloads. Just make sure your app is connected, because if it's not, your ads will automatically focus on getting link clicks instead.

The goal of the App promotion objective is to display ads to audiences interested in your app, encouraging them to proceed with app downloads or app sign-ups.

While the name has been updated, App Promotion remains the same as the previous App Installs objective.

If your app includes animation tools, showcasing these features can specifically attract users interested in digital art and design. Highlighting how these apps for animation enhance creativity could significantly increase app downloads from an engaged and niche audience.

Sales ad objective: Target your BOF audience and boost sales

Since this ad objective is reaching audiences that are the bottom of your sales funnel, you can lean on Facebook Pixel and information Facebook has gathered about them.

Facebook uses this data to figure out which of your products is most likely to be purchased and shows that product at the times that the algorithm thinks is the best to make the purchase.

Skechers ad examples.
Personalize DPA's for boosting your sales.

The best way to use sales objectives for your eCommerce is to deliver personalized DPAs instead of regular brochure-style ones. This way, you can combine the advantages of Facebook Pixel with unique ads, ensuring that the right shoppers see the right ads. 

To learn more about Facebook’s dynamic product ads and improve your creatives by using them, make sure to read this blog post. And if you're curious about how Hunch works its magic across different product categories, check out creative examples.

Previous Facebook ad objectives merged into Sales:

  • Conversions
  • Catalog sales

Blend in all Facebook ad objectives using Advantage+

If your performance is lacking, and you are certain it's not due to the creative, there's a chance that audience settings aren't optimized to reach the right people. And there's no doubt that your killer creative shouldn't be wasted on the wrong audience. 

This step of setting up campaigns is particularly risky, as the results depend on many unpredictable factors. 

Meta recognized this bottleneck, which is why they introduced the Advantage+. With Advantage+, eComm marketers can drop the never-ending battle with setup and focus on creative testing. This way you bring the most out of your Facebook campaigns and make sure you have all eyes on your performance. 

Picture selecting the 'Advantage+' option on Meta.

Advantage+ helps you create your Facebook campaign more effectively and predict potential customers with better accuracy. This allows you to embrace your creative side and align it with your strategy, while Advantage+ combines all the elements from other objectives that align with your specific marketing goal.

Advantage+ allows you to mix static and dynamic ads and send them to a wide audience, which includes both potential and current customers, all in one campaign. It also figures out and pushes for the most valuable prospects. 

If you're constantly in an "always on" campaign mode or have specific goals in mind, Advantage+ can deliver improved results and shift your focus towards creativity rather than technical setup. 

Set your Facebook ads for better performance with Hunch                    

To rock objectives and their use, you would definitely need to test out many different Facebook ad objectives until you find the right one for your specific funnel. Once you are all set with possibilities of objectives, you can focus on strategy and creative production.

Additionally, in a world where audiences are flooded with 6000-10000 ads per day, the content and its ability to grab attention become the make-or-break factor for selling products. 

That's why, if you're sticking with brochure-style product ads due to the lack of time, you're probably setting up your campaigns for failure.

Take control over the creative production with Hunch and make sure that each ad is personalized and reaches the right person at the right time.

With Hunch, test up to 20 different templates in a single catalog, and boost your sales by ensuring your products are presented in the best possible way.