Getting potential customers to take that last step in the buyer’s journey to where they actually complete their purchase isn’t always easy. Discounts or promo codes in Facebook offer ads can give them the nudge they need.

It’s a great strategy for e-commerce and brick-and-mortar retailers alike.

Use these mobile-only ads to boost acquisition, increase sales, and gain loyalty, depending on who you’re targeting.

With 44.7% of customers shopping on mobile, and 32% preferring to find deals and coupon offers on their smartphones, offer ads like these are tailor-made to help you engage new customers.

In fact, Facebook offer ads are some of the most effective tools you have for spurring sales both on and offline.

If you’re not using them already, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to turn on-the-fence followers into loyal customers.

Why You Should Use Facebook Offer Ads

It’s simple: Offer ads boost sales.

Even though you’ll technically be selling your product at a discount, offer ads are a solid strategy for bringing in new customers. Done right, they can also help you boost loyalty in your current customer base as well.

Plus, when you share discounts with existing customers and targeted audiences of prospective new customers on Facebook, you potentially increase social media engagement. A customer who initially sees the value of following your brand account for more deals will be introduced to the rest of your social content as well. It’s a win-win situation.

Offer ads can also help you bring in more traffic from several different points along the marketing funnel.

When someone is interested in your product, the offer of a deal may entice them to learn more about your brand. If they’re just about ready to make the purchase but need an extra little push to go through with it, offer ads can help.

Just think of the last time you went shopping online.

If a brand who made a product you were looking for was offering a discount or coupon code, would you click on an ad for it to learn more? While you may not be ready to make the purchase at that exact moment, a well-timed offer ad can still pique your interest.

For the buyer who is waffling about whether or not to complete their purchase, offer ads also create a sense of urgency, forcing them to move from the consideration to the decision stage.

If the customer needs to spend a bit more time in that consideration stage, they can save your offer for future use, and you can send them up to three reminders.

This keeps your brand top-of-mind and gives you a chance to restate the specific value your product provides.

Whether you’re a chiropractor offering an inexpensive consultation, a software company offering a free tool, or an e-commerce store running a sale on specific products, Facebook offer ads can work for you!

It’s important to understand how to maximize your results based on specific objectives before you incorporate offer ads into your campaigns.

When you’re successful with a Facebook offer ad, it means you’ll lose out on a portion of the sale due to the discount that’s offered. That’s the tradeoff.

But don’t think about it like you’re losing money. The return on investment (ROI) for these ads can include a boost in loyalty and repeat purchases which, with the right audience targeting, are drivers for increased revenue over time.

Types of Facebook Offer Ads

There are two main types of Facebook offer ads: online offer ads and in-store offer ads.

• Online offer ads – Offers can only be redeemed for online purchase. If someone decides to save this ad on Facebook, they’ll receive reminders about it when switching devices or before the offer expires.
• In-store offer ads – Offers are only redeemable in brick-and-mortar store locations via a QR code or barcode. If someone saves this ad on Facebook, they’ll be reminded before it expires and receives an email of the offer to print. Facebook users with location-sharing turned on will also receive a reminder when they’re close to your store.

Depending on your company status, you can choose to use either of these offers or a combination of both, to entice your potential customers towards making a purchase.

Facebook Offer Ad Objectives

Once you choose a type of ad, you’ll be asked to choose one of three objectives: traffic, conversions, or store traffic. These are the only options available for Facebook offer ads.

• Traffic – When someone clicks on the ad, you can choose whether they go to a landing page or a Messenger conversation. Use this objective if you’re guiding customers to a specific store or product page on your site.
• Conversions – This objective also lets you promote a website or landing page, but uses a conversion pixel as well. That makes it easy for you to build more specific audiences to retarget up to 180 days later.

P.S. AdEspresso created a simple WordPress plugin called Pixel Caffeine to help get this pixel set up on your site.

• Store traffic – This is the best option for driving in-store sales. Choose it to create a QR code or barcode that people can bring with them to your store.

Once you’ve decided on the type of offer ad that works best based on your goals and objectives, it’s time to create it.

First, you’ll select your marketing objective.

 

Then, find the section labeled Offer.

And, toggle the switch On.

 

Make sure you consider which of these three objectives best matches the goals of your advertising campaign.

Each one is tailored to a specific situation and will not work as well if you’re not equally specific with the intended goal you want to achieve.

5 Tips for creating the best Facebook offer ads

From here you’ll be able to start building your first offer ad by selecting your business page and clicking Create Offer.

We’ve put together a few tips and tricks for this part to help you optimize these ads.

• Use an expiration date.

This creates a sense of urgency for your offer and can boost engagement as a result. Remember, you’re not creating evergreen content in these ads. Offer ads are meant to be a one-time offer.

• Pin offers to your business page.

While your ads will display in the Newsfeed, pinning it to your Facebook page is a great way to boost engagement. If someone misses the ad because they’re scrolling too fast, or just wanted to check out your page during their research, they can always find your current offer when it’s pinned.

• Create goals for both claimed offers and actual purchases.

Measuring the success of an offer ad is going to be a little different from other campaigns. As Facebook users can claim (or save) the ad without making a purchase, you need to account for this in your reporting. If you’re asking “Why should I report on people who didn’t make a purchase?”, the answer is retargeting. When someone claims your offer ad, that means they’re interested in your product, so you can create ads that continue building on the value your product provides and display them to these “claimed but not purchased” users.

• Hide the sharing option.

Offer ads should be built to target specific segments of your audience. When you remove the ability to share your ad, it makes it easier to track the engagement of that audience, as you’re not going to get as many outside Facebook users using the ad.

• Make sure you’re 100% confident.

You can’t edit offer ads once they’re live, so it’s important that you nail the ad copy and images on the first try. This is especially important when you’re testing variants using A/B testing.

Keep these best practices in mind when you’re creating your Facebook offer ads and you’ll be able to create offer ads that not only entice customers but work together with your existing campaigns to move people closer to making a purchase. Just remember to always make sure you’re following Facebook’s Advertising Guidelines as well.

The Strategy Behind 4 Facebook Offer Ad Examples

To help your creative juices flow, we’ve put together four examples of great Facebook offer ads from several different industries.

We’ll talk through each one to show how it was constructed and why it was successful.

Let’s start with this in-store offer ad from The Joint Chiropractic.

This ad does an excellent job of making their offer appealing to a specific audience. The ad copy calls out local branches, Huntington Valley/Warminster, and provides a clear explanation of why their services are valuable.

While their image could be more enticing, it does a good job of supporting the copy. This ad also increases the feeling of urgency for potential followers by making only 50 Vouchers Available! While they don’t outright say “Act Fast” in the copy, it’s clear that the $29 Adjustment, Exam, Report of Findings & Consult offer is limited.

For a local business like The Joint Chiropractic, an offer ad is an acquisition and brand awareness tool. It puts their company name out there and encourages engagement.

We’ll move into the SaaS and tech sector for our next example, which comes from WordPress theme builder StudioPressIn-store Facebook Offer Ad

The ad copy is short and punchy, promising the free theme will help consumers Break through the noise in their market.

The tagline “Download the Breakthrough Pro theme today! ” is one example of using action words to increase the urgency of an ad, a tactic they continue on their landing page copy as well.

With the offer of a free template, they can appeal to deal-seekers as well as followers who are looking for a website design platform because it lowers the barrier of entry.

Next up is an ad from Society6, a print-on-demand service for artists and consumers.

 

This ad does the best job of creating a sense of urgency with the copy: Click to get 30% off everything today. So if you were looking for a sign—this is it.

Using a carousel ad, they’re able to promote up to ten different products with the corresponding discount.

Discounted prices are highlighted in red and shown alongside the original prices, to contextualize the savings.

And finally, for something a bit different, an offer ad from e-commerce retailer Combatant Gentlemen that uses a contest and gift card in place of a discount.

They use their offer ad to run a contest for their audience. Using action-oriented language like Start NOW and vote now. The ad encourages engagement and makes it feel like any Facebook user who encounters it

The hashtag also makes it easy for them to promote this content across platforms like Instagram and Twitter.

While the offer they make isn’t really a discount or coupon, Combatant Gentlemen uses the offer ad format to boost engagement with their brand and entices potential customers with a $500 CG gift card.

The use of the money bag emoji is a nice touch as well.

Depending on the objective, discount offered, and industry, you can really do a lot with Facebook offer ads. They’re one of the best options you have for driving sales for your e-commerce or brick-and-mortar business.

Let Facebook Offer Ads Work For You

Whether your business is an e-commerce store or a brick-and-mortar retailer, Facebook offer ads give you the opportunity to increase sales, boost loyalty, and engage with customers.

Don’t refrain just because there’s a chance you might miss out on a small percentage of your sale. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives.

Just remember, the success of these campaigns is dependent on knowing exactly what your objectives are.

When you’re specific with your targeting, sure of your ad design and copy, and always offer up something enticing for potential customers, these ads can really help you win over customers who are ready to purchase.