The Exact Results from the Last $8,240.17 I Spent in Facebook Ads

In this post I’m going to outline, in detail, a very Facebook ad campaign I just put together. Plus, at the end of the post you can actually download the entire page-by-page campaign for yourself.

A couple weeks ago I decided I wanted to promote a product I created called The Retargeting Hacks report.

This was a quick video course I made that shows the ins and outs of how to use Facebook’s retargeting features to create quick (and profitable) ad campaigns…where your ads are only being showed to people who have already visited your website, purchased one of your products, or has already opted into your email list.

“Why would I run ads to people that already know me?”

…the same reason Apple keeps running commercials even though everyone on the planet knows who they are and what they sell.

The people most likely to buy from you already know who you are. Even better are the people who have already purchased from you in the past…assuming, of course, that you didn’t screw them by delivering a crap product. #endrant

My Exact Page-By-Page Funnel…

So, the product was created, the only thing left was to setup a few ads, and create an opt-in page where people would enter in their email address in exchange for a cool piece of content.

I created this opt-in page (http://get10000fans.com/lead-ads) using Instapage, that focussed on teaching everyone how to setup Facebook’s new ‘Lead Ads.’

Why was the free giveaway about ‘lead ads’ if the product I would end up selling was about retargeting? Because I know lead ads are a hot topic, and would spike the interest of everyone seeing the ad.

And I was right.

This landing page is currently converting at 38.1%…to COLD traffic.

Mission accomplished. What’s cold traffic? Essentially…visitors who haven’t heard of you before. (you get much higher conversion rates when sending ‘warm’ traffic) We ended up generating 1,856 new opt-ins for our list…which costed about $4.44 each. (not terrible…but not fantastic) After the opt-in page, I create a page where I would accomplish 2 things:

1.) Deliver the content I promise (the ‘lead ads’ video tutorial)

2.) Make a subtle offer for my product (the Retargeting Hacks Report) Here’s the page >> http://get10000fans.com/lead-ads-demo The next page I wanted visitor to go to was the sales page for the product.

Again, I setup a quick page (this time using OptimizePress inside my wordpress site) that would only have a quick ‘video sales letter’ that I had my brother/partner Scott create.

Here’s the page >> http://get10000fans.com/new-ad-trend

The point of this video was to continue delivering great content, and then build up the need for our new product, the Retargeting Hacks Report. …and obviously, convince people to buy it. If you’re wondering if I follow a process for creating my video sales letter…the answer is yes.

If you’re wondering if I’ll share my top secret formula that converts like crazy…the answer is no.

Just kidding, here it is: it’s Perry Belcher’s 21 Step Salesletter Formula.

Once the video reaches the “pitch”…you’ll notice that the buy button will appear, and it will link to our checkout page. The checkout page makes sure to recap the offer, the benefits, the price, and the guarantee. (and there’s a big reason for that)

Of course, we use SamCart to create all our checkout pages. If you don’t know already, Scott and I are the co-founders SamCart. (it’s actually what we, and the other 10 people sitting in the office with me, spend 99% of our time working on)

…so it would be pretty messed up if I didn’t use my own software. (full disclosure: I gave myself a free account…don’t tell Scott)

Anywhoo…after the visitor enters in their credit card info and makes the purchase…they’re shown a couple 1-click upsells.

• Upsell #1 – an upgraded package where they get swipe files, recorded calls, etc…for an additional $87
• Upsell #2 – our Facebook Ads Academy program…for an additional $397
• Downsell to Upsell #2 – a payment plan offer for the Facebook Ads Academy…for an additional 4 payments of $97
• Upsell #3 – our Fan Page Funnel program…for an additional 12 payments of $97

We used SamCart to split test a couple different upsells and upsell funnels, and this ended up working the best. The numbers below are a little off (because we had multiple upsell funnels being tested) but they’re pretty close to the actual conversions.

$14,114.00 in Sales From $8,240.17 in Ads

During our $8,240.17 Facebook ad campaign, here were the final numbers.

• 73 people bought the Retargeting Hacks Report for $97
• 22 people bought Upsell #1
• 8 people bought Upsell #2
• 2 people bought the downsell to Upsell #2
• and 1 person bought Upsell #3

We generated $7,081 from the front-end product, and an additional $7,033 from the added 1-click upsells. Hopefully you see the importance of having 1-click upsells. Given that we spent $8,240.17 during the campaign, we would have lost $1,207.17 without the upsells. Yikes. …but instead, we made $5,873.83 in profit.

The 3 Groups I Targeted With My Ads

So, lets get to the fun part…the Facebook Ads that sent me all that awesome traffic. I wanted to create 3 different groups to target with my ads. Group #1 was anyone who was currently on my email list. So I uploaded my entire email list into Facebook and created a ‘custom audience’ that matched up everyone’s email with their Facebook profile. #ILoveTheInternet It matched about 58,000 of the people on my list, which was about a 60% match…not too bad.

Next I created a ‘lookalike’ audience based on those contacts that I uploaded. I did that from the Audiences page inside Facebook’s Ad Manager. (this is super easy, btw)

That gave me an audience of 1,946,000 to target…and they should be pretty targeted because Facebook tries to find similar people based on like a million different targeting elements.

The final targeting group I wanted to test out something completely new. Facebook recently released some pretty awesome targeting features, so I took a couple hours and researched what they were and how to use them…and then I setup my third and final targeting group. (I’ll get to this one later)

Here’s how my campaign started to come together…you’ll see all 3 targeting groups below…

So, now it was time to turn on the ads and let the traffic flow.

I kept my budget fairly small at first, spending about $200 per day until I could prove the ads were profitable.

I made to sure to put Facebook’s conversion pixels on my SamCart upsell #1 page which guaranteed every customer who bought would trigger the pixel back inside Facebook Ads, which I would use to count how many customers came from each ad.

I also put Facebook’s conversion pixel on the thank you page after someone opted in…which was the page where I deliver the free video: http://get10000fans.com/lead-ads-demo That way I could also track how many opt-ins came from each ad.

Want the final results of the campaign?

Targeting Group #1 (my actual email list) ended up performing great. I got 369 opt-ins (yes, I know they were already on my list…but a ‘re opt-in’ still has a ton of value) and 18 sales, from just $1,800 in ad spend. Disclaimer: Facebook’s pixel for ‘purchases’ was off during this promo, which is why actual sales were lower than the image above shows. Those 18 sales brought in about $3,496 in sales…from just $1,800 in ad spend. (almost a 2:1 ROI) I put $1,696 in my bank account from that 1 ad.

Targeting Group #2 (the 1% lookalike audience) ended up performing great as well. I got 266 opt-ins and 8 sales, from just $895 in ad spend. Those 8 sales brought in about $1,546 in sales…from just $895 in ad spend. (again, almost a 2:1 ROI) I put $651 in my bank account from that 1 ad.

Targeting Group #3 (my new targeting secret) ended up performing better than the other 2 put together. I got 1,301 opt-ins and 47 sales, from just $5,153.33 in ad spend. Those 47 sales brought in about $9,039 in sales…from the $5,153.33 in ad spend. (again, almost a 2:1 ROI) I put $3,886 in my bank account from that 1 ad.

3 Things to Remember

#1 – Always Build Your List With Ads

I spent $8,240.17 on traffic, and generated 1,936 new opt-ins for my email list, and 73 new paying customers, who spent over $14,000 almost immediately. Even if those leads didn’t buy anything right away, I would still run this campaign again.

Advertisers need to remember, if you’re building a list when you run ads, those leads are on your list forever. (well, maybe not forever but you get the point) If you’re doing your job, you will be able to sell those leads other products or services again and again in the future…hopefully more than making your money back from the ads you bought to get them on your list.

REMEMBER THAT!

#2 – Always Have Upsells Ready to Go

I spent nearly $112 per customer. ($8200 in ads divided by 73 new customers = $112 per customer) If I was selling a $10 report…or a $47 ebook…I would have been SCREWED. There would be absolutely no way in hell for me to turn a profit if my customers didn’t have the opportunity to spend more than $112 with me. My customers had the opportunity to spend $1,745! Remember…

• The Front-End Product – the Retargeting Hacks Report, was $97
• Upsell #1 – an upgraded package where they get swipe files, recorded calls, etc…was $87
• Upsell #2 – our Facebook Ads Academy program…was $397
• Upsell #3 – our Fan Page Funnel program…was 12 payments of $97

If someone bought everything (which 1 person did)…that’s $1,745.00 in sales…from 1 customer. If I send 8,419 people to your website (which I just did in this campaign)…don’t you think there might be just 1 person in there who would spend almost $2,000 with you? I sure do. If your ‘funnel looked something like this:

• An ebook for $10
• Upsell #1 – the audio version for $37

…you’re in trouble. Your customers only have the opportunity to spend $47 with you right away. That means you better be able t acquire customers for $47 or less…and that’s just if you want to break even.

#3 – Always Play with Your Targeting Rules

Facebook is ALWAYS changing stuff inside their ad platform. It’s actually kind of annoying sometimes. But the good news is, there is always something new to test…something new to play with. And as a marketer, that is exactly what we want. Every day you have the option to test a new group of people to show your ads to, and if just one of those groups turns out like “Targeting Group #3” did for me…you could be looking at a gold mine.

Download This Exact Campaign

What About the Actual Ads?

In the next post, I’ll walk you through the 3 ads I created in detail. You’ll see what images I used, what headlines I wrote, and the actual ad copy that converted so well. Plus, I’ll explain why I created the ads the way I did. That post should be ready early next week…