Optimizing for conversions means your ads are more likely to be shown to people likely to convert. Learn what advertiser controls and how choosing the right goals influence who sees your ads.

1. Drive your true business objective
with conversion optimization
Companion document
2 0 1 7
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2. Agenda 1. When to use conversion
optimization
4. Success stories
2. How does conversion
optimization affect who sees
your ads?
5. Setup and best practices
3. Conversion vs. click
optimization

3. No.
1
When to use conversion
optimization

4. Jasper’s Boutique
A retailer looking to drive more sales for their unique selection of products

5. Objective and
Campaign Goal
These advertiser controls align their campaign with their business goals
Conversion
Event
Optimization
Goal
Three major inputs Jasper’s Boutique will need to consider
Conversions Purchase Conversions

6. Jasper’s Boutique can choose from a number of
campaign objectives

7. Then they create an ad set, and select the conversion event
(the action on their website) they want to drive

8. Then they select their optimization goal

9. No.
How does conversion
optimization affect who
sees your ads?
2

10. What advertiser controls affect who sees Jasper’s ads?
TARGETING
Your
defined target
audience
+
OPTIMIZATION GOAL
The outcome
you tell
us is important
to you
C L I C K S V I D E O V I E W SC O N V E R S I O N SL O C A T I O N I N T E R E S T S D E M O G R A P H I C S
=
WHO WILL SEE YOUR AD

11. When Jasper’s chooses
their optimization goal,
they influence who is
most likely to see ad
Total Target Audience
(US 18-24)

12. When Jasper’s chooses
their optimization goal,
they influence who is
most likely to see ad
People more
likely to
convert.
Some people
are more likely
to click.
Optimizing for
clicks means you’ll
be more likely to
reach these
people.
Optimizing for
conversions means
you’ll be more
likely to reach
these people.
Optimizing for reach
means you’ll have a
better chance of
reaching more people
overall, whether or
not they click or
convert after they see
your ad.
Total Target Audience
(US 18-24)
People who see
your ad, but not
likely to take
action.

13. When Jasper’s chooses
their optimization goal,
they influence who is
most likely to see ad
Joe
JillJoe
People more
likely to
convert.
Some people
are more likely
to click.
If you optimize for
clicks, Jill and Joe
may be equally likely
to see your ad
If you optimize for
conversions, you’re
more likely to reach
Jill and other likely
converters
Total Target Audience
(US 18-24)
People who see
your ad, but not
likely to take
action.
Jill is
many times
more likely to
convert than Joe

14. Jasper’s Boutique chose conversion optimization because they
want purchases, not clicks
​C O N V E R S I O N O P T I M I Z A T I O N
​Facebook then shows
ads to people in Jasper’s
target audience that are
likely to convert after
seeing the ad

15. 15
​How exactly does that happen?

16. ​Maximize
advertiser
value
​Maximize
value for
people

17. Optimizing for conversions means your ads are more likely to be
shown to people likely to convert
TOTAL VALUE
Advertiser
Bid
Estimated
Action rates
User Value× =+
Your bid for the
event you selected
as your optimization
goal – i.e. your
desired result
How interesting
do we think this
individual is going
to find this ad? Is
this a high-quality
ad?
M A X I M I Z I N G
A D V E RT I S E R VA L U E
O P T I M I Z I N G CO N S U M E R
E X P E R I E N C E
For each individual, we rank eligible ads based on a “Total Value” for each ad
What’s the likelihood
that an impression
shown to this person
will lead to your
desired result?
The ad with the
highest Total Value
wins the auction and
shows to the
individual

18. No.
Conversion vs. click
optimization
3

19. 19
Click-optimizedad
Advertiser
bid for a click
Estimated
probability of a
click
×
M A X I M I Z I N G
A D V E RT I S E R VA L U E
User Value+
O P T I M I Z I N G CO N S U M E R
E X P E R I E N C E
TOTAL VALUE=
When you optimize for clicks, you’re
more competitive in auctions for
people likely to click
When you optimize for conversions,
you’re more competitive in auctions for
people likely to convert
TOTAL VALUE=Advertiser
bid for a
conversion
Conversion-optimizedad
M A X I M I Z I N G
A D V E RT I S E R VA L U E
Estimated
probability of a
conversion
× User Value+
O P T I M I Z I N G CO N S U M E R
E X P E R I E N C E

20. Deciding between click or conversion optimization
• Choose if clicks are your most important
business outcome
• Our system will prioritize delivery to
people more likely to click (whether or not
they’re likely to convert)
• Choose if website actions (sales, signups,
etc.) are your most important business
outcome
• Our system will prioritize delivery to
people more likely to convert
Click
optimization
Conversion
optimization

21. 21
Conversion optimization drives more website actions
Flexibility
Optimize for any event you’ve
set up on the FB PixelLower costs
Shows fewer ads to people who
click but don’t convert –
minimizing waste
More
conversions
Prioritizes showing ads to people
who will increase bottom-line
results (purchases, registrations,
leads, etc.)

22. 1. Results reflect: (1) All ad sets with 5+ daily conversions that were switched from conversion optimization to click optimization during a 1-month period in Q1 2016; only ad sets with non-zero conversions before
and after the switch were considered. (2) 2.4x CPA increase reflects the CPA difference observed at the 50th percentile of all ad sets considered. (3) CPA measured on 1-day post-click basis.
2. Results from two-week tests with 3 EMEA, 3 NA, and 1 APAC-based advertisers. Verticals included health & fitness, media, travel, eCommerce and retail.
22
​Lower costs
A 2016 Facebook study across 130K ad
accounts found that campaigns optimized for
clicks had a cost per conversion that was
​More conversions
A 2017 Facebook study in partnership with 7
advertisers across different regions and
verticals found that conversion optimization
drove an average of
74%
​more conversions than click optimization 2
2.4x​higher than when optimized for conversions 1
Conversion optimization drives more website actions

23. Our platform has evolved from focusing on proxy events
(like ad clicks) to true business goals
2007 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017…
Mobile app
installs
Website
conversions
Reach and
frequency
In-app actions,
Store visits
…
Impressions,
Clicks
Video views
Return on ad
spend (ROAS)
Note: The momentum from clicks and other proxies to real business outcomes isn’t limited to Facebook. While bidding for clicks has been the norm on
search for years, even search platforms are acknowledging1 that some clicks are less profitable than other clicks, and are offering more ways to optimize
directly for conversions.
1. e.g. https://adwords.googleblog.com/2016/07/more-powerful-bid-automation-with-smart-bidding.html

24. No.
Conversion optimization
success stories
4

25. Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/current-meditation/
Enrolling more people with conversion-optimized ads
Current Meditation
​The meditation studio tested conversion-optimized ads to encourage people to sign-up for its free trial class.
​5x​more memberships from
conversion-optimized ads
​2.6x​more leads from
conversion-optimized ads
“We have seen significant traffic come from advertising on Facebook, after testing
and finding the right formula—optimizing for conversions. The increase in guest
volume has allowed us to prove out our model within a brand new industry.”
Ross Weisman
CEO, CURRENT MEDITATION

26. Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/alex-and-ani 26
Designing success with more website conversions on Facebook
ALEX AND ANI
​ALEX AND ANI partnered with Facebook to to test the performance of ads optimized for conversions compared to
ads optimized for website clicks and traffic. After running a campaign to test whether ads optimized for conversions
would drive more online sales than ads optimized for clicks, this jewelry brand discovered that conversion-optimized
ads resulted in a higher return on ad spend.
​22%
​more online sales from conversion-
optimized ads than for click-
optimized ads
​18%
​lower cost per purchase for
conversion-optimized ads
​3.3X​return on ad spend with conversion-
optimized ads
“Get creative and test, test, test! We’re always looking for ways to improve and
innovate, and Facebook gives us a lot of flexibility to try new things from many
angles, including creative, targeting and optimization.”
Torrie Belknap
Digital Marketing Manager, ALEX AND ANI

27. Source: Placeholder text. 2727
A new approach to boosting sales: In a bid to increase
conversions, Tiket.com wanted to compare and understand
the effectiveness of optimising for conversions versus
optimising for clicks.
Tiket.com
​For click-optimised ads, Facebook targets people who are more likely to click as an
action. Ads optimised for checkout events reach people who are most likely to initiate
checkouts, which is a stronger indicator of actual sales. While the cost per click was
lower for click-optimised ads, Tiket.com achieved more website traffic, bookings and
transactions with ads optimised for checkout events.
​2.8x​increase in revenue
​2x​increase in transactions
​6x​increase in flight bookings
Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/tiket-dot-com

28. Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/topix 28
Maximizing page views
Topix
​The entertainment media company ran a test campaign to determine whether optimizing for conversions or clicks
would draw more people to its website. The week-long campaign, which ran March 10–17, 2017, unveiled clear
results for the Topix team. Optimizing for conversions significantly outperformed optimizing for clicks.
​4.6x​more content views using
conversion optimization
​79%
​lower cost per content view using
conversion optimization
​5.8x​more link clicks using conversion
optimization
“We will continue to experiment with optimizing for conversions, and use this
strategy in our daily buying. We also plan to experiment with other custom
conversions to see how we can continue to improve our traffic quality and lower
our cost per visit.”
Sara Davis
DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE ACQUISITION, TOPIX

29. 2929
Testing ad objectives to support charitable donations through Facebook
​The charitable organization tested conversion-optimized ads and traffic-optimized ads to determine the most
effective way to encourage people to donate to its cause.
​76%
​decrease in cost per acquisition for conversion-
optimized ads, compared to traffic-optimized
ads
​4X​more donations (from choosing the most
appropriate objective for the campaign),
compared to traffic-optimized ads
Save the Children US
Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/save-the-children-us
“We’re excited about being able to reach new audiences, grow our global
movement and continue our tradition of innovation. Facebook advertising gives
us the ability to target donor look-alikes at a relatively low cost with a fast speed
to market, which is key for responding to emergencies.”
Ettore Rossetti
SENIOR DIRECTOR, SOCIAL BUSINESS STRATEGY & INNOVATION, SAVE THE CHILDREN

30. 3030
The entertainment company increased video views on its website by
optimizing for conversions versus clicks.
Watchable
​Watchable tested conversion-optimized ads and click-optimized ads to see which
approach was most effective at increasing video views on its website. Using a multi-cell lift
test, it created 2 identical campaigns and used the same ad creative which linked to a
video hosted on the Watchable site. When it set a video view on its website as a
conversion, Watchable saw better results with conversion optimization.
​1.3M​people reached
​12%
​increase in incremental
unique people playing the
video on mobile
Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/watchable
​16%
​increase in incremental
mobile video views with
conversion optimization

31. Social Blue
​Social Blue moved their clients' entire budgets from CPC-website clicks campaigns to website conversion
campaigns. Because of conversion optimization they increased the volume of conversions in 2016 by 18.6%
compared to 2015 and decreased the CPA by 22%. They also achieved significant Efficiency gains: by having a lower
number of ads being created in combination with conversion optimization as well as longer retention of the
campaigns and broader audiences.
​Source: https://www.facebook.com/business/success/social-blue
​19%
​Increase in the volume of
conversions in 2016 thanks to
Conversion Optimization
​22%
​Decrease in CPA thanks to
Conversion Optimization
“We continually tailor our strategies to new developments in order to achieve the
best ROIs for our clients. In 2016 we switched to conversion optimization with the
Facebook Pixel and used it in combination with automatic bidding, which is a lot
less time consuming than manually optimizing bids and campaigns. We saw that
optimization towards conversions helps our clients reach their audiences with the
highest probability to convert at the right time and through the most effective
placements..”
Tim Roemer
CEO SOCIAL BLUE

32. No.
5
Conversion optimization
setup and best practices

33. Step 1:
Create your campaigns with the the Conversions
objective
Guide:
• Go to your Ads Manager
• Select Create New Campaign
• Choose the Conversions objective
This will also work with the Product catalog sales objective
Creating a conversion-optimized campaign
Step-by-step guide

34. )
Step 2:
Choose the conversion event you wish track
Guide:
• Create new ad set
• Chose the desired conversion event
(e.g. Purchase, Complete Registration, Lead)
• Create the rest of the ad set as usual
The event should be green to indicate that it has received traffic
within the last 7 days
Creating a conversion-optimized campaign
Step-by-step guide

35. )
Step 3:
Tell the system to optimize towards Conversions
Guide:
• Choose to optimize towards Conversions
(the default selection)
Optimizing towards conversions will find the people most likely to
convert
Creating a conversion-optimized campaign
Step-by-step guide

36. Evaluate
Conversion optimization best practices
Edit Ad
​1. Bid strategy
​Choose the right bid
strategy for your campaign
(e.g. lowest cost, target
cost)
​2. Delivery
controls
Set fewer constraints on your
budget, targeting, bid, and
placement
​3. Conversion
windows
​Set the appropriate
conversion window
​5. Switching
conversion events
If needed, switch conversion
events, or to landing page
views optimization
4. Conversion
volume
​Try to capture the
recommended number of
conversions per ad set
​6. User experience
Monitor feedback and improve your
landing page
Create Ad
​7. Measure the
right things
Track and evaluate
performance based on the
lower-funnel metrics that are
most important to your
business

37. Bid strategy
Choose a bid strategy that aligns with your goals and cost requirements
More conversions
More control
​Lowest cost
​Lets Facebook set a bid for your given conversion
event (formerly Automatic bid)
​Lowest cost with a bid cap
​Set a bid cap to control your cost per conversion
event (formerly ‘Maximum’ bid)
​Target cost
​Set an average cost per conversion event
(formerly ‘Average’ bid)
Bid Strategy and Description Recommended Use Case
When unsure of how much to bid, and/or get
the lowest cost per conversion event possible
while spending full budget
When you want to maintain a stable cost
per conversion event as you increase
your budget
When you want to set a maximum bid to control
your costs and want the lowest cost per
conversion event possible
1
1

38. ​DAILY AVERAGE BUDGET >
BID
​TARGETING EXPANSION ​AVOID UNDERBIDDING ​AUTOMATIC PLACEMENTS
Delivery controls
Set fewer constraints on delivery to allow the system to explore more options and find more of your desired
result
2

39. Conversion windows
​CONSIDER
PURCHASE CYCLES
Align the conversion
window to the purchase
cycle for your
product/service
​MEASURE
CORRECTLY
Align your delivery
conversion windows and
reporting attribution
windows to understand
the value of your ads
3
Set the right conversion window

40. Conversion volume
Lowest cost per result
50 conversions per ad set per week
Target cost per result
Recommended Minimum Number of
Conversions
Bid Strategy
Facebook algorithms need a minimal number of conversions to optimize your ads efficiently.
4
More about bid strategies and bidding best practices:
https://www.facebook.com/gms_hub/share/bidding_strategy_guide.pdf

41. ​CLICK
​ADD TO
CART
​LANDING
PAGE VIEW /
VIEW
CONTENT
​PURCHASE
​INITIATE
CHECKOUT
A typical customer journey
​HIGHER INTENT
Switching conversion events
Conversion Event Funnel
Landing Page View /
View Content
Leads
Add to cart
Purchase
Initiate Checkout
Add payment info
5
Consider optimizing for a higher-funnel event to reach the recommended number of conversions for learning
5

42. User experience
Monitor feedback and improve your landing page
Monitor the positive and negative
feedback for your ads
1. In-feed experience 2. Post-click experience
6
• Minimize landing page redirects, plugins and link
shorteners
• Compress files to decrease rendering time
• Improve server response time by utilizing multi-
region hosting
• Use a high-quality Content Delivery Network to
reach audiences quickly
Improve the user experience by optimizing your landing
page for mobile:

43. Measure the right things
Track and evaluate performance based on the lower-funnel metrics that are most important to your
business
7
• Even when you’re optimizing for higher-funnel pixel events (e.g. add to cart,
landing page views), it’s important to evaluate campaign success based on
your ultimate business objective
• Be sure to track and measure the lower-funnel events that are most
important to your business (e.g. Purchases, Leads, Complete Registrations).
Tips:
• Follow the full pixel implementation guide here if you haven’t defined
lower funnel events on your pixel
• Full conversions guide can be found here
• Guidance on how to use reporting to analyze conversion campaigns
can be found here.

44. 1. Optimization goal (i.e. the outcome you tell us is important to you) is critical in determining who
sees your ads
2. Conversion optimization drives more website actions at lower costs than click optimization (not all
clickers will convert on your website)
3. Broader targeting/placements and higher budgets per ad set allows the system to explore more
options and find more of your desired result
4. With conversion optimization, always optimize towards the event closest to your desired result
where there is enough conversion data (aim for 50 conversions per ad set per week)
5. Track/measure campaigns based on the event that’s most valuable to your business, even if you’re
not optimizing towards it
Things to remember

45. Thank you

46. No.
Appendix

47. • For advertisers looking to drive website traffic, Landing Page Views optimization helps advertisers find more people
likely to actually visit a website, instead of dropping off before the page has loaded
• When compared to Link Click optimization, Landing Page View optimization increases the overall land rate (portion of
clicks that actually result in landing page views) and decreases the cost per Landing Page View
Landing page views optimization