Are you looking to create effective Facebook ads for your business?

This guide will walk you through a step-by-step process on how to create the best Facebook ads that convert into sales.

Facebook advertising is a form of interruption marketing where a user isn’t necessarily showing intent to purchase at that moment but can be persuaded with the right ad.

Designing effective Facebook ads are a science

Many businesses take the wrong approach and use Facebook solely as a megaphone to amplify their products or services without providing value or incentives for their ideal customers to step into their funnel.

This creates a system of wasted advertising spend that can be otherwise used more strategically.

The truth is Facebook ads are a process and each section of creating an effective ad can be broken down in parts as you’ll learn below…

Create a successful Facebook ad in 7 minutes

Let’s break down the anatomy of an effective Facebook ad and how you can create successful ads for your campaigns like the pros.

1. Images

In order of importance, the image is without a doubt at the top of the list.

As I mentioned above, Facebook advertising is a form of interruption marketing. You’re trying to get the attention of your ideal customers, not when they’re intentionally looking to make a purchase but when they’re browsing funny videos and keeping up with family member status updates.

Therefore, creating a compelling ad image that captures their attention is of the utmost importance.

What makes this image effective:

Blue Apron has done a great job promoting their offer using bright and colorful images of their finished product.

• Colors — use of bright and color image of their product
• Ease of use — presenting a dish anyone can prepare creating a lower barrier for customer entry
• Emotion — there are about 6500 spoken languages in the world today and love for a beautiful plate of food is one we all universally relate to
• Presentation — zooming in on the burger and hand-cut fries draws attention

2. Video

Video deserves its own mention. Facebook is now heavily favoring the use of video and live video making it a prime reason to include it in your ads.

What makes this video effective:

Promo is a stock video search engine that allows you to create video ads in minutes. Not surprisingly, they use video in their Facebook ads to effectively communicate their message.

• Length — the video addresses who they are and what they offer in a short and to the point manner
• Benefits — notice how they clearly communicate the benefits of their service through text on the video
• Content — the content itself is of two girls driving which keeps the focus centered to where their benefits are written on the video

3. Text

Onnit takes a smart approach to this ad’s text introducing a new product to their following. The text uses a tripwire offer, a low-risk, low-cost offer to build trust through a low-barrier purchase.

In this case, it’s a free bottle of their new product, the consumer only has to pay for shipping.

On average, the most effective Facebook ads have a text length of just 14 words. Although results may vary, shorter text ads tend to convert better for smaller commitments, while longer text ads convert better for bigger commitments.

What makes this text effective:

• Offer — use of a tripwire offer to generate sales and build loyalty for their new product
• Scarcity — the offer is only available for a limited time
• Benefits — clearly states the benefits of this product on their ad copy
• Power words — use of the word “free” is guaranteed to grab the reader’s attention

4. Headline

Frank + Oak leads with a benefit-driven offer headline which is crucial in creating effective Facebook ads. The ad offers a 25% discount when new users subscribe to their monthly subscription service.

According to AdEspresso, after analyzing 37,259 Facebook ads, they found the most popular headlines were just 5 words.

Remember, the headline is best used as a way to answer this question: “What’s in it for me?”

What makes this headline effective:

• Offer — use of an offer to drive new user signups
• Benefits — clear communication of benefits to subscribers
• Power words — use of “save” on the headline

5. Description

The description is where Facebook advertisers can state their offer and address all objections or concerns their prospects might have.

This part of the ad supports the headline, text, and image/video.

What makes this description effective:

• Benefits — notice the ad copy, “obsessively engineered” and “shockingly fair price”
• Objections — Casper addresses the most common objections with “free delivery” and “painless returns”
• Power words — use of words like “obsessively”, “shockingly”, “free”, and “painless”

6. URL

Design Pickle uses the URL on Facebook ads with a fairly straightforward approach. The root domain should be listed in the URL of the ad.

What makes this URL effective:

• Trust — use of the root domain without any added locations after the .com in the domain establishes trust

7. CTA

AdRoll is providing us with a lead magnet, an easy-to-digest guide on Instagram advertising, in order to lead us down their sales funnel.

Often Facebook advertisers will stick to the usual “Learn More” call to action. Instead, choose a CTA button that matches what you want your prospect to do next.

What makes this CTA button effective:

• Next step — Call to action button matches the next step a prospect should take in the sales funnel

Conclusion

Creating effective Facebook ads that convert into sales depend on a number of factors within the ad. Use this guide with examples of some of the best Facebook ads from top brands to design your ads.

Your turn

What are some of the best examples of effective Facebook ads that you’ve seen? What stood out to you?