My $50 Facebook ads case study

[OscarMike]

Hi everyone, I would like to share a Facebook ads case study for one my print on demand stores.

I'm selling a gold necklace with a message card in the box. I'm using picture ads. I'm using Gearbubble as my print on demand supplier because they also take care of the customer service.

One of the drawbacks of, say, using ShineOn with Shopify is that you have to take care of the customer service yourself. It's not the end of the world, but it's one less headache to deal with.

I'm selling my necklace for $99.95. Normally, I don't sell products for this much. I'm doing this for multiple reasons. One of the reasons is perceived value. I believe gold necklaces have a high perceived value in the prospect's mind. I believe I can get away with charging more money for it and thus having a higher profit margin.. Another reason is due to the average cost per sale from my other campaigns. I've discovered that it's not uncommon to have a cost per sale in the $60-$70 range while the Facebook algorithm is still in the learning phase. To leave the learning phase, I need 50 sales in 7 days. 50x$60 means I would have to spend $3000 in 7 days. Numerous IM gurus I've listened to say that it's common to lose money during the testing phase, while I collect data. If I charge $99.95 and my breakeven is $80, I can potentially make a profit starting on day 1 of the campaign.

One youtuber I've been watching lately is Anthony Eclipse. He specializes in TikTok ads, but his strategy can be applied Facebook ads as well.

He recommends spending $50 on a CBO campaign (known as an Advantage campaign on Facebook). I'm doing a CBO campaign, not an ABO campaign.

He claims that it's possible to get at least 1 sale after spending only $50.

I created 3 adsets with 3 different interests targeting. Each adset has 2 ads. I split test everything. The interest for ad set 1 is Engaged Shopper, the interest for ad set 2 is Online Shopping, and the interest for adset 3 is no interest.

I launched my campaign at midnight 2 days ago, and got the results back within 1 day.

Ad set 1: Amount spent: $18.12. 10 link clicks. CTR 1.43%. CPC $1.81. 3 landing page views. 1 add to cart, no purchase.
Ad set 2: Amount spent: $22.71. 11 link clicks, CTR 2.29%. CPC $2.06, 2 landing page views, no add to cart
Ad set 3: Amount spent $10.95, 5 link clicks, CTR 1.01%, CPC $2.19 1 landing page view, no add to cart.

In all, I spent $51.78 (slightly over $50).

Another youtuber told me that if an adset has a cpc above $1 and/or my CTR is below 1%, I should stop spending money on that adset. By that metric, this campaign was a failure because my cpc for all 3 adsets was above $1.

According to PPC Coach, a successful campaign during the beginning of the test phase should see 3 sales (or more) after spending $100. 2 sales, it's iffy, 1 sale it's a failure. He talks about this in this Father's Day Mug Case Study, where he sells a mug for $20.

But if I can get 1 sale after spending $50, and my breakeven is $80, I just made $30 profit.

I also learned that if an adset gets at least 1 add to cart after spending 1/2 the breakeven, I should continue to spend the breakeven amount to see if I can get a sale. If I get a sale before I spend breakeven, I keep spending money on the adset (until it's no longer profitable to do so).


I'm using picture ads. Someone once told me that video ads perform better than picture ads when dealing with cold traffic.

What do you guys think?


Thanks

 

[Graybeard]

I'm selling a gold necklace with a message card in the box.

Gold PLATED right? 10K is it solid or plated?

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=10k+gold+necklace+for+women&s=price-asc-rank

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=10k+gold+necklace+for+women

Don't oversell it Facebook will make all the money CPC with your clickbait if you do.

 

[OscarMike]

Gold PLATED right?

That's correct.

 

[Graybeard]

That's correct.

Make sure you say that in your ads --^^ see my edit above

Don't oversell it Facebook will make all the money CPC with your clickbait if you do.

 

[OscarMike]

Make sure you say that in your ads --^^ see my edit above

Thanks for the response GrayBeard.

It's 15k gold plated. Ive attached a photo of a product that is similar in appearance but mine is gold plated.

 

[OscarMike]

Don't oversell it Facebook will make all the money CPC with your clickbait if you do.

Excuse my ignorance, but what does overselling mean? Charging too much? Thx.

 

[Graybeard]

Without seeing the ad and the product IDK really. My hunch from the few cart-starts and the cart abandonment rate --> people don't like what you are selling.

1. It's not real gold --Facebook users that click ads like that are not too bright to start with (IMHO).
2. The few that bite do not submit the cart form.​

3. Get me a list of all the user IP addresses and I can segment that limited pool as to the likely socioeconomic category if they are in the US.
4. I can get zip codes (postal codes) and relate them to the IRS taxpayer data for that zip code. It may be a spendable income thing too IDK.​

If the form is on your domain; you need to use GA-4 and set conversion events for each step before you spend anymore money on ads.
Once you do that; buy some less expensive ads like native and run some traffic to test your set-up and see if it is capturing the right conversion event values. You can even use cheap segmented pops or push.

 

[OscarMike]

The first thing you need to do is stop selling junk.

You are making a big mistake if you think people aren't going to complain and request refunds once that gold plating starts wearing off the underlying metal.

People giving that junk as gifts are going to be embarrassed. Is that the business you want to be in, embarrassing people because they gave a loved one some shoddy cheap garbage jewelry that is going to make everyone look like a fool?

I wish I knew what you people are thinking about to come up with a such a failing plan.

Cease doing this now.

If I were a mod I would ban you for being a shyster.

Positive critique only please. I'm simply selling what GearBubble is allowing me to sell. It's a well known, establish Print On Demand company. If you have a problem with my price, let me know. But there are companies that specialize in selling the necklace/message card combo. ShineOn is one of them.

 

[OscarMike]

You are making excuses and trying to blame others for your poor decision making.

If you were able to conduct all the analyses that you posted in your opening comment about the cost of your FB ads, then you should be able to conclude it's not a good idea to sell useless junk that will be in the garbage in a couple of years.

Find a better company that offers genuine jewelry items or don't do anything at all.

And most importantly, decide what type of a business person you want to be.

Gearbubble offers the same quality of jewelry as ShineOn. These are both reputable companies. PPC Coach uses Gearbubble.

 

[Graybeard]

My advice, take it or leave it; is stop paying so much attention to these YouTube publicity whores.

Concentrate in the real value of any offer.

Price is a major consideration however value and prestige of ownership are also big attributes in marketing any consumer item.

Some people want a product that will deceive others --like a gold plated chain that looks real. Their motivations are to impress potential lovers or elicit the envy of others.

Make a play on those touch points and you may get over the common objections in making a sale.

 

[azgold]

Concentrate in the real value of any offer.

Price is a major consideration however value and prestige of ownership are also big attributes in marketing any consumer item.

Agreed.

Oscar, can you point out why a person would practically drool all over themselves to get one (or more) of those necklaces? If you can do that, I imagine that you could improve your odds greatly.

By the way, don't know if it'll help but if you can deliver on time, Mother's Day isn't far off.