In October, Facebook® announced a new format designed to improve the mobile signup and form-fill experience. Lead Ads were introduced within the mobile newsfeed, designed to look like a link page post ad with a call-to-action indicating a subscription or lead submission.
Early results from Skai show that Lead Ads came out of the gate strong, garnering a favorable click-through rate (CTR) in Q4 relative to other social ad types, second only to carousel (multi-link) Dynamic Product Ads (DPA).
Now, Lead Ads are getting even more updates to up their effectiveness.
An announcement from Facebook confirmed that Lead Ads are now available via desktop (alongside the existing mobile availability), giving marketers a way to reach potential audiences across devices. As inventory expands, Lead Ads will also include an optional context card, which “pops up after someone clicks on a lead ad but before they get to the form, giving businesses a place to offer more details on the information people are signing up for.” Context cards provide more information with the intent to drive more qualified leads, and coupled with cross-device availability, do so at scale.
An expanded story can also be told by leveraging the carousel format, now available for Lead Ads. This layout allows an advertiser to showcase three to five images and headlines prior to the actual form.
Carousel ads give marketers a canvas to tell a story with more links and image tiles. This opportunity for extended storytelling appealed to consumers and marketers alike as both clicks and spend grew throughout 2015 – from 2% of both clicks and spend in Q1 to 21% and 15% in Q4, respectively.
The carousel format has also been a key driver in both click volume and click-through rate for Dynamic Product Ads, helping push this ad type – which did not exist at the beginning of last year – up to 11% of total paid social clicks and 7.5% of total paid social spending in Q4 2015. The high click-through rate for the carousel DPA relative to other ad types shown in the first chart, including the single-link variety of the DPA, demonstrates the higher level of engagement for this type of ad. It should be noted, however, that some of this CTR advantage may be structural, as there are multiple places for the user to click within a single impression.
Overall, the introduction of new options such as Lead Ads and Dynamic Product Ads have given social marketers an increased focus on direct response within the social channel. Keep an eye on these formats as we continue on into 2016.
You can see more findings on Q4 social advertising in our latest digital snapshot infographic.
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