We have yet to see strong performance on Facebooks Audience Network for our direct response advertisers. Its inexpensive traffic so many advertisers choose to use it for awareness/traffic driving campaigns. But when it comes to direct response, conversion rates & cost per conversion are underwhelming at best.
Below is a pretty typical example. The bulk of the budget is being spent on audience network yet, the Audience Network has one of the highest costs per lead. Much of that spend could be reinvested into more newsfeed or right hand rail advertising and cut the CPL down by at least 50%.
To find out if you’re over spending on the Audience Network, simply breakdown your Facebook ad data by “platform.” Compare the audience network cost/conversion against Desktop Newsfeed and Right Hand Rail, Instagram Newsfeed and Messenger. If any show a high cost/conversion with a significant spend, you should reinvest that money towards a better performing platform.
There’s certainly a time and a place for these broader networks but they shouldn’t be left on by default. Instead, there should be a strategic & calculated reason for advertising on search partners, in-app and audience networks. Simply turning off these ‘default’ platforms & shifting budget to the better performing platforms has improved cost/lead by 40% or more. So dig deep into the data and avoid wasting valuable budget.