Data Points Explained
When you visit a single website to buy a backpack, it is too general or broad a category to show a lot of intent unless you visit many sites that offer the same products in a short period, so you won’t get a lot of ads by just visiting one website.
If the site sold more than backpacks, and you end up in a particular product category, ads for that specific product may be targeted at you since it will be more specific to your interests.
Adding a product to the cart shows buyer intent and puts your profile into the “likely to purchase category.” Actually making a confirmed purchase just directs all the ads at you. Facebook wants its advertisers to drive sales, and you are a proven potential buyer.
A good example of this is from a high-volume hiking boot site who wanted to run a retargeting campaign based on size. Every product was given a unique URL (for example, domain/blue-boots), and then every size rendered a new trailing query string in the URL as customers clicked on the size to see if they were available. So if the customer was looking for size 10 red hiking boots, they would be directed to domain/red-hiking-boot?size=10.
Then individual creatives were generated for every shoe and size, retargeting the specific URL. If they left without actually purchasing the product, FB would instantly retarget them with an ad along the lines of, “Hey, you forgot your size 10 red hiking boots. Here’s 5% off!”
People can become a little suspicious of ads that are this targeted though, so it is important to use them in the right circumstances. Imagine getting an ad for the specific product and size you were just looking for. It is super uncomfortable for users when they think Facebook knows the size of their pants and shoes.
Moreover, large businesses who own several locations in the same verticals will sometimes cross-populate their ads with shared pixel information or multiple pixels on the same site. This involves splitting ads along the lines of interest and disregarding the pixel data originated from.
Though Facebook advertising provides businesses with ample opportunities to increase brand exposure and revenue, how you use it can play a huge role in building trust and strong relationships with customers.
Want to learn more about ethical Facebook advertising? Get in touch with Spring Creative to book a complimentary session with our team, or contact us online.