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What's a Good Facebook Ads CTR in 2024 (And How to Improve It)?

Tracking and optimizing your Facebook Ads click-through rate will help you reach more potential customers. Learn what a good Facebook Ads CTR is to aim for in 2024.

What's a Good Facebook Ads CTR in 2024 (And How to Improve It)?

When it comes to online advertising, every click counts. 

Facebook ad campaigns may generally charge a lower Cost Per Click (CPC) than Google Ads. But that doesn't mean securing a click is any easier. 

You see, most Facebook users hop on to the platform to socialize and consume content uploaded by their peers. 

Sure, some of them may be explicitly looking for a product or service. But even so, your ad is just another drop in an ocean of content. 

Tracking and optimizing your Facebook Ads CTR will help you overcome this challenge and reel in more potential customers. 

But first, a quick introduction.

What is the Click-Through Rate in Facebook Ads?

Click-Through Rate (CTR) measures how likely your Facebook ads are clicked by users who see them. 

It's calculated by dividing the total number of clicks by the number of impressions or views throughout your campaign — and then multiplying the result by 100. 

Let's say your Facebook ad amassed 10,000 impressions over the campaign period. 

Among those users, 1,500 ended up clicking your ad. 

Putting those numbers into the formula, your CTR for that campaign is: 

All in all, the CTR is a good metric for tracking the performance of your Facebook advertising efforts. More specifically, it evaluates the effectiveness of three important factors: 

  • Facebook ad copywriting
  • Ad visual design
  • Audience targeting strategy

A high CTR means your ad copy is relevant and compelling enough to earn the clicks of Facebook users. It can also be attributed to great ad visual design, which is all about capturing the audience's attention, highlighting a unique value proposition, and presenting a persuasive Call-To-Action (CTA)

Lastly, your CTR also depends on your audience targeting configuration. 

With over 3 billion monthly active users, you can't just cast a wide net and expect positive returns from your ads. You need to target your audience based on their interests, location, gender, age, and other differentiators.  

What is a Good CTR for Facebook Ads?

According to the 2024 Facebook Ads Benchmarks by WordStream, the average CTR for Facebook ads across industries is 1.51% — an increase from 0.9% last year. 

Advertisers in the entertainment niche get the most clicks with an average CTR of 2.55%. On the other side of the spectrum, dentists and dental service providers have the lowest CTR at only 0.81%. 

Here is the complete list of the average Facebook ads CTR across all major industries: 

You can use the industry average as a benchmark when optimizing CTR for Facebook ads. 

Let's say you're in the real estate niche and your CTR is only 1.5%. Since the industry average is 2.45%, your ads are clearly underperforming in terms of getting clicks. 

If your ads are performing well in terms of CTR, your priority should shift towards finding ways to push it higher. 

Long story short, tracking CTR will help you make data-driven decisions when managing Facebook ad campaigns. And, now that you know what a good CTR in your industry looks like, it's time to get to work. 

Tracking Your Facebook Ads CTR

Facebook comes equipped with a free tool for tracking CTR for ad campaigns. 

Using the Meta Ads Manager, you'll have a central hub for managing your ad campaigns across all Meta platforms. This includes Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. 

There's no need to set up another analytics tracking tool or perform an extra step. Just launch your advertising campaign, wait for Meta Ads Manager to gather data, and access it via your dashboard.

 

Under the main 'Campaigns' tab, click the ad set you want to analyze. This will open another tab with your campaign's performance data (including CTR).

Take note that Meta Ads Manager tracks two different CTR metrics: "CTR (link click-through rate)" and "CTR (all)." 

CTR (link click-through rate) only tracks clicks on links directly through an ad. It's the CTR type you should be tracking if you want to optimize and improve the profitability of your Facebook ads

CTR (all), on the other hand, tracks all interactions around your ad. This includes clicks to your business page, shares, likes, comments, and even the "full-screen" button. 

Remember, if you launch native ads on Facebook, users will see them as posts on their feed. That means they can also interact with your ad like they can with any other post. 

While most forms of social media engagement are positive, these interactions aren't "real" click-throughs from an advertising standpoint. 

Users can leave comments, like your ad, or visit your business page. But if they don't reach your campaign's dedicated landing page, those clicks usually don't contribute to your business objectives. 

Apart from CTR, Meta Ads Manager also tracks other essential metrics and KPIs. This includes Facebook ads conversion rate, CPC, total impressions, and link clicks. 

9 Tips to Get a Good CTR for Facebook Ads

Knowing how to track your Facebook ads CTR is just the first step. 

To improve your CTR and achieve your advertising goals, here are nine important tips you should remember: 

1. Sharpen your audience targeting

In most Facebook ad campaigns, a low CTR is a symptom of a poorly-targeted audience. 

Even if you have stellar ad copy and eye-popping image, you won't get clicks if users aren't interested in your offer. 

That's why it's important to define a target audience prior to launching your Facebook ad campaign. 

Without an optimized target audience, your CTR isn't even your biggest problem. You may end paying for clicks from users who have zero chances of becoming paying customers. 

The good news is, Meta's ad targeting capabilities are more advanced than ever. 

Audience+ is a new feature that feeds AI with data from previous campaigns, the Meta tracking pixel, and previous ad interactions to automatically identify the best target audience for your ads. 

Just click 'Use Advantage+ audience' in your campaign settings to get started.

To make sure your audience targeting is on-point, click 'Audience suggestions' to define additional audience parameters. 

With audience suggestions, you basically create a custom audience to establish as a preference over your Advantage+ audience. You can set your target age range, gender, interests, job titles, behavior groups, and more.

Keep in mind that you can add layers to your detailed targeting options to narrow down your audience. 

For example, instead of adding new interests to target beside "Search Engine Optimization" and "Content Marketing," click 'Define further' to enforce another targeting criteria. This can be any specific audience identifier, like an additional interest or job title. 

2. Analyze your top competitors

Another way to fine-tune your Facebook ads audience targeting is to analyze the competition. 

This time, you need to fire up the Meta Business Suite and access the audience insights dashboard. 

Click the 'Insights' tab from the left menu and select 'Audience' to find the right report.

On the audience insights page, click 'Potential audience' and filter the data based on your targeting preferences. 

The more specific, the better.  

Remember not to click 'Create audience' for now. 

Meta Business Suite should automatically refresh the report as you set filters. Simply scroll down to the "Top Pages" section to find Facebook business pages that your audience already likes.

Consider using more specific filters — be it a specific location, product type, or service — until you see relevant brands in the "Top pages" list. List them down and click 'Clear filters.'

Next, create a new filter by adding the name of the top pages — one by one. 

Note: If you can't find any relevant businesses in the top pages list, just enter the name of a known competitor in the "Interests" field. 

This immediately refreshes the report with useful audience data that can refine your targeting strategy. You'll learn the gender breakdown, top cities, countries, and other liked pages of the users who are interested in your competitor. 

3. Leverage social proof in your ad creative

According to the 2024 Local Consumer Review Survey by BrightLocal, 69% of customers feel positive about a brand if they find reviews highlighting good experiences.

That's word-of-mouth marketing in action. 

Before people buy your product or click on your ad, they want to know what your previous customers think. 

Save them the trouble of looking for reviews themselves by showcasing a positive testimonial or rating on your Facebook ad. 

A straightforward approach is to mention the testimonial in your ad's text. Alternatively, you can highlight the testimonial or visualize the results you delivered in your ad's graphic.

If possible, use a combination of these strategies to garner more clicks.

4. Utilize FOMO marketing

FOMO — short for "Fear Of Missing Out" — is a marketing tool that creates a sense of urgency to drive action. 

Advertisers on Facebook often use FOMO marketing alongside a special offer. This usually comes in the form of limited-time discounts, freebies, and bundles. 

You can also use FOMO marketing without a special promotion by highlighting a unique selling point and featuring customers who accomplished their goals through your brand. This approach requires social proof and a tagline that emphasizes what they're missing out on. 

5. Invest in video ads

Launching video ads on Facebook is a surefire way to grab attention. 

Statistics show that 74% of in-stream video ads are watched from start to finish. And, the longer your video ad plays, the higher your chances of getting clicks.  

Video content, particularly short-form videos, do well on social media because users prefer watching clips over reading text when learning about a business. 

Not only are they easier to consume, they also allow more creative legroom for brands to present their offer in a compelling fashion. 

Producing video content is also a lot easier now than in the past. Even if your in-house creative team doesn't have professional-grade recording equipment, services like Powtoon, Filmora, and Canva can help you whip up engaging video content via drag-and-drop tools. 

6. Preemptively address common concerns and pain points

Today, the online community largely consists of customers who favor self-guided experiences.

Generally speaking, they depend less on branded content (e.g. sponsored posts and social media ads) when making purchase decisions. Instead, they like to conduct extensive research to learn everything they need to know before choosing a product. 

Don't count on them to click your ad with a lot of unanswered questions still on their minds.

Earn their trust by addressing common concerns and pain points preventing them from buying. 

You can tackle their questions directly in your ad's copy. Put it right at the top to get your target audience's attention as they scroll through their feeds. 

7. Launch carousel ads

Can't decide which ad content to push?

With Facebook carousel ads, you can publish multiple ad assets at once. 

A carousel ad on Facebook is basically a slideshow that contains two or more visual assets. Similar to video ads, it can contain substantially more information than standard, text-based ads. 

This allows you to promote multiple products or value propositions in a single ad placement. Or, if you're planning to address customer concerns, you can also use carousel ads to address multiple pain points and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in one go. 

Carousel ads can drive up CTR by giving users the opportunity to choose an offer that suits their needs. You can advertise different products, tell a story, share listicle-style content, and more. 

8. Make your CTA pop 

A CTA is a crucial piece of any ad that gives users a gentle nudge toward a click. 

It should be short, direct, and relevant to your offer. 

For example, if you're promoting a downloadable PDF, don't just say "click here." Use more straightforward words like "read now" or "get your copy." 

Use contrasting colors and a readable font to make the CTA easy to find. While you can't add clickable buttons inside Facebook image ads, you can style your CTA as a button to draw attention.

Don't forget to use actionable language in other areas of your ad, including the headline, primary text, and description. 

In addition to being direct, mention the benefits waiting for your audience behind the click. 

Here are some examples:

  • "Download your copy and gain the competitive edge."
  • "Buy now to save 50%."
  • "Start your 30-day free trial — no credit card required!"

9. Track and analyze performance data

Anyone can follow the best practices and position their Facebook ad campaign for success. 

However, just because something works for other advertisers, doesn't mean it will also work for you.

The only way to get guaranteed results is to measure your campaign's performance, roll out incremental changes, and check if your numbers improve. For this, you can use Meta Ads Manager's built-in reports or invest in third-party Facebook ads reporting tools

Remember, your goal boils down to three things:

  • Find advertising strategies that get positive results and double down on them.
  • Identify strategies that don't work and improve or replace them. 
  • Use data to mitigate risks and improve the success of future campaigns.

With a tool like Polymer, you'll have no problems finding your top-performing Facebook ads

You don't even need to go through a complicated setup process. Using the ready-to-use Facebook Ads dashboard template, you're only a few clicks away from generating visual reports on your best campaigns in terms of CTR and Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).

How to Track Your Facebook Ads CTR with Polymer

To start tracking Facebook ad campaigns with Polymer, the first step is to connect your add account as a data source.

Click the 'Data Manager' button (plug icon) in the upper-right corner of your dashboard. On the Data Manager window, click 'Add New Data Source.' 

Click 'Facebook Ads' on the list of available data connectors.

Next, follow the on-screen prompts to log in to your Facebook account and grant Polymer the required permissions to gather data from Meta Ads Manager. When done, select the specific ad account you want to link with Polymer and click 'Connect.' 

To complete the integration, you just need to do three final steps. This includes setting optional data breakdowns, selecting the data columns to include, and setting a date range for the data import.

Give Polymer a minute to process your data. When done, you can now create a new board with your Facebook ad account as a data source.

Aside from tracking your CTR and ROAS, here are other ways to use Polymer for analyzing your Facebook ad campaign data

  • Create and measure custom metrics. Use Polymer to automatically calculate custom metrics that matter to your business. 
  • Analyze your audience groups. Add audience data breakdowns like age and gender to check whether they influence other metrics like conversion value, CTR, and total conversions. 
  • Extract instant insights with AI. Polymer is loaded with AI-powered tools that can deliver instant, readable insights or provide visualization suggestions for your dashboard. 
  • Establish goal values for ad campaign metrics. Don't lost track of your campaign optimization goals — set goal values for your metrics and KPIs on Polymer to easily evaluate performance. 

Get Started with Polymer Today

Ready to track your Facebook ads CTR with Polymer and supercharge your clicks? 

You can get started right now without spending a single dime. 

Click here to try Polymer for 14 days and discover the many ways it can help with your Facebook ad campaigns. 

Posted on
March 6, 2024
under Blog
March 6, 2024
Written by
Rand Owens
Founding team member at Motive (Formerly KeepTruckin) and passionate about all things Marketing, RevOps, and Go-To-Market. VP of Marketing @ Polymer Search.

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