Crisp new research from display platform Adroll has brought to light the performance superiority that some of Facebook’s advertising products have over web retargeting.
When analysing more than 800 million impressions from 215 advertisers, Adroll found that clickthrough rates (CTR) on Facebook’s news feed sent through a desktop machine were 8.1 times higher than web retargeting.
While this CTR is impressive, it was bettered on mobile devices in Facebook’s app, where advertisers spanning all industries with budgets ranging from $20 to $5,000 a month boasted CTR that was 9.1 times greater than web targeting.
Demand for mobile ad formats is low
Although Facebook’s news feed ads seem ripe for the taking by advertisers, Adroll discovered a 57% drop in cost per mille (CPM) for mobile compared to desktop, suggesting demand is in fact lower on smartphones and tablets.
Marketers have found a way to layer Facebook’s desktop news feed on top of web retargeting campaigns to good effect. Advertisers involved in the study reported a 5.7% rise in impressions, 53% more clicks and a 58% increase in clickthrough conversions.
Mobile boosts campaign performance
Another Adroll discovery is that campaign performance improved even more when adding mobile to the equation. With this additional marketing channel there were 4% more impressions, 29% more clicks and a 15% rise in conversions.
News feed advertising is proving to be a firm favourite with advertisers on Adroll’s platform. As a direct-response channel it contributed 60% of the total Facebook spend in the company’s Retargeting on Facebook by the Numbers study.
Adroll only recently rolled out its Facebook for mobile advertising product range, but the apparel, beauty, and technology industries were at the forefront of the early adopters. Despite this, the media and entertainment industry had the highest performing campaigns.