How to Split Test Your Facebook Ads

by | Jan 12, 2011 | archive, facebook, Facebook advertising, Split Testing | 10 comments

Split testing your Facebook ads is an important part of running a successful ad campaign.  What is split testing?  Split testing or A/B testing is changing one thing about your ad while keeping all the other variables the same and testing to see which ad performs better.

How do you split test and how do you analyze the numbers?  Here are some best practices for split testing:

  • Only change one thing at a time.  Your main variables are the title, the picture, the copy and the targeting.
  • Run the ad under similar conditions if possible.  Same time of the day, same bid (although bid prices vary), same length of time, etc.
  • Dig deep into the reports.  It may look like one ad did better but check the conversions.
  • Always create a new ad, don’t try and tweak one that didn’t perform well.  Facebook makes it easy to click on “Create a Similar Ad” so you preserve your settings.

Watch the video to see how to dig into the reports.

10 Comments

  1. Ter Scott
    Ter Scott on January 14, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    Hi, I saw your blog mentioned at: The Blog Squad and thought I’d take a look. I have about 100 blogs myself but only a few I frequently update. The blog I “plugged” is where I help people attain their goals at: http://secretrulesforattainment.blogspot.com/ I also offer free “`10 Rules Poster” and “I Am a Magnet” poster along with a goals worksheet for 2011 for anyone who visits. I wish you the best in 2011. Ter Scott!

  2. Ter Scott
    Ter Scott on January 14, 2011 at 6:36 pm

    Hi, I saw your blog mentioned at: The Blog Squad and thought I’d take a look. I have about 100 blogs myself but only a few I frequently update. The blog I “plugged” is where I help people attain their goals at: http://secretrulesforattainment.blogspot.com/ I also offer free “`10 Rules Poster” and “I Am a Magnet” poster along with a goals worksheet for 2011 for anyone who visits. I wish you the best in 2011. Ter Scott!

  3. Grandma Mary
    Grandma Mary on January 14, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    Thanks Ter, nice to meet ya!

  4. Grandma Mary
    Grandma Mary on January 14, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    Thanks Ter, nice to meet ya!

  5. Dapo
    Dapo on March 31, 2011 at 10:36 pm

    Thank you, this was helpful…

  6. Dapo
    Dapo on March 31, 2011 at 10:36 pm

    Thank you, this was helpful…

  7. Julio.
    Julio. on August 22, 2011 at 1:50 am

    Hi Grandma Mary,

    Thanks for your post.. it´s really helped me! I was looking for info like this one yours several days..
    I´ll keep following you!.. 🙂
    Great to meet you!

  8. John
    John on November 10, 2011 at 12:58 am

    Thanks Grandma Mary, Just starting out at doing ad campaigns and your blog was very helpful. I’m doing  music recording corporate team building activities and hopefully a Fb campaign will boost the amount of people coming to my site http://corporateidol.com
    Best wishes
    John

  9. Ali Mirza
    Ali Mirza on July 25, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    I have been looking for this for a while. Thanks G’MA 🙂

  10. Warren Redlich
    Warren Redlich on December 20, 2013 at 7:57 am

    I find that FB doesn’t really allow split testing. When I run two ads of the same type (i.e. two “sponsored stories” or two “right hand side”) at the same time, FB seems to only show one of them.

    So I test by running one, then running the other. It’s not anywhere near as good as real split-testing, but FB doesn’t seem to allow it any other way.