Ad spending is 23% higher on Instagram than on Facebook. This number tells us one thing: marketers on Instagram are getting better ROI than on Facebook, and so should you.
But how? The key to making sales with Instagram ads is optimization. It would help optimize your ads to drive better conversion on your Shopify store. We will show you seven ways to improve Instagram ads for your Shopify eCommerce business that you can do today!
How to Improve Instagram Ads for Your Shopify Business
1. Create an Optimized Profile
An optimized profile refers to a profile page that is rich in information. It starts by creating a business profile because it gives you other tools that a personal account does not. It includes Instagram shopping, ads, and access to the insights tool.
Here are some things you can do today to optimize your Instagram business profile.
- Use a business name – make sure that it is catchy and easy to remember
- Create a brand icon – it is always best to use an icon that does not use words. Use an icon that will help people remember your brand.
- Write a bio – many people forget that the bio is an important aspect of the Instagram profile. It tells people who you are, what you do, what your advocacies are, and what you can do for them.
Your profile can also have action links, URL placements, and CTA. Use these to maximize the positive impact on people who see your page.
2. Convert With Dedicated Landing Pages For Each Product
When you advertise on Instagram, you will put a URL in the ad. If the person clicks it, he gets routed to a page. That page is the landing page, and you must create a dedicated landing page for each product.
This landing page can be your product page or a stand-alone webpage built for the product. The decision is up to you, but make sure that each product has a page that shows only that product and nothing else. In addition, use a creative that sells rather than one that is smart.
Why is this important? When you advertise a product, the person who clicks it expects to see more details. If viewers get routed to the same destination, you force them to search your website for information. If you do this, they are likely to leave.
Remember that as far as customer satisfaction is concerned, you want to give them an effortless experience—the less work they have to do, the more likely they will buy from you.
If you are selling multiple products, use the product page as the landing page for each advertisement. This way, the person who gets there will easily find the product description and the link to add a cart. If you must, use a landing page builder to optimize these pages.
3. Retarget Abandon Cart Audience
Retargeting means showing an ad to a specific audience who has already seen it before. There are many parameters to choose from, but the effective way is to retarget those who abandoned their carts.
Here is how it works in a nutshell:
- You launch an ad
- The viewer clicks it and goes to your page; ads the product to his shopping cart
- A potential customer decides he will not buy and abandons the cart
The next time you advertise, you want Instagram to show this ad only to the people who abandoned their cart. Why? Studies show that 69% of shopping carts are abandoned.
What does this mean? For every 100 people who went to your product page and added the product to a shopping cart, 69 of them decided not to pursue the purchase.
Please take note that these people already saw your ad, responded positively to it, and then wanted to buy the product. They just changed their mind.
It makes business sense to spend money on advertising to those people only; they are more likely to purchase than those who have never seen your ad before.
4. Find Micro-Influencers on Instagram in Your Niche
Micro-influencers are those who have a small number of followers. However, these followers are dedicated. They have found people interested in what they have to say or what they do. Using micro-influencers is one of the ways to scale your business.
Micro-influencers are excellent for small businesses because their followers listen to them. Big celebrities have millions of followers, but these followers are not buyers—they are merely fans.
For example, Kim Kardashian may have millions of followers, but not all of these share her interests. They follow her because they want to see her or what is happening to her life or comment on her posts.
Micro-influencers have dedicated followers who share the same passion. If a micro-influencer’s niche is painting, his followers will certainly buy a brush or paint that he recommends.
So, if you are selling painting materials, you must find this micro-influencer and crack an advertising deal. The same goes for every business niche. There is more to gain from spending money on micro-influencers than advertising to people who may not have heard of you.
5. Host Giveaways to Promote Your Shopify Store on Instagram
Giveaways are a great way to drive awareness. It encourages people to participate and get to know you. To do it right, launch a contest that helps promote your message.
For example, let us say that you are selling gaming peripherals like headsets and gaming mice or keyboards. You can ask people to post images of their gaming build or launch a contest about the cleanest PC gaming station.
People will post photos of their gaming stations, and you will choose a winner. But, of course, make sure they do not just pick random pictures on the internet. If you want, you can ask them to do a video entry instead of a photo entry.
The winner would get a keyboard or a gaming mouse—it is up to you. Of course, when you launch a contest like this, do not forget to add the product URL of the prize. It will make people click on that link.
Once they are on the product page, some will buy it outright and not even join the contest. You can also give branded items like mugs and shirts, which you can get from companies like Printful or Printify.
6. Write Killer CTA For More Conversions
Call-to-action is a statement encouraging someone to do something. Unfortunately, most of their CTAs are ineffective while all advertisers use this. They use generic CTAs that viewers ignore.
The most common CTAs are:
- Buy now!
- Hurry! Limited Supply!
- Get it now!
These CTAs are too boring and overused. Instead, it would help if you used CTAs that appeal to the person’s emotions. In our gaming peripheral business example, the appropriate CTAs are:
- Read to become a professional gamer? Buy the mouse now!
- Buy it now and be the top scorer!
- Conquer DOTA with this keyboard at 25% off!
As you can see, there is a big difference between the two types of CTAs. The first set was generic, but the second one is relevant to gamers’ feelings.
What kind of DOTA player does not want to defeat his enemy, right? They all do. And if you have a product that will help them do this, they are likely to buy from you.
You want to identify what your target consumer wants and then tie that up with what your product can offer. Understand the pain of the target buyer and use the CTA as a way to present a solution. This way, you are making viewers make an impulsive and emotional purchase.
7. Analyze and optimize
There is a report on Instagram that shows you how your ads performed. You can use Instagram Insights to see how your past promotions performed. You will see data such as age range and locations of people who saw it. It also shows gender.
The problem with this is that it is not the best tool to analyze what happened to your campaigns. It would help if you used software programs like Hootsuite to get more detailed insights. It tells you which of your boosted posts have the highest number of impressions and how many users saw them.
There is no single way to do an analysis. It is always done on a case-to-case basis. For example, if you see that your engagement rate is 5%, it shows that you need to work on it to pull up the numbers.
Of course, you need to ask yourself why the engagement rate is low. Unfortunately, no machine can do this for you. It would help if you studied marketing principles to get better at it.
Bonus Tip: Add Reviews From Happy Customers on Product Pages
We can share one last tip to post images of reviews from your satisfied buyers. Take a screenshot of their reviews and post them. Do not forget to add a comment on your Instagram post explaining what that picture is about.
What it does is build credibility. You are essentially showing people on Instagram testimonials of happy customers who left positive feedback on your online store.
Summary – How to Improve Instagram Ads
There are many ways to make money on Instagram, and a Shopify store is just one of them. Running ads is a basic marketing activity, but it will only yield positive results if you do it right.
Start by creating a persona—a brand you want people to remember and understand. Do not be afraid to experiment with ads. Make sure you are on top of things. Review the results of your ads and tweak whatever is necessary to bump up your numbers.
