Mobile vs. Desktop traffic, either you are testing it or you’re not. In this article I will explain the benefits of testing Mobile vs Desktop traffic with Facebook ads. Included is a Case Study I ran with results to back up my theory.
This is what the big marketers are doing to increase their ROI and to get the most data out of every Facebook ad campaign that they run. One of my previous blog posts, titled What Is Split Testing? touched base on how split testing is one of the first steps people take to go from being a basic Facebook marketer to a pro Facebook marketer. Testing Mobile vs Desktop traffic is another key component to becoming a pro Facebook marketer. It will increase your ROI and help you gather valuable data which will increase the performance of your future ads.
The thought behind this test is pretty simple. If you think about it, it actually falls under a “Split Test”. Instead of changing a variable of your actual ad (gender, text, call to action, image etc), we are changing the location that our audience will view our ad. Every other variable will stay the same…same exact audience demographics. The only difference is we will have two ads. One going ONLY to mobile Facebook Newsfeed, and the other going to ONLY desktop Facebook Newsfeed.
By doing this we will be able to see what platform brings in the most conversions and the highest ROI. Different audiences will react differently, and that is why it is so important to actually split test Mobile vs Desktop traffic when running Facebook ads.
Now before I show you my Case Study, I want to quickly touch base on how to properly split test Mobile vs Desktop traffic with Facebook Ads. Some people believe they can make 1 ad and include both Mobile and Desktop traffic in that ad, and that is true. You can make 1 ad and include both types of traffic. The problem is Facebook is terrible at splitting up your budget evenly across Mobile and Desktop. And I mean TERRIBLE! I once ran an ad and did not test Mobile and Desktop separately. I used 1 ad set and chose that ad to be shown on both platforms. Both had a $15 budget. When the day was almost over, my Mobile ad spend used up $13.xx while my desktop was sitting at only $1.xx ad spend used. So I suggest to make two completely separate ads, one only for Mobile and one only for Desktop. By doing this, you will get the best data out of your ads.
So here is my actual split test I ran that shows an increase of 1,400% ROI for Mobile vs Desktop traffic. This test was done selling a t-shirt on the TeeSpring platform. The ad was exactly the same, and it targeted the same exact audience. The only difference was one ad was shown only on Mobile Newsfeed and the other was shown only on Desktop newsfeed. Here is the image below and then I will go a bit further into the numbers:
As you can see, currently both ads have used $5.00 in ad spend.
The Desktop only ad had zero conversions, while the Mobile only ad made FIVE conversions. That is $1.00 per conversion which is extremely cheap considering each conversion was worth about $15. So a whopping 1,400% ROI on that Mobile only ad.
Now this is not supposed to make you run and and change every campaign you have to mobile only. Remember, this is a split test, and every audiences will react differently. Hence why it is important for YOU to split test your own ads. Once you do this, not only will you increase your profits, but you will also gain valuable data that you can use in the future. Remember, even with a losing campaign, you still walk away with valuable data about a certain audience. This is what sets the basic marketers apart from the pro marketers.
When I spoke to someone about this Mobile vs Desktop split test, they told me that they where finding better success when running desktop only ads. That is why it is important to split test Mobile vs Desktop traffic for your own audience and niche. Audiences will react differently but in the end you will be sure to see a positive outcome from this test, and you will gather valuable data.
I hope you enjoyed this article on Mobile vs Desktop traffic and if you have any comments or questions, you can drop them below!
-Pat Imperiale
