As Facebook keeps growing its eCommerce efforts, the company is now offering marketers the chance to redirect ‘approximately 10%’ of the traffic produced by their conversion adverts to their Facebook and Instagram Shops instead.
The above screenshot was shared by eCommerce ads expert Tony Christensen, and this confirms that Facebook is already pushing marketers with Facebook and/or Instagram shops to drive a chunk of their campaign traffic to their in-app store rather than to a third-party link.
Facebook goes on to say that the process will provide it with more data to help optimise its traffic navigation processes and ensure that it is sending people to the surface where they are most likely to convert, and that those who opt in will be reimbursed for the estimated cost of impressions that direct traffic to shops. This is an important factor – and at 10% of your total ad traffic, it might have a substantial influence, depending on your brand, campaign, and so on.
You’d think that the major focus within this group would be individuals who’ve previously purchased things from another Facebook/IG shop or on Facebook Marketplace, because Facebook knows they’re more inclined to buy in-app based on past activity. However, the more Facebook learns about the exact characteristics of people who are more inclined to buy from each, the better its systems can determine where to target others, which might have huge implications for future campaigns.
However, it is also possible that this is related to Apple’s ATT update, which has seen many consumers opt off of in-app tracking, effectively leaving Facebook blind to conversions done outside of its own applications. In this respect, Facebook likely needs to gather more data on Facebook and Instagram Shops conversions so it can ensure maximum performance within its own tools, which then lessens the impact of the ATT update because it’s still able to keep a record of that activity.
If this happens (that is, if Facebook goes ahead to acquire more insights and assure that stores generate better performance by optimizing for Facebook and Instagram shops instead), it would then lead to a massive win – which is why it is willing to compensate the expenses of impressions to shops through this option.
In any case, it’s a great possibility, and as previously stated, with Facebook looking to make a stronger push into eCommerce and selling things in-stream, it’s possible that its reach and data-matching would eventually provide a better avenue to increase conversions, negating Apple’s change.
Facebook is also testing a similar visual search tool like that of Pinterest to identify similar product listings. Users can scan items in the real world or use provided photos or videos. It is also exploring automated product tags that could someday provide more direct possibilities for each clip.
Asian markets are of particular interest to Facebook. If it can extend its eCommerce potential now, alongside take-up in regions like in India and Indonesia, this may make its platforms a more crucial utility within each of their respective digital changes.
As part of its broader eCommerce push, Facebook aims at maximizing shop performance.
