Should You Run Facebook Ads Conversions Or Traffic Campaign in 2023

In this article I’m going to answer the question should you run Facebook ads conversions or Traffic campaigns in 2023 and which campaign should you optimise for?

Short answer: If you only want people to see your content then use the traffic campaigns.

If you want leads and sales, then use the conversions campaign, or if you're using the Odax that would be the sales and leads objective because essentially, this is what Facebook is good at!

Now if this question came up a few years ago the answer would be very different because Facebook's machine learning has improved so much.

So it’s good to start with understanding how Facebook now leverages its users on each campaign you select, which it does by categorising each user.

So let’s say, If you’re the type of person that likes to read posts and click through to read articles, then Facebook will categorise you as someone who likes to click onto blogs and articles to read things.

Or if you like to jump on Facebook and go through different videos or reels, then you’ll be classed as a viewing type person which would be suitable for video views.

If you do a lot of commenting, liking or sharing, then you’ll be catogrised as being ideal for an engagement campaign.

Also if you buy a lot from Facebook sponsored ads, then you’ll be in the purchase categories and they have data on all of this and they know exactly who should do what.

That’s why using reach traffic on top of your funnel campaigns isn’t the same as it used to be.

Should you use traffic of conversion campaigns and whats the difference

So here’s what I recommend…

I personally say take advantage of Facebook's machine learning and use the objectives in the way they are intended.

If you only want people to see your content for branding or warming up your prospects then use the traffic campaigns.

If you want leads and sales, then use the conversions campaigns because Facebooks AI will optimise to find your ideal audience.

Facebook knows everything about who you want to target and as long you have a good message and a good converting landing page Facebook will do the rest.

I’m not saying to sit back and let them do everything, you’re always going to have to keep an eye on your frequency and keep your ads fresh.

But what I’m saying is to leverage the AI to your advantage.

Two reasons why you should run a traffic campaign over a conversion campaign.

However, following on from all of that, here are two scenarios I would recommend traffic campaigns over conversion.

#1 if you don’t have your pixel setup for conversions

If you don't have your pixel set up for conversions I recommend that you get it set up and optimise for conversions.

However, if you don’t and you want to send them to a store or even amazon then traffic could make sense to a point.

#2 If you already have a list of Purchased customers and you have a new offer and want them to see it

Then it makes sense to put the offer in front of them with a reach campaign as it will be a lot cheaper, and will put the offer in front of your purchase list more.

Should you use the traffic objectives and retarget with a conversions campaign

Deciding if you should use traffic objectives first and retargeting with a conversion campaign after depends on a few factors.

Such as in some industries I’ve tried using reach and videos, even getting leads and then retargeting with the conversions to get a purchase and my CPA was very high way above what it should have been.

However, when I went directly to the purchase objective I started getting better CPA.

And I’m not saying I was getting 3 x ROAS or 10 x ROAS from cold traffic direct Facebook sales.

Like most people will say they did because the truth is…

Facebook will continue to get more and more marketers on its platform and this will drive the cost of advertising up.

Where I really get my ROAS from is the email list and upsells.

Basically increasing my AOV and following up.

Getting The Most Out Of Your Facebook Ads

Now that you will have a much better idea of whether to run traffic or conversion campaigns based on your goals.

You may also be interested in knowing if you should run an engagement campaign, how long you should run ads for, and broad targeting. 

I especially recommend that you look into Facebook ads targeting if you aren't familiar with it.