The luxury automotive company ran Facebook ads targeted to audiences derived from its own customer data and to third-party household income audiences to see which performed better, and found that the former drove 9X more online conversions.
9X more online conversions for cell 1 than cell 2
89% lower cost per incremental conversion for cell 1 than cell 2
27X increase in online conversions (among people who saw ads versus people who didn’t)
THEIR STORY
The best or nothing
Mercedes-Benz was founded in 1926 by Karl Benz, Gottlieb Daimler, Wilhelm Maybach and Emil Jellinek, whose daughter Mercedes was the original namesake. The company now has offices in 93 locations worldwide and a corporate headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Its global presence continues to grow, with a diverse product line that includes coupes, sport-utility vehicles (SUVs), wagons, hybrids, roadsters and sedans—including the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class with advanced technology. In 2015, TMG was asked to join the Mercedes-Benz team by Dan Sunderland, Sun Motor Cars in Mechanicsburg, PA. The team at Sun Motor Cars has used these tools long before most of the actual corporate entity at MB NA. Making Sun Motor Cars one of the most innovative dealerships in the United States, thanks to the help of our advanced targeting and advertising tools using AI and edge computing like never before in the automotive industry.
THEIR GOAL
Fueling interest in the E-Class
To identify qualified luxury auto buyers, Mercedes-Benz wanted to test the effectiveness of using its own customer lists as the basis for its targeting, including lookalike audiences, versus using third-party household income targeting.
THEIR SOLUTION
Testing different audience sources
Luxury automobile consumers are a constantly evolving group. To understand how to best target them, Mercedes-Benz ran a 2-cell study test.
Cell one was comprised of “first-party” audiences, or audiences based on information the automaker already had about its customers and potential customers. Those included Custom Audiences of people who had shown purchase intent actions on the Mercedes-Benz website (gathered via the Facebook pixel) and lookalike audiences based on them, plus a US audience segment based on average household income by postal ZIP code—which was collated from publicly available US Internal Revenue Service information.
Cell two was comprised of aggregate household income audiences as determined by third-party consumer data collection companies.
Mercedes-Benz then created lead ads and video ads for both cells, and chose the automatic placements feature—which automatically placed the ads across Facebook’s family of apps and services including Facebook News Feed, Instagram feed, Instagram Stories, Messenger and Facebook Marketplace, based on which platform was most cost effective.
The ad creative was the same for both cells, and showed various stylized shots of the 2018 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan, along with messaging such as “It’s a masterpiece of intelligence,” to tout the vehicle’s advanced technologies and capabilities. A “Learn More” call-to-action button opened into a lead form that automatically filled itself with the name and contact details from the person’s Facebook profile.
Mercedes-Benz then tracked and compared the different audiences’ responses. The results clearly showed which of the 2 cells drove more actions on the Mercedes-Benz website, which included requesting a quote for a vehicle, contacting a dealership, setting up a test drive or applying for a credit start.
THEIR SUCCESS
Accelerating leads
Mercedes Benz determined the results for the July 3–31, 2018 campaign using a Facebook conversion lift study. This revealed that ads targeted to audiences built from its own data performed significantly better than those targeted to third-party household income segments.
9X more online conversions for cell 1 than cell 2
89% lower cost per incremental conversion for cell 1 than cell 2
27X increase in online conversions (among people who saw ads versus people who didn’t)
Products Used
Lead Ads
Generate qualified leads for your business.
Video Ads
Capture attention with engaging video ads.
Facebook Marketplace
Get your products and services in front of interested buyers.
Promote your business to an engaged audience.
Ads in Stories
Share your story with immersive full-screen ads.
Messenger
Build lasting relationships through conversation.
Custom Audiences
Reach your customers and contacts on Facebook.
Lookalike Audiences
Find people similar to your customers and contacts.
Facebook Pixel
Measure activity and conversions for your ads.
Measurement
Make better marketing decisions based on insights.
Mercedes-Benz continuously considers the best ways to attract discerning drivers. By designing this test campaign, we were able to learn what drove actual purchase-intent shopping actions by luxury audiences on our website. We were pleased with the campaign results, and will continue to adopt new targeting options as they evolve.
A leading US real estate brokerage client, started running geofenced ads and began to automate its property listings, and saw a 4.6X increase in the click-through rate.
4.6Xincrease in click-through rate
84%decrease in cost per click
42%decrease in cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
THEIR STORY
Leading real estate brokerage
Affiliated with the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network, KoenigRubloff Realty Group is known for luxury marketing and providing a high level of personalized service to clients. The company has a business model of strong, local leadership backed by national resources to meet the needs of its market.
THEIR GOAL
Attracting more home buyers
KoenigRubloff Realty Group wanted to find a more automated way to promote its home listings, increase website traffic and generate more leads for its agents.
THEIR SOLUTION
Enhancing property listings
For much of 2018, KoenigRubloff Realty Group ran geographically targeted Facebook ads, showing people houses that were close to their current locations. For its next campaign, the brokerage wanted a more automated way to deliver relevant content to prospective home buyers, and to make the process as smooth as possible.
So, KoenigRubloff Realty Group partnered with Homesnap—a real estate search portal that provides comprehensive property information, including real-time alerts to new listings and price changes. Homesnap’s enhanced property features made it easy for people to search for and share listing information. At Homesnap’s recommendation, KoenigRubloff decided to test a new campaign strategy using Facebook dynamic ads for real estate.
With Facebook dynamic ads for real estate, realty brokerages can show people listings based on homes they might be interested in. In this campaign, Homesnap uploaded KoenigRubloff’s catalog of properties, and then placed the Facebook pixel on the brokerage’s website. By adding this piece of code, Homesnap could gather information on which listings potential home buyers were looking at on the site, and then serve them a Facebook ad containing listings that matched or were similar to those in their recent searches.
Homesnap built Facebook photo ads in the “swipeable” carousel format, which allowed it to feature several home listings in KoenigRubloff’s portfolio, along with location and price. Each card in the carousel linked to the specific KoenigRubloff’s listing on its website.
The realty group delivered the ads in Facebook News Feed and Instagram feed. In addition to retargeting website visitors, it also targeted a lookalike audience modeled on the brokerage’s agents’ own customer relationship management (CRM) data. KoenigRubloff found that dynamic ads for real estate proved to be more personalized and relevant to prospective home buyers, as well as more cost effective, than its previous Facebook strategy.
THEIR SUCCESS
Home run
KoenigRubloff Realty Group used its own data and Facebook Ads Manager to compare the December 1, 2018‒January 15, 2019 campaign to its previous advertising strategy. It determined that its dynamic ads for real estate campaign had resulted in:
4.6X increase in click-through rate
84% decrease in cost per click
42% decrease in cost per thousand impressions (CPM)
Products Used
Dynamic Ads
Personalize your ads without any manual work.
Carousel
Show up to 10 images or videos in a single ad.
Facebook Pixel
Measure activity and conversions for your ads.
This Midwest bakery has increasingly used Jobs on Facebook to hire its staff, achieving a high retention rate of 50% among hires who remain in service after a year and a half on the job.
71%of total hires were sourced through Facebook in 2019
50%of staff hired through Facebook remain in service after 1.5 years on the job
THEIR STORY
Sweets without the wheat
Rebecca Brown and her mother Agnes founded Happy Bellies Bake Shop in Appleton, Wisconsin in 2011. Their business was born out of Agnes’ desire to create wholesome desserts for those with health issues, including her husband, who has diabetes. As Agnes herself is allergic to gluten and dairy, she began learning to bake treats that were gluten-free yet tasty and nutritious. Besides its gluten-free lineup, Happy Bellies also offers dairy- and egg-free treats.
THEIR GOAL
Finding reliable help year-round
As the bakeshop began adding new product options and sales grew, Rebecca needed more hands to help in the kitchen and serve customers. She not only wanted to find competent staff, but also wanted people who would stay with the business for the long haul.
THEIR SOLUTION
Meeting staff on Facebook
In the early days of Happy Bellies, Rebecca found extra hands by posting “Help Wanted” signs in the shop. Later, Rebecca recruited online, first posting jobs on a recruiting site and, eventually, Facebook.
Quick and easy to screen and evaluate
Once she discovered the Jobs tool on Facebook, Rebecca posted baker and customer service roles, defining her audience as people living within 20–30 miles of Appleton. She was able to post these jobs quickly and easily, as the process was similar to creating a Page post.
In the Facebook job application, Rebecca asked candidates to explain their interest in the job and prioritized those who answered this question. Communicating with candidates was instant and easy, thanks to Messenger, Facebook’s real-time messaging app.
Likewise, candidates found it easy to apply with Facebook. Case in point: Abbie Douglas, morning mixer, said she preferred Facebook’s streamlined process to emails.
Page followers make strong hires
While candidates can browse open positions at Facebook.com/jobs, many people who apply to Happy Bellies are followers of the bakery’s Facebook Page. Rebecca noticed that applicants who follow her Page make great hires because they’re familiar with her brand and mission. In contrast, she sees higher turnover with candidates who are sourced through the recruiting site, because many of them don’t necessarily share Happy Bellies’ passion for healthy eating and natural ingredients.
Success with Jobs on Facebook
Rebecca made her first hires through Facebook in 2017, and four of them—a baker and three customer service reps—are still with Happy Bellies after more than two years. This is no small feat, considering that most fast-food employers experience turnover as high as 75%. That’s why Rebecca continues to use Facebook to reach and attract candidates. Out of her staff of 14, she has hired 10 through Facebook and more than half have been with Happy Bellies for more than a year and a half.
THEIR SUCCESS
Hiring is a piece of cake
Given her success with Jobs on Facebook to recruit and hire the right candidates, Rebecca will continue using this tool as her business expands, building on the results achieved between December 2017 and January 2020:
71% of total hires were sourced through Facebook in 2019
50% of staff hired through Facebook remain in service after a year and a half on the job*
Products Used
Pages
Create a place for people to meet your business.
Jobs
Reach and hire qualified candidates.
It’s a gamble when you hire anyone, but with Facebook, we’ve had applicants who follow our Page, which makes them more qualified by the fact that they understand our mission and values. Of course, Jobs on Facebook is easy to use and the ability to communicate quickly with candidates through Messenger makes the tool even more compelling.
Rebecca Brown
Co-owner, Happy Bellies Bake Shop
I was looking on Facebook for baker jobs and Happy Bellies’ post popped up. This was the first time I used Facebook to find work and it exceeded my expectations. I love the simplicity of the whole experience. It’s so much better than emails, which I find cumbersome. And my work at Happy Bellies has been my favorite job by far.
Abbie Douglas
Morning mixer, Happy Bellies Bake Shop
The quick-service restaurant chain used app event, value and retention optimization on Facebook to lower the cost per install of its mobile app by 28%, while increasing purchases by 12%.
28%lower cost per install
12%higher conversion rate for in-app purchases among people exposed to the campaign
2.8Xhigher return on ad spend
THEIR STORY
Feeding Aussies for 50 years
KFC landed in Australia in 1968, setting up its first store in Guildford, Sydney. Today it serves over 2 million customers a week across more than 640 restaurants in the country, with the majority of these owned by franchisees. Its KFC – Order On The Go mobile app allows customers to find their nearest KFC, skip the queue and order for pickup, customize their meals and get access to exclusive offers, among other features.
THEIR GOAL
Finding valuable customers
KFC wanted to lower the cost per install of its mobile app while also increasing sales made through it. To do this, it wanted to optimize its Facebook campaign to reach its most active users, as well as those with high retention rates and a high lifetime value.
THEIR SOLUTION
Perfecting the recipe
KFC ran a range of ads—including video, photo and mobile app ads. The ads were designed to both encourage app installs among completely new customers and re-engage with existing users. To improve the performance of its mobile app install campaign, KFC and its agency partner MediaCom experimented with a range of Facebook optimization tools to test and improve outcomes, including app event optimization, retention optimization and value optimization.
Optimizing for app events helps advertisers reach people most likely to perform certain actions, such as registering or making a purchase. Optimizing for retention targets those most likely to continue using an app after installation. Optimizing for value increases reach among people likely to spend more.
By integrating the Facebook software development kit (SDK) and Facebook Analytics, KFC gained powerful insights about its audience and their purchase journey. It created a Custom Audience of people most active on the KFC app as well as those who made the highest-value purchases. It also created lookalike audiences based on these groups to reach high-value potential customers. KFC also reached people through interest targeting in areas such as gaming.
MediaCom partnered with Facebook to set up ongoing purchase conversion tracking, also using the Facebook SDK. This allowed the agency to adjust optimization, as well as the overall strategy, throughout the campaign to deliver improved results.
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THEIR SUCCESS
Finger-lickin’ good
KFC and MediaCom’s ongoing refinement of their Facebook campaign with app event, retention and value optimization helped decrease the average cost per install while simultaneously increasing overall sales. During 2018, the campaign achieved:
2.8X higher return on ad spend
28% decrease in cost per install
12% increase in conversion rate for in-app purchases among people exposed to the Facebook campaign
Products Used
Carousel
Show up to 10 images or videos in a single ad.
Photo Ads
Inspire your audience with photo ads.
Video Ads
Capture attention with engaging video ads.
Core Audiences
Select the right target audience for your ads.
Custom Audiences
Reach your customers and contacts on Facebook.
Lookalike Audiences
Find people similar to your customers and contacts.
Measurement
Make better marketing decisions based on insights.
The optimization capabilities on Facebook have allowed us to gain a deeper understanding of our app customers and how they respond to our advertising. Facebook offers an effective platform for us to execute our customer acquisition program and ensure we’re maximizing our return on investment. Credit goes to MediaCom, Ogilvy and the Facebook platform for delivering tangible results for the brand.
Kristi Woolrych
Chief Marketing Officer, KFC Australia
We maximized the Facebook auction algorithm to acquire new users with a lower cost per install, while more importantly also increasing sales. The ability to conduct an ongoing test of a new solution and range of optimization types helped us to deliver a highly successful campaign for KFC.
Pan Caixia
Senior Biddable Media Executive, Mediacom
The auto manufacturer ran a lead generation campaign on Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network using automotive inventory ads for prospecting, resulting in a 28% higher lead conversion.
28%higher lead conversion (compared to previous lead campaign)
22%lower cost per lead (compared to previous lead campaign)
47%lower cost per click (compared to previous lead campaign)
THEIR STORY
The people’s car
Volkswagen is one of the world’s leading automakers, enjoying great awareness and popularity in Malaysia, with over 50,000 vehicles on the roads. The car brand often uses digital channels to generate test-drive leads.
THEIR GOAL
Getting Malaysia in the driver’s seat
The global car brand has been running successful digital lead generation campaigns for test-drives in Malaysia, but wanted to find an approach that was more cost-effective.
THEIR SOLUTION
Pulling up with the right cars
Volkswagen ran a lead generation campaign for test-drives on Facebook using automotive inventory ads for prospecting. These ads allow car manufacturers and dealerships to re-engage people who had shown an interest in a specific model.
To generate more test-drive leads, the car brand first created a series of ad sets by uploading images of all its available models on to Facebook, and then created a Custom Audience of people who had previously viewed any of Volkswagen’s cars on its website.
The campaign used automotive inventory ads for prospecting, which automatically customized each ad to display the exact model a person had viewed. People who clicked on the ads were directed to a landing page on the Volkswagen website where they could sign up for a free test-drive with that particular model.
The brand also created a lookalike audience based on the Custom Audience to find people with a similar interest in the car models. The campaign ran throughout December 2018 on Facebook, Instagram and Audience Network.
THEIR SUCCESS
Smooth acceleration
Volkswagen’s automotive inventory ads for prospecting campaign was the first of its kind in Malaysia, and generated great results in December 2018, including:
28% higher lead conversion (compared to previous lead generation campaign)
22% lower cost per lead (compared to previous lead generation campaign)
47% lower cost per click (compared to previous lead generation campaign)
Products Used
Automotive Inventory Ads
Re-engage people who have an interest in a specific car model.
Dynamic Ads
Personalize your ads without any manual work.
Promote your business to an engaged audience.
Ads in Stories
Share your story with immersive full-screen ads.
Custom Audiences
Reach your customers and contacts on Facebook.
Lookalike Audiences
Find people similar to your customers and contacts.
Volkswagen wants to continuously learn and grow its business through innovation. The implementation of Facebook’s automotive inventory ads for prospecting is a great tool that offers us a way to generate higher quality and cost-effective leads, in addition to providing our customers a more personalized experience.
Isabela Pascu
Head of Marketing & Communications, VW Malaysia
The four-party partnership of Volkswagen, PHD, Industria and Facebook resulted in Volkswagen becoming the first automotive brand to kick-start dynamic ads in Malaysia. We are excited to be able to drive this innovation for Volkswagen, and the results have proven Facebook’s strength as a performance marketing platform. We look forward to driving more innovations together with Facebook and Volkswagen.
After adding WhatsApp as a customer communications channel, the premium automobile manufacturer saw 60% fewer callback requests from customers.
60%fewer callback requests
90%recommendation rate for WhatsApp
3,800customer messages processed per month
THEIR STORY
Luxury automobiles
The BMW group is a German manufacturer of premium automobiles and motorcycles, as well as a provider of financial and mobility services. Founded in 1916, the company is headquartered in Munich, has sales representatives in 140 countries and production and assembly plants in 14 countries.
THEIR GOAL
Serving more customers
BMW wanted to inform customers of the service status of their vehicles in real time, improve service quality and reduce the volume of customer calls. It also wanted to respond to customers faster by contacting them via a channel they frequently use, making it easier for people to request specific information.
THEIR SOLUTION
Efficient customer service
Because WhatsApp is already widely used across Germany, BMW chose this channel to directly communicate with its customers and reach them more quickly. Prior to this decision, the automaker had been using a central call center system, which saw long wait times due to the large volume of customer requests it received. BMW experimented with launching its own app to quickly inform people of the status of their car, but customers were not keen to download the app, so the manufacturer made the switch to WhatsApp.
In June 2019, BMW officially launched its implementation of WhatsApp Business API with the help of MessengerPeople, which offers a software solution for professional customer communication via messaging apps. Customers who visited a BMW center for auto service could request to check the status of their car by sending a message via WhatsApp. For more complex queries, customer service consultants are able to provide people with the requisite information in real time. Additionally, BMW can use WhatsApp to send automatic status updates and request approval on issues relating to customers’ vehicles, which increases service efficiency.
BMW encouraged people to use WhatsApp as a customer service platform when they brought their vehicles in for service, scanned QR codes on printed flyers at BMW stores or visited the BMW website.
THEIR SUCCESS
Making customers happy
After using WhatsApp as a communications channel to improve customer service quality and reduce the volume of customer calls, BMW achieved the following results:
60% fewer callback requests
90% recommendation rate for WhatsApp
3,800 customer messages processed per month
Products Used
WhatsApp Business API
Communicate with customers at scale.
“
With WhatsApp Business API, we improved the quality of our customer service. With MessengerPeople’s help, we were able to quickly implement WhatsApp, and use it to inform people of the status of their vehicles. We are among the first vendors to offer this type of service, and we have plans to incorporate WhatsApp in other customer service centers apart from the one in Munich.
Albert Rösch
Head of Service Consulting BMW AG Munich Branch
The automobile brand drove traffic to its website and generated leads using automotive inventory ads that show relevant inventory to people based on what they’ve already showed an interest in purchasing.
25%click-through rate
16%increase in completed inquiries (compared to before the launch of automotive inventory ads)
300%increase in conversion rate (compared to before the launch of automotive inventory ads)
Their Story
Guaranteed: Certified Cars
“Certified Cars” are pre-owned vehicles that have passed Mercedes-Benz’ strict quality and safety standards, and have been judged ready to provide customers with a satisfying automotive life. The cars have a complete warranty, including an unlimited mileage guarantee and 24-hour touring support that is only available with certified pre-owned vehicles. Customers can use the official Mercedes-Benz site to browse information on 2,000 or more certified pre-owned vehicles and search by model, miles, sales region, color and more.
Their Goal
Targeting potential customers
Mercedes-Benz Japan wanted to increase inquiries about its certified pre-owned vehicles, specifically among a small target limited to potential customers who had already expressed interest in purchasing a car.
Their Solution
Automatically display the right vehicle
Personalization is key for automobile ads, as people’s preferences vary widely. To promote the right inventory to the right people, Mercedes-Benz Japan quickly rolled out automotive inventory ads, uploading its catalog of inventory, including model, year, color, etc.. The ads then used real-time inventory and pricing information, along with data about what products people have been looking at online, to show relevant ads to a target audience with strong potential interest.
Mercedes-Benz Japan retargeted people who had browsed the official website for certified pre-owned vehicles, showing them the exact cars they looked at, as well as similar products. Unlike dynamic ads, which are commonly used in the E-Commerce industry, automotive industry ads take geographical information into account, providing more relevant, local information to potential car buyers.
The main advantage of automotive inventory ads is that once advertisers create the initial product catalog, they can automate the rest, allowing the campaign to run automatically. To post the ads and configure delivery settings effectively, Mercedes-Benz Japan used Sherpa, provided by Facebook Marketing Partner Torchlight Inc. The automobile manufacturer reduced the lead time from feed creation to ad delivery and achieved consistency in ad operations.
Results
Better-than-expected performance
People who clicked automotive inventory ads could view detailed information on the featured vehicle on the official Mercedes-Benz Japan website, schedule a store visit and get a quote. This automotive inventory ad campaign delivered a:
25% click-through rate
16% increase in completed inquiries (compared to before the launch of automotive inventory ads)
300% increase in view percentage of search results for pre-owned vehicles (compared to before the launch of automotive inventory ads)
Products Used
Automotive Inventory Ads
Re-engage people who have an interest in a specific car model.
Dynamic Ads
Personalize your ads without any manual work.
Custom Audiences
Reach your customers and contacts on Facebook.
Lookalike Audiences
Find people similar to your customers and contacts.
Facebook Pixel
Measure activity and conversions for your ads.
“