The Wicked Reports 2018 Facebook & AdWords Campaign Benchmark Report
Brace yourself for the boldest statement ever made in ecommerce marketing…
The average Facebook campaign doesn’t make money.
That’s right.
Four months into a Facebook campaign, the average ROI is NEGATIVE 50%. Meanwhile within literally 30 days of an AdWords campaign, the average ROI is POSITIVE 78%.
What does it mean for you?
Wicked Reports’ has tracked and analyzed over $1.5 billion in ecommerce transactions across all customers using Wicked Reports, and compiled campaign benchmarks for every major statistical category.
These are the benchmarks to look for to understand how your campaigns compare to the rest of the industry. These benchmarks will show you what metrics to pay attention to, when to pay attention to them, and how they will impact your marketing decisions.
Wicked Reports’ went digging through the numbers so you don’t have to, and put it all together in a neat, easy-to-read, report.
Keep reading to see a sample.
The Wicked Reports 2018 Facebook & AdWords Campaign Benchmark Report
The following is a sample from the full 2018 benchmark report. We first collected transaction data from all Facebook and AdWords campaigns tracked on the Wicked Reports platform, then calculated the averages. Each data set you see represents how the average campaign performs.
Average Earnings Per Lead – Facebook
Key Insight:
- By Day 14 of a Facebook campaign, Leads have a 38% greater value than they did on Day 1
- By Day 60 of a Facebook campaign, Leads have a 125% greater value than they did on Day 1
- By Day 365 of a Facebook campaign, Leads have a 309% greater value than they did on Day 1
What This Means:
The average Facebook campaign is significantly more successful the longer it runs, generating higher value leads as time passes.
Average Customer Acquisition Cost – Facebook
Key Insight:
The Average Customer Acquisition Cost in a Facebook campaign drops $200 over the course of a year.
What This Means:
Facebook Customer Acquisition Costs steadily decrease (meaning the campaign performs better) over time. This is likely due to Facebook’s targeting algorithm improving the longer a campaign runs.
Don’t be quick to pull the plug on a campaign if you find your CAC is higher than you expect in the first month. If you ride it out, Facebook will better optimize the campaign, and your CAC will decrease.
Average Return On Investment – Facebook
Key Insight:
The average Facebook campaign doesn’t make money. The average campaign ROI is -82%, and it takes more than 4 months to get ROI better than -50%.
What This Means:
Does this mean you should give up on Facebook altogether? Definitely not.
It means the average campaign isn’t being optimized and run successfully. Campaigns are being pulled before they have a chance to generate ROI.
This underscores the importance of data-based decision-making, and long-term strategic thinking. Expect to generate real leads right away, but for customers to take time to make a purchase and overall campaign ROI to be a long journey.
Average Earnings Per Lead – AdWords
Key Insight:
- By Day 14 of an AdWords campaign, Leads have a 73% greater value than they did on Day 1
- By Day 30 of an AdWords campaign, Leads have a 173% greater value than they did on Day 1
- By Day 60 of an AdWords campaign, Leads have a 174% greater value than they did on Day 1
What This Means:
From Day 60 of an AdWords campaign onwards, the incremental Lead value begins to level off and continues at a much steadier pace.
Similar to Facebook, AdWords campaigns become more successful the longer they run, generating significantly higher-value leads as time passes.
Average Customer Acquisition Cost – AdWords
Key Insight:
Average Customer Acquisition Cost in an AdWords campaign drops about $380 over the course of a year.
What This Means:
Customer Acquisition Costs steadily decrease (meaning the campaign performs better) over time. Similar to Facebook, this is likely due to Google’s targeting algorithm improving the longer a campaign runs. Don’t be quick to pull the plug on a campaign if you find your CAC is higher than you expect in the first month. If you ride it out, Google will better optimize the campaign, and your CAC will decrease.
Average Return On Investment – AdWords
Key Insights:
Unlike Facebook, the average AdWords campaign makes money quickly. By Day 14 revenues exceed cost, and continue to rise.
- By Day 30 of an AdWords campaign, ROI is +78%
- By Day 60 of an AdWords campaign, ROI is +127%
- By Day 365 of an AdWords campaign, ROI is +265%
What This Means:
Don’t expect ROI on Day 1, but you don’t have to wait very long (14 days) to see a small ROI, followed by a spike over the next few months.
AdWords campaigns likely show better ROI than Facebook because there is typically already buyer intent with AdWords, whereas you have to generate interest with Facebook. Also bear in mind the average campaign spend is much lower on Adwords.
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