Increase Fitness Conversions by 40% With Facebook Carousel Ads

Fitness studio and gym owners have had a ton of success advertising on Facebook. But is it possible to advertise a service like yours with Facebook Carousel Ads? We’ll explore it because these ads have very high conversion rates… 

We’ve found a pretty awesome niche for our clients using Facebook carousel ads.

Not only has this ad format been known to increase engagement and CTR by up to 50%, but also lower CPC  by 46%. These can be built through your Facebook Ads Manager.

With Facebook’s monthly active users sitting at 2.7 billion, there’s a lot of potential for your gym. People lean on this platform for more than just updates on their family and friends.

When used the right way, it’s a place where companies can thrive. So, it’s time gyms and fitness studios jump on board and that they do so in style. That’s where Facebook carousel ads come in.

What are Facebook Carousel Ads?

Facebook Carousel Ads are a form of advertising which utilizes an image gallery with multiple frames of images or videos that can be swiped through by the user. These ads are often used to display a product catalog, multiple products, stories, and more.

Here’s a beautiful example from a shoe company of a continuous Facebook carousel ad:

And since Facebook posts with images receive 87% of the interaction that happens on the social media platform, you want to take advantage of this and be as visual as possible with your advertising efforts.

Regulations for Carousel Ads

Just like any other ad platform on Facebook, there are a few regulations when it comes to carousel ads. But these are super simple to accommodate:

• Number of Carousel Cards: 2 to 10.
• Image Maximum File Size: 30MB.
• Video Maximum File Size: 4GB.
• Duration of Videos: 1 second to 240 minutes.
• Aspect Ratio Tolerance: 3%
• Image File Type: JPG or PNG 
• Video File Type: MP4, MOV or GIF 
• Ratio: 1:1 
• Resolution: At least 1080 x 1080 pixels 

Gyms already have a niche for getting their message across in a creative and simple manner. So, this shouldn’t be much of a challenge.

The main purpose of Facebook carousel ads is to appeal to potential members visually rather than through text.

Should Gyms Use Facebook Carousel Ads?

100%.

Just about every business can use Facebook carousel ads, and gyms and fitness studios are no exception.

Whether you offer products or services, both have gotten really strong results.

When I first launched carousel ads for my clients, back when it was brand new, my clients got 376 conversions (phone calls and form submissions) in less than 4 months.

Today, carousel ads are still going strong! Facebook reports that Carousel ads drive 30-50% lower cost-per-conversions. On top of that, a 20-30% lower cost-per-clicks than just a single-image ad.

An Old School Case Study on Facebook Carousel Ads

There are some things in advertising that never change. The power of a great headline, the attention-grabbing ability of an eye-popping image, and the emotional pull created by well-written copy.

The same holds true for Facebook carousel ads.

Sure, the rules have changed, the images are larger and more beautiful, and you can now have a carousel made up of videos. These things don’t change the fact that when done right, carousel ads can have an awesome impact.

Before putting all of my effort into my passion for fitness, I used to run ads for all kinds of clients.

In this case study, I want to show you the difference a carousel ad made versus a standard ad. Again, this is old, but the principles and data still apply to you and your fitness studio’s advertising efforts…

Standard Ad versus Facebook Carousel Ad Example

Within the first month of running this client’s standard ad, they received a total of 47 conversions. We clearly wanted to skyrocket this number. Here were the standard ad’s results:

AND:

The conversions, CTR, Cost Per Click, and clicks were all lower than what we wanted them to be.

We knew it was time to do something different. Carousel ads were introduced by Facebook in June of 2014, and we wanted to go even more visual with this client.

So, we went for it…

Within the first month of running carousel ads, our client’s conversions had increased from 47 to 66—a 40% increase in conversions!

The next month (August), the carousel ads brought in 161 more conversions. This pattern only continued upward. By November, the total was 376:

AND:

By switching to Facebook carousel ads for this client, we were able to decrease their CPC to about $0.31, increase their conversions to almost 400, lower their cost per conversion, and increase the number of clicks and click-thru-rate percentage.

How This Facebook Carousel Ad Concept Applies In 2021

Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal prospect. Someone you know that, once they join, they’ll purchase the best package you offer, spend money on retail, and become a referral machine.

Let’s say this person is scrolling through Facebook and they come across a standard ad for your fitness studio. It looks something like this:

Now let’s say, instead of that ad for your fitness studio, they came across one that looks like this:

 

Which one is likely to grab that prospect’s attention and lead to a conversion?

This doesn’t mean stop using static or video ads. It does mean it’s important to test everything to find out what works, get more members in your doors, and optimize the hell out of your ad budget.

The Benefits of Carousel Ads

Once I saw killer results from carousel ads, I realized just how beneficial this format is. So aside from increasing conversions by up to 40%, carousel ads also:

• Automatically format to desktop and mobile
• Increased engagement by allowing users to swipe through multiple images or videos
• Increased brand visibility and recognition as the ads can be used to showcase multiple products or services at one time in one ad
• Can be worked into standard and retargeting campaigns
• Increased reach, as Facebook’s algorithm rewards high-quality creative and engagement
• Successful due to it being visually stimulating and requiring interaction with the ad
• Provides contrast from standard ads in news feeds
• Are easy to create
• A lower cost per click compared to other forms of advertising, resulting in more clicks for your budget
• Compatible with both Facebook and Instagram if you choose
• And you can show ads to current clients via their emails addresses like standard ads

That being said, you really can’t go wrong with Facebook carousel ads.

As along a you know how to create, use, and optimize them, they’re awesome! They make a world of difference when it comes to your performance metrics.

If you have any questions on how to get started with this ad format, don’t hesitate to contact me: [email protected]. We could take social media all day. You can also book a free demo with our team to see how we can help grow your business.