Ad Account Audit: Kerry Evelyn’s Facebook Ads Tips for Authors to Boost ROI

Running effective Facebook ads isn’t just about creating them—it’s about understanding the data and making informed decisions. In a recent ad account audit with sweet small-town romance author Kerry Evelyn, we took a deep dive into her campaigns, analyzed her strategies, and offered actionable tips to boost her return on investment (ROI). If you’re an author wondering why your ads aren’t performing or looking for ways to improve, this breakdown is for you.

Kerry writes heartwarming romance stories with touches of hockey, Christian themes, and even a sprinkle of magic in some of her works. She shared insights from her ad campaigns, including what’s working, what isn’t, and adjustments she’s already made. Let’s break it all down.

Getting to Know the Author and Her Ad Goals

Kerry Evelyn advertises to promote her two main series: a Christian romance series and a hockey-themed romance series. She’s targeting Book One for one series and Book Two for the other, having found that the holiday themes and tropes in Book Two perform better with ads.

Her ultimate goal? To boost discoverability, grow her readership, and hit her financial targets—especially toward her Net Income for Authors (NINK) goal.

However, like many authors, Kerry mentioned struggling to consistently double her ad spend. She’s experimented, learned along the way, but still faces challenges in scaling her results.

Breaking Down Her Ad Data with Author Helper Suite

Using Author Helper Suite to review her ad data, we noticed several trends:

1. Inconsistent Ad Spend: While Kerry increased her Facebook ad spend significantly, there were fluctuations in returns. Some months performed well, others poorly.
2. Shifting Platforms: After struggling with Amazon ads not spending her budget effectively, Kerry pivoted to Facebook ads. She credits dynamic creative testing and audience tweaks for better performance.
3. The Importance of Series: The first book in her Christian romance series launches readers into the world effectively. However, for the hockey series, Book Two has become the lead because readers resonate with its tropes and Christmas themes.

These insights highlight the importance of adjusting strategies based on audience behavior and market trends. But what can be done next?

Fine-Tuning Facebook Ad Campaigns

We hopped into Kerry’s Facebook ad account to review campaign settings, audience targeting, and ad creatives. Here’s what we found and recommended:

Audience Targeting

• Current Setup: Kerry targets a broad audience size (7.2 to 8.5 million people) and primarily focuses on the United States.
• Suggestions:
  • Expand to include Canada, the UK, and Australia. Canadian readers, for example, may connect more with the hockey theme.
  • Consider narrowing audiences further by layering interests. For instance, think outside the box to include related authors, hallmark-style shows, or other niche interests your readers might engage with.

Placement Strategies

• Current Setup: Kerry does manual placements, primarily using Facebook.
• Suggestions:
  • Add Facebook’s Audience Network (specifically Native Banner and Interstitial options). This opens more placements for ads without inflating costs unnecessarily.
  • Avoid using Facebook’s recommended “Advantage+ Placements,” as it often increases ad spend without targeting efficiency.

Campaign Budget Optimization

• Facebook offers an option for Campaign Budget Optimization (CBO), where spending gets distributed across ad sets automatically. However, for more controlled campaigns, it’s better to allocate budgets at the ad set level. That’s exactly what Kerry’s doing, and it’s a smart move to maintain control.

Ad Copy and Creatives

• Current Setup: Kerry’s ads sometimes include the word “Download,” which can make potential readers hesitate. Excerpts have driven strong engagement, but there’s room for refinement.
• Suggestions:
  • Replace “Download” with “Shop Now” for clearer intent and to avoid hesitation.
  • Ensure links appear directly under excerpts for easy access.
  • Use tools like ReaderLinks to clean up Amazon URLs and track click data more effectively.

Testing and Scaling

• For Scaling:
  • Before increasing your daily ad spend, ensure campaigns are consistently delivering at least 200% ROI.
  • Gradually increase budgets in small increments, such as $2.50 at a time, to maintain ad performance.
• For Audience Testing:
  • Duplicate successful ad sets, and make small adjustments to test new audiences or placements.

Improving Read-Through and Long-Term Ad ROI

Book sales and ad performance go hand in hand. During the audit, one key focus was on improving read-through between books in Kerry’s series. Here’s what we talked about:

1. Leverage Reader Feedback: Readers have mentioned struggling to connect with younger characters in Kerry’s hockey series Book One. While rewriting isn’t necessary, contextualizing character arcs at the end of each book (a “Dear Reader” note, for example) can help keep readers engaged.
2. Adjust Existing Products: Kerry plans to remove standalone magic-themed books from her sweet romance brand to maintain cohesiveness.
3. Exclusive Content: Offering bonus material between books through her newsletter can keep readers engaged longer. For instance, a short companion story or deleted scenes could encourage reads across the series.
4. Box Set Ads: Kerry found that removing ads for her box set helped, as book read-through outperformed box set sales. However, running limited-time promotions or testing box set ads again could reintroduce additional revenue streams without harming the series performance.

Steps for Other Authors

If you’re facing similar challenges to Kerry, here are a few quick takeaways:

• Regularly audit your ad account to find what’s working and what isn’t.
• Use tools like Author Helper Suite to track sales and ad spend more accurately.
• Test different ad setups, including audiences, placements, and creatives, while keeping budgets manageable.
• Focus on improving reader experience and conversion, especially for serialized books.

Wrapping It Up

Kerry Evelyn’s dedication to learning and adapting her ad strategies is commendable. By testing consistently, adjusting where needed, and refining her approach to reader retention, she’s already made great strides. It’s clear she’s well on her way to achieving her author goals.

Want to see how you can improve your Facebook ad game, too? Don’t forget to check out our ad resources and guides below. Share this post with author friends looking to up their ad game because success is always better together!