It’s Here. The Facebook Quality Score

Poor Google, at least that’s how we feel recently, given that so much of our attention has of late focused on Facebook and not the company that commands 30 to 40x of their ad dollars. The latter’s platform is one that we have always taken a bullish stance towards. Being bullish on Facebook’s ad platform can mean two different things. It can mean the company will succeed in monetizing its traffic, something that those following the company doubted. You could also interpret the statement from a performance marketing point of view, that performance marketers will find success running on Facebook. The former remains true, but the latter assumption continues to run into challenges. On the one hand, unlike Google, Facebook has taken a proactive approach towards the performance / affiliate marketing industries, exhibiting at relevant shows and generally making themselves available. They have a fairly large support staff for marketers, and they even publish a newsletter titled, "Facebook Ads for Affiliates." On the other hand, though, the company seems to consistently tweak their policies, many of them specifically designed to counter actions taken by performance marketers, such as the recent ban on certain "free" offers.

Two weeks ago in their March edition of Facebook for Affiliates, the company addressed not only the ban on certain free offers but led with a section titled, "Better Ad Quality = Better Ad Performance." Call it what you will, but similar to how people ask not for a cotton swab but a a Q-tip, any mention of ad quality is going to be hard to separate from Quality Score, especially for performance marketers. In a Catch-22, the notion of Quality Score was one of the reason we were bullish on Facebook in the first place. When the platform was getting dumped on, most focused on what it didn’t have as a negative instead of focusing on what they didn’t have as a positive. We don’t have the numbers, but the notion of Quality Score added an incredible lever to Google’s AdWords earnings, and it gave them a way to charge more without seeming like they were extorting performance marketers. It’s yet to be determined if Facebook will institute a sliding scale based on quality, but we have to assume they either do currently or will follow Google’s lead.

Here is what Facebook wrote in their newsletter on the topic:

The core of the Facebook brand is our user experience. As advertisers, you have a significant impact on the daily user experience. To ensure we protect what users have come to expect from Facebook, we provide users the ability to identify affinity for ads, which generates your ad quality. When users click "x" on a particular ad, they are given six choices to classify the reason they didn’t like it. Ads that over index in the "misleading" or "offensive" categories are greatly penalized.

In order to provide you with a clear understanding of what resonates with our users, we created Advertising Guidelines. By following these guidelines, you will be better equipped to communicate with your desired audience in a more effective and meaningful way. Feel free to also review success stories from your fellow advertisers.

The crackdown on the free offers was definitely a more reactive move. More recently, though, it looks like Facebook has made a more concentrated and coordinated move with regards to the interplay between ad quality and affiliates. The company has talked about policy changes before, but this is the first time they have referenced a "big policy change."

Here is the letter sent to many larger performance marketers:

I just wanted to give you a heads up about some big policy changes that could affect your campaigns going forward. This information is really important since it relates directly to the user feedback discussions we have been having, and may offer more insight.

Over the past few months we’ve received significant user feedback about the quality of ads running on our system. As part of our continued efforts to improve our ads system, we’re taking care to ensure that all ads adhere to the high standards that help to uphold the user experience on Facebook. These standards include accurate and truthful representation of the product or service advertised, the disclosure of all relevant consequences of participating in the advertised offer, as well as the protection of all user information received as a result of advertising on Facebook. We’re strengthening our Advertising Guidelines in four key areas to ensure that all Facebook Ads meet our high quality standards.

The following practices are detrimental to the user experience and are not permitted:

1. Advertised products that generate any unanticipated user experiences
2. Unclear recurring end products or advertised offers that do not directly match the service being sold
3. Ads or offers with unsubstantiated claims
4. Business models or practices that are deemed unacceptable or contrary to Facebook’s overall advertising philosophy

Please take a moment to review the attached document for further details, keeping in mind that each major theme includes, but is not limited to, the examples provided. Our Advertising Guidelines located at http://www.facebook.com/ad_guidelines.php will be updated shortly to reflect these changes. Please delete any ads (active or paused) in violation of these guidelines by end of day Thursday (4/8) and do not submit any new ads utilizing these practices. Ads that remain active will be removed. Advertisers who continue to create ads that violate any policy or generate strong negative feedback may have their ads disabled or face account penalties up to and including the loss of beta tools and permanent loss of advertising privileges.

As always, let me know if you have any questions about this.

This is big, coordinated, and thorough (the referenced PDF goes into further detail on each of the points with specific examples). Most importantly, Facebook hasn’t simply restated previous points, such as, "no freebies." They have architected a system for globally evaluating the ads that run, making sure that this system does more than simply plug a leaky dam. It will be looked back upon as one of the major milestones in the maturity of their platform. Reading between the lines further, what this means is that Facebook is doing well, and/or they are planning a significant move. Companies, even super-well funded ones like Faceboook, rarely turn away defensible advertising dollars, unless they no longer need them. And, that’s my guess here. Facebook has reached a point, arguably parallel to Google’s decision to effectively kill ringtones on search, where even in a worst case scenario, losing all of the money doesn’t make a material impact.

As final evidence towards the seriousness of their threats above, i.e., the deadline to pause ads, below are excerpts from another email sent out at the same time as the above to select accounts:

Our advertising marketplace is designed to maximize the value created for users and advertisers. Quality of ads is an important facet to this design since it correlates directly to our user experience and your ads’ performance.

Despite ongoing support to improve your ad quality, your ads continue to rank among the poorest quality in our ads system. A large number of users have expressed that your ads are “misleading” and/or “offensive”. As an effect, your advertising account is on notice. Please improve the quality of your ads within the next 14 days. If you continue to run deceptive and/or offensive ads, you will lose access to a dedicated account manager and beta tools, plus your daily spend limit could be impacted. Further offenses may result in permanent removal of your advertising privileges on Facebook.

As an advertiser, you have a significant impact on the daily Facebook user experience. As such, it important that users have full disclosure when they are viewing an ad and do not feel as if they’ve been misled after interacting with it. In addition, your ads should not include offensive images or text. Make sure your ad is clear and informative to not only maintain users’ trust but to also help improve your ROI (return on investment)…

Your account will be reevaluated in 14 days and (account manager) will be reporting back to you with your progress. In addition, it is important that you send us any additional accounts you create so they are successful from the start.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions about this important information.

Just like the various Quality Score iterations, this too, will cause unrest and disturb some marketers’ cash flow, but it also creates opportunity. It challenges people to get better, to try something different, and when they succeed, it means larger returns for a longer period.