Did you know that 80% of business-to-business (B2B) social media leads come from LinkedIn? If you’re a B2B business looking to reach more leads through social media, it’s time to start optimizing your campaigns to improve your LinkedIn conversion rate. On this page, we’ll discuss the average conversion rate for LinkedIn ads and cover five ways to improve your LinkedIn conversion rate.
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What is the average conversion rate for LinkedIn ads?
The average conversion rate for LinkedIn ads is 6.1% in the U.S. So, how does this stack up to other social media conversion rates?
| Platform | Conversion Rate |
| 4.7% | |
| 3.1% | |
| 2.9% | |
| 0.9% |
In comparison, the average conversion rate for pay-per-click (PPC) ads on Google is 3.75% for search ads and 0.77% for display ads. As you can see, LinkedIn contains the potential for you to earn more conversions if you do advertising right. If you decide to run a LinkedIn advertising campaign, you want to know what type of conversion rate to aim for or expect.
By looking at the conversion rate for LinkedIn ads, you’ll learn what you can expect and achieve.
What are conversions on LinkedIn?
Conversions on LinkedIn don’t always focus on sales. You can earn different types of conversions, including:
- Completing forms
- Downloading content
- Registering for events
- Making sales
Many businesses will use different types of conversions for their LinkedIn ads. From form completions to event sign-ups, you pick the conversion type that’s right for your business. LinkedIn is a great tool that can help you earn more conversions, whatever your conversion goal may be.
How to improve your conversion rate for LinkedIn ads
With an average conversion rate of 6.1%, LinkedIn offers your business multiple benefits that you’ll want to use to generate leads, recruit top candidates, and more. Follow these five tips to help you earn the best conversion rate for your business!
1. Target the right people
If you want to reach or go beyond the average conversion rate for LinkedIn ads, start by targeting the right people. Many businesses make the mistake of targeting the wrong people with their advertisements. If you don’t target the right people, people won’t click your ad.
As a result, LinkedIn will “punish” your ad by showing it less, because it doesn’t engage or get people interested. This scenario leads to fewer conversions and a higher cost per lead. To get people engaged with your ad, start by targeting the right people.
You want to focus on a narrow audience, but not so small that you miss out on potential leads for your business. The best way to create the right audience is to establish buyer personas. 
Buyer personas help you focus on people most likely to have an interest in your products or services.
Your buyer persona reflects people who already buy from your business, so you can use that information to target new people. You can target people based on demographic information, career and professional interests, and more. Setting up the right target audience will help you reach more people interested in your products or services, which will drive a better conversion rate for your LinkedIn ads.
2. Create professional and creative ad copy
Once you establish your target audience, it’s time to create ad copy that catches their attention. Text Ads and Sponsored Content appear in the LinkedIn newsfeed just like other posts. If you want to get people to stop scrolling and check out your ad, you need creative and compelling ad copy.
When you create an ad, your content must meet your audience’s expectations. Your audience expects to see content, like industry news and posts about professional topics, in their feed. The context of your LinkedIn ad plays a fundamental role in determining whether your audience engages with your ad.
Let’s say you’re a hotel owner, for example. While you may advertise open rooms on other social media platforms, LinkedIn isn’t a place to do it. Since LinkedIn is a professional networking site, people don’t expect to see ads for hotel rooms in that context.
So, what could you advertise instead? In this case, a great option would be an advertisement for the hotel’s conference or convention centers. This feature is great to market to professionals who are looking to host a conference in your hotel’s area.
You’re then advertising for your hotel rooms indirectly by getting companies to use your conference center and book your hotel rooms for the conference. With LinkedIn, your ad’s success relies on:
- Who you’re advertising to
- What you’re advertising
- How you advertise
Users don’t expect to see an outright advertisement. Instead, they plan to view blog posts, informational pages, or news stories on LinkedIn. In addition to writing professional ad copy, you’ll want to get creative with it.
Since your ads look like other posts on LinkedIn, you must make your ad stand out on the page and draw in users. Whether it’s by using video or creating colorful, eye-catching graphics, you must find a way to attract users to your ad. Focus on creating professional and creative ad copy to improve your LinkedIn conversion rate.
3. Test your ad copy
If you’re not testing your ad copy, you’re not driving the best results for your business. Your first ad copy isn’t your best ad copy. If you only use the first ad you make, you’re missing a prime opportunity to improve your conversion rate for LinkedIn ads.
Test your ads to get the most out of your LinkedIn advertising campaign. Create multiple versions of your ad and deliver them to different members of your target audience. Monitor how your audience engages with the different ad types to see which ones garner the most engagement.
When you test different ad copies, you learn more about how your audience views your content and engages with it. You may find that your original ad doesn’t drive as many conversions as the fifth version of your ad. Testing is critical because it helps you determine which ad version drives the best results.
Even when you know your audience well, you can’t be one-hundred percent sure they will engage with your ad. Testing your ads allows you to find the right ad format and produce the best advertising campaign for your organization.
4. Create informative landing pages
If you want to improve your LinkedIn conversion rate, create informative and relevant landing pages. You don’t want to mislead your audience or leave them feeling ill-informed after clicking your ad. Maintain a stellar conversion rate for LinkedIn ads by paying close attention to your landing pages.
If you have creative ad copy but a weak landing page, you won’t get people to convert. You need to keep the momentum and interest going by creating an excellent landing page to go with your ad. First, design a relevant landing page.
If you’re discussing your conference rooms in your hotel ad on LinkedIn, for example, don’t have a landing page that focuses on booking hotel rooms. In this scenario, your landing page should focus on your conference rooms and what they offer guests. Second, provide your audience with all the information they need.
Don’t make your audience search around your site for information, as it discourages people. Include all the essential details on your landing page to ensure your audience feels informed. Lastly, don’t overwhelm your audience.
A cluttered landing page can quickly deter leads from your page, as they can’t find information. Keep your landing page simple, clean, and easy to follow. If you don’t have experience building landing pages for your LinkedIn ads, you can rely on a professional design team to help you build a conversion-ready landing page.
At WebFX, we have a team of over 200 experts that will help you make impactful landing pages. Check out our landing page design services to see how we can help you grow!
5. Try posting ad content organically first
Are you hesitant to invest in LinkedIn advertising? If so, try testing your ad copy as an organic post first. Many companies use this strategy to see if their ad copy connects with their audience.
This strategy can help you determine if you should run a paid campaign with the same information. It provides insight on how audiences may engage with your ad. If you see higher engagement on a post, you can promote that content and turn it into an ad.
Many companies use this strategy to maximize their ad budget and strategy. Not only do they have more organic content on their profile, but they also have real insight into the type of content that will get leads and engagement.
Start improving your conversion rate for LinkedIn ads today
If you want to improve your LinkedIn conversion rate, you need to follow through on all aspects of your campaign. From the ad copy to the landing page, you must deliver an experience that engages and resonates with your audience. At WebFX, we know a thing or two about running successful LinkedIn advertising campaigns.
In the past five years alone, we’ve driven over $1.5 billion in sales for our clients. You can count on our knowledge and expertise to help you create a campaign that improves your LinkedIn conversion rate. If you’re not reaching the average conversion rate for LinkedIn ads, call on our award-winning expertise to help.
Contact us online or call us at 888-601-5359 to speak with a strategist about our social media advertising services today.
