With the boom of the era of the Internet combined with smartphones, it is no wonder that telco companies quickly jumped on the wagon to offer data usage to its users. However, a new problem arises – data roaming overseas does not come cheap when you are travelling.

Flexiroam was then created to bridge that gap. Offering a microchip to be attached to your existing sim card and by utilising their app, you can get data in over 200 countries worldwide.

We saw a few of their ads on Facebook, and honestly, they were not bad. Nonetheless, placing importance on growth as a social media agency, we decided to analyse their ads to see how we can do better. Flexiroam if you are reading this, let us know what do you think!

Ads #1

From a whole, if we have never heard of Flexiroam, we would never understand what they do or what the ad is trying to say. Sure, the traveller assumption about the audience may be true, but we would not understand what the sim card would do. There is nowhere in the ad that explains what Flexiroam is about or what they do, and so how does it benefit us when we travel overseas?

How can we improve the ad?

First thing firsts, Flexiroam can introduce themselves in an ad that is targeted to frequent travellers, in a way it’s a good start to reach out to potential customers by telling what your business does. Next, the sentence “Latest travel hack” sounds catchy. It is best if Flexiroam can pair it up with one of their USP (unique selling point) emphasising what Flexiroam has that other businesses don’t such as “no hefty bills” and the benefit of using Flexiroam in multiple countries without changing the sim card. Or rather, go back to the basics and introduce the Flexiroam starter pack, or an ad to highlight common user frustration when there is no wifi around.

Ads #2

Firstly, their ad seems relevant to people who travel often. Secondly the headline “Save Up To 90%…” caught our attention as roaming bills can get very high and this copy speaks to the audience. The sentence “Travel hack…” also make sense to people who travel as they are always on the lookout to make their travelling more convenient. However, most people would not understand what the ‘revolutionary microchip’ can do, and how does it benefit one.

How can we improve the ad?

One way Flexiroam can increase acquisition rate is to instil a sense of urgency or CTA (call for action). Sentences like “Try it now!” or “Get your Flexiroam sim card” can do wonders to make audiences do it. Secondly, the ad text can be changed to ” Don’t you just hate switching your SIM cards just to use Data Roaming in a foreign country? And the cards are so small you might lose them. But we have a revolutionary microchip that can be attached to your card, so you don’t have to switch SIM cards ever again.” Notice that we explained the “revolutionary microchip” to not having ever to change or switch sim card again.

As for the description, the text can be edited to be “Attach the FLEXIROAM X microchip on your SIM card and connect to the Internet without having to switch SIM cards.” This is a simple instruction manual for users to understand how Flexiroam works.

Combine the whole set, and you get an ad that not only explains what Flexiroam is but also how it works to the targeted audience.

What kind of audience can we target?

1. Interest targeting

The most logical reasoning to target on Facebook is through interest. Below are a few we have identified for Flexiroam:

• Frequent International Travelers (950,000 potential audience)
• Frequent Travelers Narrowed to CEO, Business Owners, Founders (30,000 potential audience)
• Expats Narrowed to maxis, digi, celcom, tune talk (550,000 potential audience)
• People Traveling In A Location, Eg: Malaysia (400,000 potential audience)

2. People that did not complete buying

• Remarketing to complete (sell benefits)

3. Lookalike audiences of customers

4. Competitors (Maxis, Digi, Celcom, Tune Talk) (4,400,000 potential audiences)

Suggestions for Different Ad Creatives

While tearing down two ads of Flexiroam, here are a few ad options we came up with that.

1. Ad Creatives For Tourists/Travelers:

This ad obviously is targeted towards tourist or frequent travellers. Knowing that travellers love to take pictures and update their social media with it, Flexiroam can focus towards that direction.

With USPs such as “roaming in over 100 countries” and “affordable prices and data plan”, this will attract the attention of tourists or travellers.

2. Ad Creatives For International Student:

One thing in common for international students in Malaysia is that they frequently travel to other countries around Malaysia. Flexiroam can make use of this understanding to expand their target audience.

3. Ad Creatives For Businessmen/women:

The most important thing for people travelling for business is to stay connected at all time. Here Flexiroam can also emphasise on getting data at the lowest rates possible.

4. Ad Creatives using Human Frustrations

Human emotions in an ad play an essential role in connecting to people. A human face displayed with feelings is more likely to get more engagement as compared to a post that has none.

Besides, by addressing the common frustrations, people face while travelling also connects with the audiences more.

5. Remarketing ad

As for retargeting people who are already customers of Flexiroam, these ads can be used to pull them back to use the Flexiroam again. Efforts like advertising Flexiroam’s USPs, and showcasing Flexiroam’s price list are suitable for this target audience.

6. Ad Creatives for General Audience

For ads to target the general audience, it is wise to introduce what Flexiroam is about, and also talk about Flexiroam’s USPs. The general public is more receptive to words like “High Speed Data” and “Low Prices”. There is also a CTA asking the audience to download the app.

Overall, six ad creatives targeting six different target audiences came out from breaking down two Flexiroam ads. We may be wrong in our explanation but also know that we are only trying to improve ourselves as a social media agency. Of course, Flexiroam is free to use our ad suggestions or let us work together with your brand to decrease those CPAs (cost per acquisitions). Cheers!