How to Change Action Button on Facebook Ad

Changing the call-to-action button on your Facebook ad isn't just a minor tweak - it can be the difference between a click and a scroll. This simple button guides your audience on what to do next, and getting it right is crucial for hitting your campaign goals. This article will show you exactly how to choose and change the action button in Facebook Ads Manager, whether you're building a new campaign or need to update an existing one.

Why Your Facebook Ad's Action Button Matters

Think of the call-to-action (CTA) button as the signpost for your customer's journey. It sets an expectation. If your ad creative talks about a new product for sale, but your button says "Learn More," you’re creating a disconnect. The user expects to shop, not to read an article. This friction, though small, can be enough to lose a potential customer.

A well-chosen CTA does three things effectively:

• Reduces Friction: It tells people exactly what will happen when they click. "Shop Now" implies they’ll see products. "Download" suggests they’re getting a file. Clarity leads to more confident clicks.
• Increases Relevance: The right button aligns with your ad’s creative and your overall campaign objective. An ad for a webinar should have a "Sign Up" or "Register" button, not a "Contact Us" button. This alignment boosts your ad’s relevance score and performance.
• Improves Conversion Rates: When the CTA perfectly matches the user’s intent and the landing page experience, conversion rates naturally go up. If they click "Get Offer" and land on a page where the offer is clearly displayed, you’ve created a seamless path to conversion.

In short, the CTA button is not just a button, it’s the final instruction you give your audience before they engage. Choosing the wrong one is like giving someone confusing directions - they’re likely to give up and go somewhere else.

Choosing the Right Call-to-Action (CTA) Button

Facebook offers a variety of CTA buttons, but the options available to you depend on the campaign objective you choose. It’s important to align your objective with the action you want users to take. Here are some of the most common CTAs and when to use them:

For Driving Traffic or Engagement

• Learn More: The most neutral, all-purpose CTA. It works well for sending traffic to a blog post, an informational page, or a product page when the buying intent isn't aggressive.
• See Menu: Perfect for restaurants, cafes, or food delivery services looking to show potential customers their offerings.
• Watch More: Ideal for video ads where the goal is to drive viewers to a longer video on your website, YouTube, or Facebook page.

For Lead Generation

• Sign Up: The go-to button for newsletter subscriptions, webinar registrations, or free account creations. It’s direct and clear.
• Subscribe: Similar to "Sign Up," but often used for recurring content or services, like a paid newsletter or a subscription box.
• Apply Now: A more formal CTA used for job applications, loan applications, or enrollment in educational courses.
• Get Quote: Excellent for service-based businesses like insurance agencies, contractors, or B2B software companies where pricing is customized.

For Sales and E-commerce

• Shop Now: The most direct and powerful CTA for e-commerce. Use this to send users directly to a product page or category page where they can make a purchase.
• Get Offer: Creates a sense of urgency and value. This is perfect for driving traffic to a landing page with a special discount, coupon code, or limited-time deal.
• Order Now: A strong, direct CTA primarily used for prepared food or products that can be ordered immediately for delivery or pickup.

For Apps and Digital Products

• Download: Use this when you're promoting a lead magnet like an e-book, guide, or whitepaper, or for a software download.
• Use App: This CTA is for re-engaging existing users of your mobile app, encouraging them to open it and perform an action.
• Play Game: Specifically designed for mobile game advertisements.
• Book Now: The best choice for businesses that operate on appointments, such as salons, consultants, travel agencies, or mechanics.

How to Set the Action Button on a New Facebook Ad

Adding a CTA to a freshly built ad is a standard part of the campaign creation process. You'll find the option at the 'Ad' level.

Here’s the step-by-step process:

1. Navigate to Facebook Ads Manager and click the green "Create" button.
2. Choose your campaign objective (e.g., Sales, Leads, Traffic). Remember, your choice here determines which CTA buttons will be available later.
3. Configure your campaign and ad set settings (budget, audience, placements) and proceed to the Ad level.
4. Inside the ad setup, scroll down to the "Ad Creative" section. Here, you'll upload your image or video and write your headline and primary text.
5. Just below the website URL field, you'll see a dropdown menu labeled "Call to action."
6. Click the dropdown and select the button that best fits your ad and landing page. As you select an option, the ad preview on the right will update in real-time, showing you exactly how it will look.
7. Once you're satisfied with your selection, finish setting up any tracking (like the Meta Pixel) and click "Publish."

Can You Change the Action Button on a Live Facebook Ad?

This is the most common question marketers have, and the short answer is no, you cannot directly edit the call-to-action button of an ad once it has been published and is active.

Once an ad is running, Facebook locks most of its creative components, including the primary text, headline, image/video, and the CTA button. This restriction is in place for a good reason. The engagement metrics tied to an ad - such as reactions, comments, clicks, and shares - are associated with that specific creative combination. If you were able to change the CTA from "Learn More" to "Shop Now" mid-campaign, the performance data would become muddled and unreliable. A person who clicked "Learn More" had a different intent than one who clicks "Shop Now," and Facebook's system needs to keep that data clean to optimize delivery.

The Right Way to "Change" the CTA on an Existing Ad

So, if you can't edit a live ad, how do you fix a mistake or test a new button? The official and most effective method is to duplicate the ad, make your edits, and then pause the original. This preserves the data from your old ad for reporting while allowing you to launch an improved version.

Follow these steps carefully:

1. Go to Ads Manager: Navigate to the campaign and ad set containing the ad you want to change.
2. Select the Ad: Check the box next to the ad you wish to modify.
3. Duplicate the Ad: Look for the "Duplicate" button in the toolbar (it looks like two squares overlapping). Click it.
4. Edit the Draft: A new, editable copy of your ad will open in the creation panel. Because this is technically a new ad, all fields are unlocked.
5. Change the Call to Action: Scroll down to the "Ad Creative" section and select your new CTA from the dropdown menu. This is your chance to change anything else you'd like, such as the headline or primary text.
6. Publish the New Ad: After making your change, review all the settings one last time and click the "Publish" button. The new ad will now go into review.
7. Pause the Original Ad: This is a critical step! Once you've published the duplicated ad, go back to your ad set and turn off the original one. This prevents you from running two almost identical ads at the same time, which would split your budget and audience, making it difficult to analyze performance accurately.

Important Note: Duplicating an ad creates a brand new ad. It will not carry over any likes, comments, or shares (social proof) from the original ad. This is an unavoidable trade-off for changing the creative elements.

Best Practices for Testing Your CTA Buttons

The "duplicate and edit" method isn’t just great for correcting mistakes, it’s the perfect way to run A/B tests to discover which CTAs resonate best with your audience.

Here’s a simple testing strategy:

1. Form a Hypothesis: Start with a question. For an e-commerce product ad, your hypothesis might be: "Does the directness of 'Shop Now' generate a higher conversion rate than the curiosity-driven 'Learn More'?"
2. Create Your Variations: Duplicate your original ad. Keep everything identical - the creative, the headline, the text, the audience, and the budget - but change only the CTA button. Now you have Ad A ("Shop Now") and Ad B ("Learn More").
3. Run the Test: Publish both ads in the same ad set. Facebook's campaign budget optimization (CBO) or Dynamic Creative features can help allocate the budget efficiently, but keeping them in one ad set is sufficient for a simple test.
4. Analyze the Results: Let the ads run until they’ve gathered enough data (at least a few hundred clicks or a few dozen conversions). Compare key metrics like Click-Through Rate (CTR), Cost Per Click (CPC), and most importantly, Conversion Rate and Cost Per Conversion. The button that drives your desired outcome more cheaply is your winner.

Final Thoughts

Customizing your Facebook ad’s call-to-action button is a simple but high-impact task. While you can't edit a live ad directly, the "duplicate, edit, and pause" workaround is a quick and effective way to make changes or run tests. Always align your CTA with your campaign objective and the user’s next step to maximize every click.

Once your campaigns are optimized and running with the perfect CTA, the next challenge is to connect those results back to your business goals. For this, we built Graphed. Our platform lets you connect data sources like Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, and Shopify in a few clicks. You can then ask questions in plain English, like, “Show me the ROI of my Facebook campaigns last month” and get a real-time dashboard in seconds, saving you from hours of manual spreadsheet work.