“It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary.” - Richard Whately

We’ve all been there. 

Upload an ad and it gets approved by Facebook so we wait for the results. And they are not what we expected!

Let’s look at some of the top reasons that cause this issue.

Time

This is more of a problem for people new to running Facebook ads, as they don’t fully understand how long it takes for the data to populate the platform.

In the last year, there have been many changes to Facebook Ads, one of those being delayed reporting. It can take up to 3 days for Apple to report purchases and leads back to Facebook. This means you need to allow more time for testing your ads and more time for the data to be delivered back to the platform.

All of your decisions regarding which ads are successful and which ones are not, should be based on the data you get back through the Facebook platform, through UTM tracking (if you have it installed) and from your sales data.

Delayed reporting also means a longer testing periods. I like to leave new ads for 10 days before making any decisions about their effectiveness.

Expectations

Setting expectations is essential. Unrealistic expectations will mean you are always disappointed. Take some time to understand the standards and benchmarks for your industry. This applies to both your ad but also the landing page.

Some industries have higher conversion rates than others. If you don’t know what the average is for your industry, then you don’t know if your performance is good, bad or just OK.

Mistakes within your ad set up can also affect their performance. There are two main types of mistakes. The technical ones, which can include things such as poor campaign set-up, incorrect pixel installation and budget miscalculations.

The other type of mistake is creative errors. These can include badly written copy, no call to action, non-engaging headlines, poor landing pages and untested graphics.

Targeting

If you are targeting an audience of people who are not really interested in your product or service, then sales will be slow. This is when people think Facebook Ads don’t work, but that is not true.

Currently Facebook likes a broad audience and seems to deliver good results in this area but a niche interested based audience could bring your costs down.

Facebook will continue to change the targeting options that are available, some options will disappear so check any audience that you have had for some time, they may need updating.

If I’m working on a time critical campaign, I will often test elements of the adverts prior to the main campaign going live. Testing is vital for all campaigns and allows me to ensure the budget is being spent wisely.

If you have long running campaigns, make sure you keep testing new headlines, written content and graphics. Sometimes a small tweak can make a big difference.

Landing pages

If you are getting landing page views but few conversions, you may find it needs to be overhauled.

The design of the page is important, it needs to be easy to navigate with clear instructions.

The key elements for your page include:
– Having one clear message per landing page.
– Ensure you have an attention-grabbing headline.
– Use professional images, graphics and videos.
– Use a great call to action.
– Make the sign-up process as easy as possible.
– Optimise for mobile.

Knowledge and skills

If you are looking to get the most for your advertising budget, you need to know what you are doing. We all know that Facebook Ads changes, almost constantly. If you want to stay up to date with the latest developments, you need to be active on the platform, regularly.

As a dedicated professional, I study the platform, invest in training and talk with other Facebook Ads Specialists and even with Facebook’s own experts on a regular basis. This allows me to stay up to date with the latest developments and deliver results to my clients. If you only run ads once in a while, you will not have this knowledge, so you may want to consider hiring a specialist or investing in some in-depth training.

So this does not cover all of the reasons, only the main ones. If you want to invest in training I can certainly recommend some for you.

If you have any questions, get in touch. I always answer my emails.