Troubleshooting Facebook Ads in 3 Simple Steps
What the heck are you supposed to do when your Facebook Ads are just not working?
Troubleshoot them of course!
And troubleshooting Facebook Ads is easy as 1, 2, 3!
When Facebook Ads are not working, it breaks down to one of three different problems:
- No one is seeing them
- No one is clicking them
- No one is converting on them
As you can see, if we can figure out which of the steps is causing a hiccup in your Facebook Ads, we can quickly resolve the issue and get things rolling.
So let's walk through each step.
Step 1: Is Anyone Seeing Your Ad?
Check out the reach column of your ad and see how many people are actually seeing it. In some cases, this number may be very low, or at zero, which means that your ad is not getting pushed out to potential customers - this is a problem.
If your ad isn't being seen, one of the following things may need to be changed:
- If your ad is set to purchase as a "fixed price" versus an "auction", you may not be bidding high enough. I always recommend starting with auction, especially if you're new to ads.
- Your audience target may not be large enough. Try focusing on targeting a reach of at least 100,000 people if you're not getting your ad pushed out.
- Sometimes Facebook doesn't push out ads to high competition pages or it just has a minor glitch. Try reposting the ad, but if it still doesn't work, focus on different pages and interests.
Note: If you have a low budget and your ad has only been running for a short time, your reach will be low. Wait 24-48 hours before you judge the reach of an ad.
Step 2: Is Anyone Clicking the Ads?
After we know that your ad is being seen, let's find out if people are actually clicking on it. Check out the clicks column and the CTR column to make sure that people are clicking on the ads.
I shoot to have a click-through rate of at least 1%-1.5%, anything above that is usually performing pretty well. So if your CTR is below 1% and you're not getting clicks, you may be facing one of the following problems:
- You're not targeting the right people. For example, if I'm selling Facebook Ads and I'm targeting people who read Cosmo magazine, there isn't going to be much overlap. Targeting is usually one of the biggest issues I see when it comes to Facebook Ads.
- The image you've chosen for your ad is not compelling enough to get people to stop. Try split testing with another image.
- The words and copy that you are using in your ad are not compelling to your target market or is not in their language. Bad copy can kill an ad.
Step 3: Are The Clicks Converting?
First, let's set our baseline for lead conversions. I like to be turning at least 40% of my clicks into sign ups - that's pretty standard. Make sure that you've installed tracking pixels so that you can track how many of your clicks are converting to leads.
You can check your conversion rate by usingthe following formula:
Conversion Rate = Conversions / Clicks
So for the example for the top ad in these images, the conversion rate is:
90 Conversions / 172 Clicks = 52% Conversion Rate
Generally when people are seeing and clicking on your ads but are not converting, you're facing one of the following problems:
- The ad colors, words, and images don't match up with the landing page, so people feel like they are clicking on one thing but being taken somewhere entirely different.
- The ad made your offer sound appealing but on your landing page you fell short. You need to make them feel like they HAVE TO HAVE whatever it is that you're offering up.
- Finally, are you sending them to an actual landing page? I use LeadPages (affiliate link) because they are pages that convert. You will convert highest on a landing page, not on a blog, website, etc.
Bonus Step: Did You Split Test?
I talk about this all the time! But really, split testing your ad is the most important thing you can do.
You MUST set up multiple ads with different targeting, words, images, etc. to find out what is going to convert with your desired audience.
If you fail to test, there is a good chance your ads will take you nowhere!
Are You Ready to Get Analytical!?
If you have been running ads but not getting results, try breaking out my 3 step troubleshooting process. It doesn't have to be hard to do, and it works!
Let me know in the comments below if this helped you understand why your ads might not be converting!
