Solved: Conversions plummeted despite improvements and rebranding

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out. I read your post and that sounds like a really tough spot to be in, honestly. It's a story I've heard a lot over the last couple of years, so you're definitely not alone in this. The whole landscape for paid ads has changed so much, what worked brilliantly in 2020 or 2021 often just falls flat now. The good news is there's usually a logical reason why, and you can usually fix it, but it requires a bit of detective work.

I'm happy to give you some of my initial thoughts and guidance based on my experience. I've run a lot of campaigns for eCommerce businesses, so hopefully this will give you a clear path forward.

What's likely changed in the last 2 years?

First off, let's just get this out of the way. It's probably not that your products are worse, especially since you've said you improved the quality. The environment you're advertising in has just gotten a lot harder. This isn't to discourage you, but to set the scene. Understanding this is the first step.

A few things have happened. The big one was Apple's iOS 14 update. I won't bore you with the technical details, but it basically blew a massive hole in how Meta (Facebook/Instagram) tracks users. This made their targeting less accurate, their reporting a bit of a mess, and it made it much harder for the algorithm to find the right people for your ads. A lot of businesses saw their results fall off a cliff right after that, and have struggled to adapt.

Secondly, competition is insane now. Everyone and their nan started an online business during lockdown, and a huge number of them were t-shirt or print-on-demand stores. The 'custom gifting' space is particularly crowded because it's a great angle. So where you might have been one of a few options before, you're now one of thousands. This drives up ad costs (CPCs) and means you have to be much, much better than the next guy to get the sale.

Finally, customer expectations are just higher. People are more wary of online stores they've never heard of. They expect a slick website, crystal-clear product photos, social proof like reviews and customer photos, and a seamless checkout experience. The bar for looking 'trustworthy' and 'professional' has been raised signifcantly.

So, the old 4-5x ROAS days... they are still possible, but they're not the norm anymore unless your entire operation, from ad to checkout, is perfectly oiled. It sounds like somewhere in your process, a leak has sprung, and with a smaller budget, that leak is draining all your profits before you can get any traction.

We'll need to look at your funnel to find the leak...

This is the most important thing you can do right now. Stop thinking about "Meta ads not working" as one big problem. You need to break down the customer's journey into tiny steps and find out exactly where they are dropping off. You need to become a detective with your own data. Your Meta Ads Manager and Google Analytics are your crime scene.

Part 1: The Ads (Top of the Funnel - TOFU)

This is the first interaction. You're trying to get people to stop scrolling and click. Log into your Ads Manager and look at these two metrics for your campaigns over the last 30 days:

-> Click-Through Rate (CTR Link): This is the percentage of people who saw your ad and clicked the link. For eCommerce, you'd hope to see something above 1%. If your CTR is, say, 0.4%, that's a big red flag. It means your ads just aren't interesting enough to make people stop. The image, the headline, the copy... something is failing to grab attention.

-> Cost Per Click (CPC Link): How much are you paying for each click? This will vary wildly, but if you're seeing CPCs of £3-£4 or more for a t-shirt, it's going to be almost impossible to be profitable. High CPCs are often a symptom of low CTRs (Meta charges you more if your ad is 'low quality' and people aren't clicking) or just very high competition for the audience you're targeting.

If these numbers are bad, the problem starts with your ads themselves. Since you rebranded to focus on gifting, your creative needs to reflect that shift. A simple photo of a t-shirt on a white background doesn't sell a 'gift'. What sells a gift is the emotion of giving and receiving it. Are your ads showing someone's happy, surprised face as they unwrap the t-shirt? Are you showing the t-shirt in the context of a birthday party or anniversary celebration? You need to sell the solution to the buyer's problem, which is "I need a great gift that will make someone happy". This is a really common misstake people make.

Part 2: The Website & Landing Page (Middle of the Funnel - MOFU)

Okay, so let's say people *are* clicking the ad. Your CTR is okay. But you're still not getting sales. The next place the leak could be is your website. When people land on your site from an ad, they make a snap judgement in about three seconds. "Is this site legit? Is it what I expected? Can I find what I want?"

You need to look at your website analytics. What is the journey *after* the click?

-> Landing Page Bounce Rate: What percentage of people land on your page and leave immediately without clicking anything else? If this is really high (like 70%+), it means there's a massive disconnect between your ad and your landing page. Or your website is too slow to load. Or it just doesn't look trustworthy.

-> Visitor Flow: Where do people go after the landing page? Do they click to view a product? Or do they just leave? If you get 1,000 visitors to your homepage but only 50 of them ever click to view a product page, you have a massive problem with your site's layout, messaging, or product presentation on that initial page. It might be cluttered, confusing, or the products themselves aren't appealing enough.

-> Product Page to Cart Rate: Of the people who look at a specific t-shirt, how many add it to their cart? If this number is very low, the issue is likely on the product page itself. Are the product photos high quality? Can people see the detail in the fabric and the print? Is there a good product description that sells the benefits (e.g., "Made from 100% super-soft cotton, this is the comfiest t-shirt they'll ever own")? Is the price clear? Is the 'Add to Cart' button obvious?

You need to be brutally honest with yourself here. Get a friend who's never seen your site to go through it and give you their honest feedback. The smallest things, like not having a clear returns policy visible, can kill trust and stop a sale.

Part 3: The Checkout (Bottom of the Funnel - BOFU)

This is the final hurdle. The customer has found a product they like and they've added it to the cart. They have shown the strongest possible intent to buy. If you are losing a lot of people at this stage (you can see this by comparing 'Adds to Cart' with 'Purchases'), the leak is in your checkout process.

The number one reason for cart abandonment is unexpected costs. If a customer gets to the checkout and suddenly sees a £5.99 shipping fee they weren't expecting, they will often just leave. Be upfront about shipping costs if you can, or better yet, work it into your product price and offer 'free' shipping.

Other checkout killers include forcing people to create an account, having too many form fields to fill out, or not offering popular payment methods like PayPal or Apple Pay. Make the process as quick and painless as humanly possible.

I'd say you need to completely rethink your Meta targeting...

The way you target people on Meta is probably the biggest lever you can pull to change your results. Your old audiences from two years ago are likely exhausted or simply don't work anymore in the post-iOS14 world. You cant just target "t-shirts" and hope for the best. You need to be far more strategic.

I always structure my campaigns around the funnel we just talked about: ToFu, MoFu, and BoFu. You should have separate campaigns for each.

ToFu Campaign: Finding New Customers

This is your 'cold' traffic. The goal is to find people who have never heard of you but are likely to be interested. This is where you'll spend most of your budget. You need to test different audiences relentlessly. Here are some ideas for your gifting niche:

-> Life Event Targeting: This is powerful for gifting. In Meta's detailed targeting options, you can specifically target people who have an "Anniversary within 30 days" or "Upcoming birthday". This is a prime audience!

-> Friend Targeting: Even better, you can target "Friends of people with an upcoming birthday" or "Friends of newly engaged people". These are people actively looking for gift ideas. This is a classic for a reason.

-> Niche Interest Targeting: Don't just target "Gifts" or "T-shirts". It's too broad. Think about the themes of your designs. Do you have t-shirts for car lovers? Target interests for specific car magazines, TV shows like Top Gear, or car part manufacturers. For dog lovers? Target specific breed groups, famous Instagram dogs, or pet food brands. You have to get inside the head of your ideal customer and think about what *else* they like. Layer these interests. For example, target people who like "German Shepherds" AND are interested in "Online shopping".

MoFu Campaign: Retargeting The Undecided

This is your 'warm' audience. These people have shown interest but haven't bought yet. They are much cheaper to convert than cold traffic. Your MoFu campaign should be always-on, with a small daily budget.

-> Website Visitor Retargeting: Create a custom audience of everyone who has visited your website in the last 30 days (but exclude people who have purchased). Show them ads featuring your best-sellers, customer reviews, or a small "welcome" discount to entice them back.

-> Social Engager Retargeting: Create an audience of everyone who has liked, commented on, or saved one of your Facebook or Instagram posts in the last 90 days. These people know who you are. Remind them you exist.

BoFu Campaign: Closing The Deal

This is your 'hot' audience. They are on the verge of buying. You need to hit them quickly and directly.

-> Add to Cart Retargeting: Create a custom audience of everyone who has added a product to their cart in the last 7 or 14 days (but excluded purchasers). This is your most valuable audience. Show them a direct ad, maybe even showing the exact product they left behind (this is called Dynamic Product Ads). A message like "Still thinking about it? Complete your order now" can be very effective.

Once you start getting sales again, even just 50-100, you can unlock Meta's most powerfull tool: Lookalike Audiences. You can create an audience of your past purchasers, and then ask Meta to create a new, larger audience of people who share similar characteristics. A 1% Lookalike of your customers is often the best performing cold audience you will ever find.

You'll need a solid foundation before scaling...

The fact PMax and Google Search ads (SEM) also aren't working is another huge clue that the core problem is likely your website's conversion rate or your offer. These platforms, especially PMax, are just algorithms that amplify what's already there. If you point them at a website that doesn't convert well (a 'leaky bucket'), they will just spend your money very efficiently finding people who will visit and then leave. It's like pouring water into a bucket full of holes – you just waste the water faster.

Fix the website first. Improve the trust, the messaging, the photos, and the checkout experience. Once your conversion rate from other sources improves, PMax and Search will have a much better chance of working. For Search, you need to be very specific. Instead of bidding on a broad, expensive keyword like "custom tshirts", you should focus on long-tail, high-intent keywords like "funny 40th birthday gift t-shirt for brother" or "personalised hen party t-shirts london". The search volume is lower, but the person searching knows exactly what they want and is much more likely to buy.

I know this is a lot to take in, and it can feel overwhelming when you're already feeling the pressure. The key is to be methodical. Don't try to change everything at once. Start with the diagnostics. Find the biggest leak in your funnel and focus all your energy on plugging that one hole first. I've put my main recommendations into a table for you below to make it a bit clearer.

Look, I'll be brutally honest. Tackling all of this is a massive job. It's why people like me have careers. It's not just about knowing which buttons to press in Ads Manager; it's about understanding the strategy, the psychology, the data, and how to adapt when things change, which they do constantly. The anxiety and depression you mentioned is completely understandable, it's a huge weight to carry when your business is on the line. But please know that it is fixable.

We've worked with eCommerce clients who were in the exact same boat. I remember a women's apparel brand where we managed to get them a 691% return on their ad spend. It is possible to turn things around, but it requires a very focused and experienced approach.

The fact you've recognised there's a problem and are actively seeking help is the most important step. Don't let the feeling of being overwhelmed stop you from taking action. Go through the steps above, one by one. Start with the diagnosis.

If you get through some of this and decide you'd rather have an expert take a look and handle it for you, that's what we're here for. We offer a free initial consultation where we can have a proper look at your accounts together and map out a concrete recovery plan. There's no obligation at all, and at the very least you'd come away with a much clearer picture of what needs to be done.

Hope this helps give you a starting point. Don't give up.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh