TLDR;
- Stop using the "Boost Post" button immediately. It's a trap designed for simplicity over results and is likely the root of your performance issues.
- Your ads are probably suffering from ad fatigue and audience overlap. Running two similar ads at once to the same audience makes them compete, driving up costs and lowering results.
- The sudden drop after six successful ads is a classic sign of audience saturation. You've likely shown your ad to the most interested people, and now you're paying more to reach those who are less likely to respond.
- You need to move to the proper Facebook Ads Manager to build sustainable campaigns. This gives you control over targeting, objectives, and testing, which is impossible with boosting.
- This letter includes a diagnostic flowchart to help you pinpoint the exact issue and an interactive calculator to understand what you can truly afford to pay for a message.
Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out. I've had a look at your situation, and it's a frustratingly common one, so don't worry, you're not alone. It sounds like you've hit a wall after some initial success, which usually points to a deeper issue with the method, not necessarily the ads themselves. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on what's likely going on and how to fix it for good.
The first thing you need to do is stop boosting posts...
Right, let's get straight to it. The single biggest problem you have is that you're using the "Boost Post" button. I know it's tempting. Facebook puts it right there, makes it look easy, and for a little while, it can even feel like it's working. But it's a trap. You're paying Facebook to find the worst possible audience for your product.
When you set an objective like "get more messages," the algorithm is commanded to find you the largest number of people who will send a message for the lowest possible price. It does exactly that. It seeks out users inside your targeting who are known to click and message things, but who are often the least likely to ever actually become a paying customer. They're not in demand, so their attention is cheap. This is why you get a flurry of low-quality interactions that rarely convert into anything meaningful. Your first six "succesful" ads likely just exhausted the small pocket of good-quality people within that cheap audience.
Boosting strips away all the powerful tools that make Facebook Ads effective. You get a tiny fraction of the targeting options, no control over ad placements (so your ad shows up in rubbish places), and you can't do any proper testing. It’s like trying to perform surgery with a spoon. You might make a mark, but you're not going to get the result you want. To get serious, sustainable results, you absolutely must move over to the proper Facebook Ads Manager. It's more complex, yes, but that complexity is what gives you control and, ultimately, profitability.
We'll need to look at what's causing the drop...
Okay, so why the sudden cliff-edge drop in performance? When you see results fall off a cliff like that, it's usually a combination of two things: ad fatigue and audience saturation. They are slightly different but work together to kill your campaigns.
Ad Fatigue is what happens when the same people see your same ad over and over again. The first few times, they might be interested. After the tenth time, they're annoyed. They start ignoring it (this is called 'banner blindness'), which tells the algorithm your ad is becoming irrelevant. In response, Facebook starts charging you more to show it, and your results plummet. Your Click-Through Rate (CTR) goes down, and your Cost Per Message (CPM) goes up. It’s a death spiral.
Audience Saturation & Overlap is the bigger beast here. Since you're using the 'boost' feature, your targeting is likely quite broad. You've probably already shown your ads to the best, most responsive people in that audience during your first six runs. Now, you're left with the less interested folks. Worse still, by boosting two ads at the same time with a $10 budget each, you almost definitly created an audience overlap. This means you were bidding against yourself. Both of your ads were trying to show to the same group of people, which tells Facebook's auction system that this audience is suddenly in high demand. The result? The price to reach them (your CPM) skyrockets, and your budget gets eaten up before it can deliver any real results. You paid more to get less.
Think about it this way: you sent two salespeople to knock on the same door at the same time. The homeowner gets confused and annoyed, and you've just paid double the salary for one potential conversation. It's incredibly inefficient and a very common mistake when people are new to the platform.
I'd say you need to build a proper campaign structure...
So, how do we fix this? We move you away from the randomness of boosting and into a structured, deliberate approach using Ads Manager. Don't be intimidated by the interface; the basic principles are straightforward. The goal is to seperate your audiences based on how familiar they are with you. In marketing speak, this is often called a funnel (Top of Funnel, Middle of Funnel, Bottom of Funnel).
For someone just starting out, you can simplify this massively. You only need two campaigns:
1. Prospecting Campaign (ToFu - Top of Funnel): This is where you find new people who've never heard of you before. Your objective here should be set to 'Conversions' or 'Leads' (even if you want messages, optimising for a higher-intent action is often better). For the audience, you'll use what Facebook calls 'Detailed Targeting'. This is where you can target people based on their interests, behaviours, and demographics. Think about your ideal customer. What pages do they follow? What are their hobbies? What other brands do they like? Get specific. If you sell handcrafted jewellery, don't just target 'Jewellery'. Target interests like 'Etsy', specific designer brands, or magazines about handmade goods. This is your chance to be far more precise than the 'boost' button allows.
2. Retargeting Campaign (MoFu/BoFu - Middle/Bottom of Funnel): This is where the real magic happens. This campaign's job is to talk to people who have *already* shown some interest. They've visited your website, engaged with your Facebook page, or watched one of your videos. These people are warm leads. They know who you are. The ads you show them should be different – maybe you'd show them testimonials, a special offer, or answer common questions. You create these audiences using the Facebook Pixel (which you must install on your website). Even a small budget here can be incredibly effective because you're talking to a highly relevant group of people.
A simple starting structure might look like this:
| Campaign | Ad Set (Audience) | Example Ad |
|---|---|---|
| C1: Prospecting (Cold Traffic) Objective: Leads/Messages |
Ad Set 1: Interest Group A (e.g., Followers of Competitor Pages) |
Ad introducing your brand/product and its main benefit. Problem-focused copy. |
| Ad Set 2: Interest Group B (e.g., People interested in 'Handmade Crafts') |
||
| C2: Retargeting (Warm Traffic) Objective: Leads/Messages |
Ad Set 3: Website Visitors (Last 30 Days) & Page Engagers | Ad showing social proof (reviews) or overcoming a common objection. |
By splitting your campaigns like this, you prevent audience overlap. Your prospecting campaign is explicitly told to *exclude* people who have recently visited your site, so it's always hunting for new blood. Your retargeting campaign *only* talks to those warm leads. This structure allows you to test different audiences and creatives properly and see what actually works, so you can turn off what doesn't and put more money behind what does.
You probably should understand the real cost of a customer...
This brings me to a more advanced, but vital, point. The real question isn't "why did my results drop?" but "how much can I actually afford to pay for a message that turns into a customer?". Without knowing this number, you're flying blind. You have no idea if a $5 message is a bargain or a disaster. This is where we calculate a rough Customer Lifetime Value (LTV).
Let's run through a quick, simplified example. You need to know three things:
- Average Revenue Per Customer (ARPC): What's the average amount a new customer spends with you? Let's say it's £100.
- Gross Margin %: What's your profit margin on that sale? If a £100 product costs you £30 to make, your margin is 70%.
- Close Rate from Messages: How many message conversations does it take to get one sale? If you need 10 message threads to make one sale, your close rate is 10%.
With these numbers, we can work out your maximum affordable Cost Per Message.
Allowable Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) = ARPC * Gross Margin %
£100 * 70% = £70. This means you can spend up to £70 to acquire one new customer and still break even on that first sale.
Max. Affordable Cost Per Message = Allowable CAC / Number of Messages to Close
£70 / 10 = £7. In this scenario, any message you get for under £7 is profitable. Suddenly, you have a hard number to aim for in your campaigns. This is the maths that lets you scale confidently.
£7.00
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
To sum everything up, the path forward involves moving away from easy-but-ineffective tactics and embracing a more structured, professional approach. It's a bit more work up front, but it's the only way to acheive consistent, scalable results without tearing your hair out every time a campaign's performance changes.
| Action Item | Why It's Important | First Step |
|---|---|---|
| Ditch the "Boost Post" Button | It offers poor targeting, no control, and optimises for low-quality actions, leading to inconsistent results and wasted spend. | Commit to only using the Facebook Ads Manager for all future advertising. |
| Set Up Facebook Ads Manager | This is the professional tool that gives you access to proper targeting, campaign structures, and performance data. | Go to business.facebook.com and create or connect your ad account. Install the Facebook Pixel on your website. |
| Implement a Simple Funnel Structure | Separating cold (Prospecting) and warm (Retargeting) audiences stops you bidding against yourself and allows you to tailor your message. | Create two seperate campaigns: one targeting interest-based audiences, and one retargeting your website visitors and page engagers. |
| Test and Rotate Your Creatives | To combat ad fatigue, you must regularly introduce new images, videos, and ad copy to keep your campaigns fresh. | Within each ad set, create 2-3 different ads with different images or headlines to see what resonates most with your audience. |
| Calculate Your Target Metrics | Knowing your max affordable cost per message turns advertising from gambling into a predictable system for growth. | Use the calculator above to estimate your numbers and establish a clear goal for your campaigns. |
This all might seem like a lot to take in, and honestly, it is. Running paid ad campaigns effectively is a full-time job. It's not just about setting things up correctly; it's about the constant monitoring, testing, and optimising based on what the data is telling you. You've seen yourself how quickly things can change.
That's where working with a specialist can make a huge difference. Instead of spending your valuable time trying to decode the Ads Manager and troubleshoot performance dips, you can focus on your business, safe in the knowledge that an expert is managing your campaigns to drive profitable growth. We handle everything from strategy and setup to creative testing and daily optimisation, ensuring every pound you spend is working as hard as possible for you.
If you'd like to have a chat about how we could apply a professional strategy to your advertising, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can take a look at your page and goals together and give you a clear plan of action. Feel free to get in touch if that sounds helpful.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
