Solved: Facebook Ads Monetization Impacting Sales?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

I’ve had a look at your situation and I’m happy to give you some initial thoughts. It sounds like a frustrating spot to be in, but I reckon the monetization stuff is probably a red herring. The real issue, and the path back to getting your customer numbers up, is almost always found in the fundamentals of your advertising strategy. Let's get into it.

We'll need to look at why this monetization thing is a distraction...

Right, first things first. Let's get this Meta monetization business out of the way, because I'm 99.9% sure it has nowt to do with your sales dropping. It's a classic case of correlation, not causation. Two things happened around the same time, so it's natural to think they're connected, but in this world, they almost never are.

Think of it like this: your car gets a flat tyre the same day you wear a new pair of socks. You wouldn't blame the socks for the puncture, would you? It's the same here. Meta rolling out a monetization feature on your page is completely seperate from how its ad algorithm decides to show your paid promotions to potential customers. The two systems don't talk to each other in that way.

The message you got about sharing money from ads with music rights owners is also perfectly normal, but it's probably been misunderstood. That's not about your advertising budget. It's about the tiny bit of money Meta might pay you for views on your Reels (the monetization income you said isn't worth it). If you use a popular song in a Reel, Meta has to pay the record label a slice of any ad revenue generated *on that Reel*. It has absolutely zero impact on the ads you are paying to run to promote your products. Your ad spend is your ad spend. It goes to Meta to show your ads, not to Universal Music Group.

So, we can safely put the whole monetization theory in the bin. It's a dead end. The real reason your sales have dipped is much more common and, thankfully, something you can actually fix. Your ads have likely hit a wall. This happens to every single campaign eventually. Audiences get tired of seeing the same creative, competitors change their tactics, market trends shift, or the algorithm just decides to favour something else for a bit. It’s the nature of the beast. The solution isn't to blame a new feature on the platform, but to go back to basics and diagnose what's actually broken in your advertising funnel.

I'd say you need to become an expert on your customer's pain...

Before we even touch your ads, we have to talk about who you're talking to. Most businesses get this horribly wrong. They create a bland, demographic-based profile like "Women, aged 25-45, interested in fashion". That tells you absolutely nothing useful and leads to generic, forgettable ads that nobody clicks on.

You need to forget demographics. Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is not a person; it's a problem state. It's a nightmare. You need to become an obsessive expert on their specific, urgent, and expensive problem. What keeps them up at night? What are they secretly terrified of? What frustration are they desperate to solve?

Let's pretend you sell handcrafted jewellery. Your customer's nightmare isn't 'not having enough jewellery'. It's showing up to a party and seeing someone else wearing the exact same necklace from a high-street chain. It's the feeling of being unoriginal, of not expressing her true self. Or maybe the nightmare is the frantic search for a meaningful, unique gift for a best friend's 30th birthday, terrified of buying something impersonal and cheap-looking.

See the difference? "Women aged 25-45" is a faceless crowd. "A woman terrified of feeling generic and unoriginal" is a real person with a real pain you can solve. Once you understand that nightmare, your entire marketing strategy changes. You know what to say in your ads, what kind of photos to use, and even what new products to create.

This is the first and most important job. Do this work before you spend another penny on ads. Map out the nightmare. Write it down. Your ads will practically write themselves.

You probably should build a message they can't ignore...

Once you know the nightmare, you can craft an offer and a message that acts as the perfect solution. The number one reason ad campaigns fail isn't the targeting, the budget, or the algorithm. It's the offer. A weak offer to the right person will always fail. A brilliant offer to the wrong person will also fail. You need both sides of the coin: the right person (the nightmare) and the right solution (your offer).

Your ad needs to stop selling a product and start selling a transformation. For an eCommerce business like yours, the 'Before-After-Bridge' framework is incredibly powerful.

• Before: You describe their current world, full of the frustration and pain of their nightmare. You hold up a mirror to their problem.
• After: You paint a picture of the new world your product creates. A world where their problem is solved, and they feel happy, confident, or relieved.
• Bridge: You introduce your product as the simple, easy bridge to get them from 'Before' to 'After'.

Let's stick with the handcrafted jewellery example.

Before: "Your best friend's birthday is next week. You're scrolling through the same old online stores, seeing the same boring necklaces. Nothing feels special enough. You're starting to panic."

After: "Imagine her face when she unwraps a one-of-a-kind piece, handcrafted just for her. A gift that shows how much you truly know her, something she'll treasure forever."

Bridge: "Our limited edition birthstone collection is the bridge to that perfect moment. Click here to find her unique piece before it's gone."

This isn't just ad copy; it's a story. It connects on an emotional level. It doesn't just say "buy my thing"; it says "I understand your problem, and I have the perfect solution". This is how you stop thumbs from scrolling and get them to actually click. If your current ads are just pictures of your products with "20% OFF - SHOP NOW", it's no wonder sales are drying up. You're not giving people a compelling reason to care.

You'll need to diagnose the real problem in your ads...

Okay, so you've nailed your customer's nightmare and crafted a compelling message. But your sales are still down. Now it's time to play detective and find the leak in your funnel. People drop off at different stages, and where they drop off tells you exactly what to fix. You need to look at your performance metrics—the numbers don't lie.

Here’s how you break it down:

Problem 1: Lots of Impressions, but very low Click-Through Rate (CTR).
This means people are seeing your ad but not clicking. The diagnosis is simple: your ad creative (the image/video) and your copy are the problem. They aren't grabbing attention or they're not resonating with the audience. They see it, they ignore it, they scroll on.

• The Fix: Test completely new images or videos. If you use static images, try a video of you making the product, or a customer wearing it. Rewrite your ad copy using the 'Before-After-Bridge' framework. Test at least 3-5 different versions to see what gets clicks. Professional product photos are not a luxury; they are a necessity. Poor photos scream "untrustworthy".

Problem 2: Decent CTR, but very few people view a product page.
People are clicking your ad, but they're not sticking around on your website to look at products. This points to one of two things: either your targeting is off, and you're attracting the wrong kind of people who aren't genuinely interested, or there's a major disconnect between your ad and your landing page. For example, your ad shows a beautiful blue necklace, but the click leads to a homepage with 50 different products, and the blue necklace is nowhere in sight.

• The Fix: First, double-check your targeting. Are the interests you've selected really aligned with your pain-based ICP? Second, ensure your ad clicks go DIRECTLY to the relevant product page, not your homepage. The user journey must be seamless.

Problem 3: Lots of product page views, but no 'Adds to Cart'.
This is a big one. You've got them to the right place, they're looking at the product, but they're not taking the next step. The issue is on the product page itself. It's failing to convince them to buy.

• The Fix: This could be several things. Your product photos might not be good enough (show it from all angles, on a model if possible). Your product description might be missing or just lists features instead of benefits (don't just say "sterling silver", say "hypoallergenic sterling silver that won't irritate your skin"). Your pricing might be unclear or perceived as too high without enough justification. Or, and this is a huge factor, your store might not look trustworthy. You need reviews, testimonials, clear shipping info, and a professional design.

Problem 4: Lots of 'Adds to Cart', but few completed purchases.
This is the final, painful hurdle. They want to buy. They've put it in their basket. But something in the checkout process stops them. The most common culprit is a surprise shipping cost. People HATE that. Other issues could be a long, complicated checkout form, not offering enough payment options (like PayPal or Apple Pay), or technical glitches.

• The Fix: Be upfront about shipping costs or, even better, offer free shipping over a certain threshold. Simplify your checkout process to the absolute minimum number of steps. Make sure your site is mobile-friendly, as most people will be buying from their phones. Add trust badges like secure payment logos.

By analysing your data this way, you stop guessing and start making targeted fixes. It's not magic; it's just a logical process of elimination.

We'll need to look at your targeting strategy...

Running ads on Meta without a proper targeting structure is like throwing darts in a dark room. You might hit the board eventually, but you'll waste a lot of darts (and money). A structured approach, where you test audiences methodically, is the only way to get consistent results.

I usually break audiences down into a funnel structure: Top of Funnel (ToFu), Middle of Funnel (MoFu), and Bottom of Funnel (BoFu).

ToFu (Top of Funnel - Cold Audiences):
These are people who have never heard of you before. The goal here is to find new potential customers. You're casting a wide net, but it needs to be a smart net.

• Detailed Targeting: This is your starting point. Based on your pain-based ICP, you'll choose interests, behaviours, and demographics. If you sell those handcrafted jewellery pieces, you wouldn't just target "Jewellery". That's too broad. You'd target interests like "Etsy", "Handmade Market", magazines like "Vogue Living", or competitors' pages. Get specific.
• Lookalike Audiences: Once you have some data (e.g., at least 100 purchases), you can ask Meta to create a 'lookalike' audience. It will find millions of other users who share similar characteristics to your existing customers. This is one of the most powerful tools on the platform. You can create lookalikes of purchasers, people who add to cart, or even just all website visitors. Start with a lookalike of your best customers first.

MoFu (Middle of Funnel - Warm Audiences):
These are people who have shown some interest but haven't taken a key action yet. They know you exist, but need another nudge. This is about retargeting.

• Website Visitors: Anyone who has visited your site in the last 30-90 days but didn't buy.
• Video Viewers: People who watched a significant portion (e.g., 50%) of one of your video ads. They are clearly more engaged than someone who just scrolled past.
• Social Engagers: Anyone who has liked, commented on, or saved one of your posts on Facebook or Instagram.

BoFu (Bottom of Funnel - Hot Audiences):
These are the people closest to buying. They've shown strong intent and just need that final push over the line. Your message to them can be more direct, perhaps with an offer of a small discount or free shipping to seal the deal.

• Added to Cart / Initiated Checkout: These are your hottest leads. They literally had the product in their basket. Retarget them within 1-3 days with a reminder ad.

And a word of warning: whatever you do, avoid the "Brand Awareness" or "Reach" campaign objectives. It sounds good in theory, but it's a trap. When you tell Meta to "get me reach", you are giving it one instruction: find the cheapest eyeballs possible. The algorithm will then actively seek out people within your targeting who are least likely to ever click or buy, because their attention is cheap. You are literally paying to advertise to non-customers. Always, always optimise your campaigns for a conversion event, like 'Purchases' or 'Add to Cart'. Let the algorithm find you people who actually take action. Awareness is a byproduct of sales, not the other way around.

This is the main advice I have for you:

To get your sales back on track, you need a systematic plan. It's not about one magic bullet, but about methodically improving each part of your advertising process. I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:

Implementing these steps won't be an overnight fix, but it's the right path. It shifts the focus from blaming external factors you can't control to taking charge of the things you can: your strategy, your message, and your data. We've worked with many eCommerce clients, taking them through this exact process. I remember one women's apparel brand where a structured approach like this took their return on ad spend to 691%. Another, a subscription box company, saw a 1000% return. It works because it's based on proven principles, not guesswork.

This can all feel a bit overwhelming, I know. You're trying to run a business, create products, and manage customers—becoming a part-time data analyst on top of that is a tall order. This is often where getting some expert help can make all the difference. An experienced eye can spot these issues in your funnel much faster and build a strategy to fix them effeciently, saving you weeks of costly trial and error.

If you'd like to go over your specific situation in more detail, we offer a completely free, no-obligation initial consultation. We can have a proper look at your ad account and website together on a call and I can give you some more tailored advice on what your immediate next steps should be. It often gives business owners a huge amount of clarity.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh