Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out!
I had a good look at your site and the numbers you've shared. It's a classic situation and honestly, a good problem to have. A high click-through rate (CTR) tells us your initial ad creative and hook are working. People are interested enough to click. The issue isn't getting attention; it's converting that attention into sales. You're getting them to the shop door, but they're not coming inside to buy.
You've basically got a leaky bucket. Pouring more ad spend into it right now will just mean more money leaking out. We need to fix the bucket first. Below are my detailed thoughts on how to go about patching those leaks and turning those clicks into customers. It's a bit of a read, but I wanted to give you a proper breakdown.
TLDR;
- Your high CTR (10-15%) is great; it means your ads are getting clicks. The problem is almost certainly your website and offer, not the ads themselves. Stop spending on ads until the website is fixed.
- Your website currently lacks the key trust signals needed to convince a stranger to give you their credit card details. This is the biggest leak in your sales funnel.
- The product presentation and copywriting focus on features (a jar with ideas) instead of the emotional benefits (reconnecting with your partner, solving the 'what should we do?' problem).
- You're likely using the wrong campaign objective. For sales, you must optimise for 'Conversions' (Purchases), not 'Traffic'. This tells the ad platforms to find buyers, not just clickers.
- This letter includes an interactive calculator to help you understand your breakeven points and a visual flowchart of the typical eCommerce sales funnel to identify drop-off points.
Your problem isn't the ads, it's the destination
Let's be brutally honest. With a CTR of 10-15%, your ads are doing their job exceptionally well. That's a very healthy number. It proves your concept is interesting and your ad creative is compelling enough to make people stop scrolling and click. This is the first hurdle, and you've cleared it.
The issue begins the second they land on ourdatejar.com. You've spent $70 to get 85 people to your site, and not one of them has bought anything. This tells me the disconnect is happening on the page. Before we even think about changing ad targeting, copy, or creative, we have to address the conversion rate of your website. Otherwise, any future ad spend is just throwing money away.
Think of it like this: your ad is a fantastic flyer that gets people excited to visit a new restaurant. But when they arrive, the lights are dim, there's no menu in the window, and they can't tell if it's even open. They're just going to walk away. Your website is that restaurant front. Right now, it's not convincing people to come in and order.
We'll need to look at building trust, fast...
For a new brand that nobody has ever heard of, trust is everything. You're asking a complete stranger to hand over their credit card details. They need to feel 100% confident that you're a legitimate business, that your product is high quality, and that they will recieve what they paid for. Your site currently has a number of trust gaps.
-> Proffesional Photography: The current images look like digital mockups. They don't show the physical product in a real-world setting. Customers want to see what the jar actually looks like. How big is it? What's the quality of the materials? You need high-quality, lifestyle photos. Show a real couple laughing while pulling a date idea from the jar. Show it on a coffee table or a bedside stand. Video is even better. A short clip of someone unboxing it and showing the cards would do wonders. This makes the product tangible and real.
-> Social Proof is Missing: There are no reviews or testimonials. For a product about relationships and experiences, seeing what other couples thought is massive. Since you're new, you won't have customer reviews yet. That's fine. You could send a few jars to friends or local influencers in exchange for an honest video review or a few photos you can use. Even just one or two testimonials would make a huge difference.
-> The Human Element: Who is behind Our Date Jar? There's no 'About Us' page, no story, no mission. People connect with people, not faceless websites. Tell your story! Why did you create this? Are you a couple who struggled with date nights? A short, genuine story builds an emotional connection and makes your brand more memorable and trustworthy.
-> Basic Business Information: A clear shipping policy, a returns policy, and an easy-to-find contact page are non-negotiable. These are basic things that every legitimate ecommerce store has. Without them, your site looks unfinished and potentially untrustworthy. People want to know what happens if they don't like the product or if it arrives damaged.
Fixing these trust issues is your number one priotity. Before you spend another dollar on ads.
Reason: Low Trust, Weak Offer, Poor Photos.
Reason: Unexpected Shipping Costs? Clunky Process.
I'd say you need to sell the outcome, not the object
Right now, you're selling a jar with 52 date ideas. That's a feature. Nobody wakes up in the morning thinking, "I desperately need a jar full of paper slips." What they *do* think is, "My partner and I are so bored," or "I never know what to do for date night," or "I want to get my partner a thoughtful gift that isn't just flowers again."
Your copy needs to speak to that pain. You need to sell the transformation. You're not selling a jar; you're selling a year of effortless, fun, and surprising date nights. You're selling connection. You're selling the solution to decision fatigue for couples.
A simple framework for this is the Before-After-Bridge.
Before: Describe their current pain. "Tired of the endless 'what should we do tonight?' debate? Stuck in a routine of takeaway and Netflix? Finding time to connect feels like a chore."
After: Paint a picture of the ideal future. "Imagine having a year's worth of exciting, spontaneous date nights at your fingertips. Re-discover the fun you had when you first met. Turn a regular evening into a lasting memory, effortlessly."
Bridge: Introduce your product as the way to get there. "The Our Date Jar is your bridge to a more connected relationship. With 52 unique ideas, it takes the pressure off planning so you can focus on what really matters: each other."
This kind of emotional, benefit-driven copy is far more persuasive than just listing what the product is. We've used specialist copywriters for our eCommerce clients, like a women's apparel brand, and saw a 691% return on ad spend, in large part because the copy connected with the audience's desires, not just their wallets.
You probably should change your ad campaign's objective
This is a big one, and it's a mistake almost everyone makes when they start out. I'm willing to bet you're running your ad campaigns with the 'Traffic' or 'Engagement' objective. You told the platform, "find me people who are likely to click," and it did exactly that, brilliantly. The problem is that people who click a lot are not necessarily the same people who buy a lot.
The algorithms on platforms like Meta (Facebook/Instagram) are incredibly powerful. They have vast amounts of data on user behaviour. They know who the impulsive buyers are, who the window shoppers are, and who just likes to click on things. When you run a 'Traffic' campaign, you are literally telling the algorithm: "Please find me the cheapest clicks possible. I don't care if these people ever buy anything." The platform happily obliges by showing your ads to people who have a history of clicking but not converting.
You MUST switch your campaign objective to 'Conversions' and select 'Purchase' as the specific conversion event. This tells the algorithm: "I don't care about clicks. Go and find me people within my target audience who are most similar to people who have purchased things in the past."
Yes, your cost per click (CPC) will go up. Your CTR might even go down. This is normal and expected. You are now paying a premium to get your ad in front of a much higher-quality audience. But your cost per *purchase* will be infinitely lower, because you'll actually start getting them. I've seen the impact of this firsthand. For instance, with one eCommerce client selling cleaning products, implementing a focused conversion strategy was a key factor in achieving a 633% return on their ad spend. It's that powerful.
Don't run a conversion campaign until your website is fixed, though. You need at least some sales data for the algorithm to learn from, and you won't get that until the trust and offer issues are resolved.
Your maximum affordable Cost Per Purchase (CPA) is $25.00.
You'll need a clear, actionable plan
Okay, that was a lot of information. It can feel overwhelming, but the path forward is actually quite logical. You don't need to do everything at once. Here is the sequence of operations I would recommend.
Phase 1: Fix the Foundations (Your Highest Priority)
1. Pause All Ads: Stop spending money immediately. Every click you're paying for right now is on a website that isn't ready to convert.
2. Get Real Photography & Video: Beg, borrow, or pay for a proper photoshoot. Get lifestyle shots of the product in a nice setting and with a couple interacting with it. Get a simple unboxing video. This is non-negotiable.
3. Build Out Your Website Content: Write a compelling 'About Us' story. Create dedicated pages for your Shipping Policy and Returns Policy. Make your contact information easy to find.
4. Gather Social Proof: Send free products to a handful of friends or micro-influencers and ask for photos and a short testimonial in return. Add these to your product page immediately.
5. Rewrite Your Product Copy: Use the Before-After-Bridge framework. Focus on the emotional benefits and the transformation your product provides, not just its features.
Phase 2: Relaunch Your Ad Campaigns (The Right Way)
1. Set Up Your Conversion Tracking: Ensure your Meta Pixel or Google Ads Tag is correctly installed and tracking 'AddToCart', 'InitiateCheckout', and 'Purchase' events.
2. Create a Conversion Campaign: When you're ready to run ads again, create a brand new campaign. Set the objective to 'Sales' or 'Conversions'. Choose the 'Purchase' event as your goal.
3. Rethink Your Targeting: Who is your ideal customer? It's likely someone in a committed relationship, perhaps aged 25-45. Think about their interests. They might be interested in 'anniversary gifts', follow relationship advice accounts, use wedding planning apps like The Knot, or shop at places that sell thoughtful gifts. Test these interest-based audiences first.
4. Start with a Small Budget: You don't need to spend a lot. Start with $20-$30 per day. Let the campaign run for at least 4-5 days without touching it. The algorithm needs time to learn and find your audience. After spending $70 and getting 0 sales, the platform's learning phase would have been based on finding clickers. You need to reset this process.
5. Analyse the Funnel: Once you start getting data, look at where people are dropping off. Are you getting lots of 'Add to Carts' but no 'Initiate Checkouts'? The problem might be your cart page or unexpected shipping costs. Are people abandoning the checkout process? Your checkout page might be too complicated or lack trust signals like security badges.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you in this table below. This is the core strategy.
| Area of Focus | Problem | Actionable Solution | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Website Trust | Site looks new and lacks credibility signals. | Add reviews, an 'About Us' story, clear policies (shipping/returns), and professional photos/videos. | Builds confidence required for a visitor to make a purchase from an unknown brand. |
| Product Copywriting | Focuses on features (the jar) not benefits (the experience). | Rewrite copy using the "Before-After-Bridge" framework to sell the emotional outcome. | Connects with the customer's actual pain points and desires, making the offer more compelling. |
| Ad Campaign Objective | Likely optimizing for Traffic (clicks), not sales. | Pause current ads. Relaunch with a 'Conversions' objective, optimizing for the 'Purchase' event. | Tells the ad platform's algorithm to find users likely to *buy*, not just users likely to *click*. |
| Ad Targeting | Potentially too broad or not focused on buying intent. | Target interests related to relationships, gift-giving, and anniversaries. Later, build retargeting and lookalike audiences. | Reaches a higher-quality audience that is more likely to be in the market for your product. |
This is a marathon, not a sprint. Getting an eCommerce brand off the ground is tough, and there's a lot of testing and learning involved. We've worked with many eCommerce stores, from subscription boxes that hit a 1000% return to apparel brands, and the one thing they all have in common is a solid, trustworthy website and a compelling offer. The ads are just the accelerator; they can't fix a faulty engine.
Getting this right can be tricky, and it often helps to have an experienced eye on things. We specialize in exactly this kind of problem—diagnosing leaky funnels and building profitable paid advertising systems for businesses.
If you'd like to chat through this in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can take a deeper look at your specific setup and give you some more tailored advice. It might be helpful to have a second opinion before you start spending again.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
