Solved: Improve Ad Performance (Low Conversions)

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out!

I had a look at the numbers you sent over. It's a classic situation and honestly, one of the most common frustrations I see. You've got an ad running, you're spending money, but the results feel underwhelming and your not sure whether to stick with it or pull the plug.

The short answer is that just "hoping" it improves is rarely a good strategy. The first few days of a campaign usually give you a pretty clear signal. Your instinct that something needs to change is probably right, but the solution is a bit deeper than just swapping out a creative. The problem isn't just one thing, it's likely a chain of small issues across your entire funnel, from the person you're targeting to the message you're using and what they experience on your website. We need to look at the whole journey to figure out where the leaks are and plug them.

I've put together some detailed thoughts for you below, walking through how I'd diagnose this and what steps I'd take to fix it. It's a bit of a read, but it should give you a proper framework to work with.

We'll need to look at the whole picture, not just the ad...

Right, first things first. Let's lay out the numbers you gave me. A 1.93% 'CTR (All)' is a vanity metric; it includes likes, shares, comments, clicks to your profile etc. The number that matters is your 'Link Click-Through Rate', which is 0.54%. In eCommerce, that's quite low. It tells me that for every 1000 people who see your ad, only about 5 are clicking through to your site. This is the first red flag. It means the ad isn't compelling enough for the audience seeing it.

But the bigger story is what happens after the click. You've had 8 'add to carts' and 1 conversion. To understand the drop-off, we need to estimate how many link clicks you got. We can't know for sure without seeing your spend, but let's make a reasonable guess. If your CPC is £0.94, and you've spent, say, £50 over 5 days, that would mean you've had about 53 link clicks.

So, the journey looks something like this: Thousands of impressions -> 53 Clicks -> 8 Add to Carts -> 1 Purchase.

That is a very leaky bucket. You're losing almost 85% of your visitors between the click and adding something to their basket. And then you're losing another 87% of those people between the basket and the final purchase. This tells me the problem is much bigger than just the ad creative. Pouring more money into an ad that leads to a leaky website is like trying to fill a bathtub with the plug out. You just end up with a big water bill and nothing to show for it.

I've put together a little visualisation below to show you what this funnel looks like. Play around with the 'Ad Spend' slider to see how the numbers change, but notice how the drop-off percentages stay painfully high. This is what we need to fix.

I'd say your problem starts with who you're talking to...

That low CTR is the first clue. It screams that you're showing your ad to the wrong people. Most people make the mistake of creating a customer profile based on demographics: "Women, aged 25-40, interested in fashion". This tells you absolutely nothing useful and leads to generic ads that get ignored.

You need to stop thinking about demographics and start thinking about nightmares. What is the specific, urgent, frustrating problem your product solves? Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person; it's a problem state. For an eCommerce store selling ergonomic desk chairs, the nightmare isn't 'needing a new chair'. It's 'chronic back pain that's ruining their focus at work and stopping them from playing with their kids on the weekend'. The ad for that person is vastly different.

Before you touch your creative, you need to do this work. Who are you *really* selling to? What keeps them up at night? What are they secretly frustrated with that your product can fix? Once you know that, you can find them on Facebook. Are they in specific groups? Do they follow certain influencers or niche brands? Are they reading particular blogs? Targeting interests like 'Shopify' or 'eCommerce' is lazy and ineffective. You need to target the digital footprint of their pain.

For a new account, you should start with testing very specific, layered interests that align with this pain-point ICP. Once you have enough data (at least 100 purchases, but ideally more), you can then move onto building Lookalike audiences and retargeting campaigns. But you have to feed the algorithm good quality data first. Right now, you're feeding it data from people who aren't interested. I've laid out the typical audience testing priority below. You are at step 1.

You probably should rethink your message...

Once you know who you're talking to and what their deep-seated problem is, writing the ad becomes much easier. Your ad's only job is to get the right person to stop scrolling and think, "That's me. They understand my problem."

A great framework for eCommerce is the Before-After-Bridge.

• Before: Describe their world right now, full of the frustration you identified. Paint a vivid picture of their "nightmare".
• After: Describe the world after they've used your product. The problem is gone, and they feel relieved, happy, confident, etc.
• Bridge: Introduce your product as the simple, easy way to get from the 'Before' state to the 'After' state.

Let's say you sell handcrafted leather journals. A bad ad says: "Handcrafted Leather Journals. High-quality paper. Buy now." It's boring and talks about features.

A Before-After-Bridge ad says: "Tired of brilliant ideas getting lost in a sea of digital notes and random scraps of paper? (Before) Imagine having one beautiful, dedicated place where your best thoughts are captured, organised, and ready to become your next big project. (After) Our handcrafted leather journals are the bridge to that clarity. Feel the quality, and give your ideas the home they deserve. (Bridge)"

See the difference? The second one connects emotionally. You need to stop selling products and start selling transformations. This applies to your images and videos too. Don't just show the product on a white background. Show someone *experiencing* the 'After' state because of your product.

You'll need to fix what happens after the click...

Now we get to your biggest problem: the 85% drop-off between the click and the 'add to cart'. This is almost certainly a product page issue. People are interested enough to click, but something on your page is immediately putting them off.

Here's a checklist of things that commonly cause this:

• Poor Product Photography: Are your images blurry, poorly lit, or just plain unappealing? People buy with their eyes. For eCommerce, your photos need to be impeccable. Use high-resolution images, show the product from multiple angles, and include lifestyle shots of it in use. I remember one campaign we ran for a client in the women's apparel space achieved a 691% return.
• No/Weak Product Descriptions: Does your description just list specs? Or does it sell the transformation we talked about? Use the description to overcome objections, answer common questions, and reinforce the value and the feeling of the 'After' state.
• Price Shock or Hidden Shipping Costs: Is the price clearly displayed? Are you surprising people with high shipping costs at the last minute? Be transparent upfront. If possible, offer free shipping as it's a huge psychological motivator.
• Lack of Trust: This is a huge one. Why should a stranger on the internet give you their credit card details? Your site needs to scream trustworthiness. This means having:
  • -> Customer reviews and testimonials (ideally with photos).
  • -> Clear contact information and a professional 'About Us' page.
  • -> Secure payment logos (Visa, Mastercard, PayPal).
  • -> A clear and fair returns policy.
• Slow Page Load Speed: If your page takes more than 3 seconds to load, a significant portion of people will just leave. Use Google's PageSpeed Insights to check your site's performance and fix any issues.

You need to be brutally honest with yourself here. Get a friend who has never seen your website before to try and buy something. Watch them, but don't help them. Their hesitations and questions will reveal all the friction points you need to smooth out. It can be a difficult process but its definately worth it.

Let's talk about the numbers...

So, is one sale for £50 (our estimate) any good? Well, it depends entirely on your product price and profit margins. But we can look at some industry benchmarks.

For eCommerce in developed countries (like the UK, US, etc.), a typical Cost Per Purchase can range anywhere from £10 to £75, and sometimes even higher for expensive items. A cost of £50 for a single purchase puts you right in the middle of that range. It's not catastrophic, but it's not great either, especially for a new store trying to find its footing.

The goal isn't just to get cheap conversions; it's to get profitable ones. You need to know your numbers. What is the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer? If you sell a £60 product with a 50% margin, your profit is £30. Spending £50 to make £30 is a losing game. But if that customer comes back and buys two more times over the next year, the economics change entirely.

I've built a small calculator below to help you understand the relationship between ad spend, conversions, and your Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). Use it to see how many sales you'd need at your current spend to hit a more desireable CPA.

This is the main advice I have for you:

So, should you stop the ad? Yes, absolutely. But don't just tweak the creative. You need to pause, step back, and fix the underlying issues. Hoping the Facebook algorithm will magically fix a broken funnel is a recipe for burning cash. It's a powerful tool, but it's not a miracle worker. It can only amplify what you give it.

I've detailed my main recommendations for you in a table below. I'd suggest working through these methodically before you even think about turning your ads back on. Get the foundations right, and then you'll be in a much stronger position to advertise profitably.

Working through all of this takes time and expertise. You're not just an ad manager; you have to be a strategist, a copywriter, a psychologist, and a data analyst all at once. It can be overwhelming, especially when you're also trying to run a business.

This is often where bringing in specialist help can make a huge difference. An experienced eye can spot these issues much faster and implement proven strategies to fix them, saving you a lot of time and wasted ad spend in the process. We've seen this firsthand with our eCommerce clients; for instance, we helped a cleaning products company achieve a 633% return.

If you'd like to chat through your specific situation in more detail, we offer a free, no-obligation initial consultation where we can take a proper look at your ad account and website together. It might give you the clarity you need to move forward.

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh