Hi there,
Thanks for getting in touch and sharing your situation. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your Facebook Ads campaign. From what you've described, the inconsistency in lead generation can be frustrating, but it's not uncommon with Facebook Ads, especially if you're relatively new to the platform. Don't be disheartened. Let's explore some areas that could be causing this fluctuation and how to address them.
We'll need to look at traffic quality and your website...
Let's start with lead quality and your sales process. I'd say the first thing to consider is whether the leads you're getting are actually converting into customers. A high volume of leads is useless if none of them are qualified or interested in your product/service. Think about what happens after someone submits a lead form. What's the process for following up with them? How many leads actually make it to the next stage of your sales funnel? Do they book a call? Do they sign up for a trial?
If your leads aren't converting, it could be due to a few reasons:
-> You're targeting the wrong audience. -> Your ad copy isn't resonating with your target audience. -> Your offer isn't compelling enough. -> The lead form is too generic and doesn't capture enough information.To address this, consider using a landing page instead of a lead generation form. A landing page allows you to pre-qualify leads by providing more information about your product/service and asking more detailed questions. This can help you attract higher-quality leads that are more likely to convert. It may even be the case that you are getting a lot of product page views, but no adds to cart. This could be to do with the product photos, descriptions, or pricing - or maybe a special offer would help push potential customers to take that next step!
If you are getting very low CTRs and high CPCs, it's likely that your ad copy/product images need work.
I'd say you need to give it more time...
Three days isn't really enough to judge a campaign on. It can take time for the Facebook algorithm to optimise and find the right audience for your ads. I'd recommend giving your campaigns at least a week or two before making any major changes. Having said that, continuously split testing creative and targeting within the same campaign is crucial to optimising performance. For example, we've worked with software clients that have seen really good results with UGC videos - lots of angles to test there.
Here's a table summarising my recommended actionable solutions:
| Problem | Recommended Action |
|---|---|
| Inconsistent lead flow | Allow more time for the Facebook algorithm to learn (1-2 weeks) before making major changes. Split test creative and targeting within the same campaign. |
| Low lead quality | Consider using a landing page to pre-qualify leads. Ask more detailed questions on the lead form. |
| Poor conversion rates | Re-evaluate your target audience and ad copy. Make sure your offer is compelling. |
Targeting: Where are you going wrong?
Think about who your ideal customer is and where they can be reached. It sounds obvious but it's often overlooked. Are you actually targeting the right people? Facebook's targeting options can be quite broad, so you need to make sure you're narrowing down your audience as much as possible. Consider things like age, gender, location, interests, behaviours, and job titles.
Make sure you're testing different audiences to see what works best. It's possible that your initial target audience is too small or too broad. A good starting point is to think about companies that would benefit most from your solution. Then consider decision makers at these companies who will make the buying decision. Then try to target them as accurately as possible with the targeting options you have available.
Let's say you're selling contact data enrichment, your primary companies would be SMEs with 50-200 employees. Your decision makers would be CMO, CSO, CTO, head of marketing, head of sales, head of IT. The industries would be business services, software, marketing and advertising, financial services. On LinkedIn, you'd want to aim for a narrow audience that targets your specific Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
Also, look at your target settings. This will help to increase the efficiency of your campaigns and boost conversions. You can select the country, age, gender, interests, and other demographics of your target customers.
Creative: What will get you seen?
Your ad creative is what grabs people's attention and convinces them to click on your ad. Make sure your ad copy is clear, concise, and compelling. Highlight the benefits of your product/service and include a strong call to action.
Are you using high-quality images and videos in your ads? Visuals are incredibly important on Facebook, so make sure your ads are visually appealing. We've had several SaaS clients see really good results with UGC videos. If you don't have this, product photos, product descriptions, or pricing could also be the root of the problem.
Test out different ad formats to see what works best. Facebook offers a variety of ad formats, including image ads, video ads, carousel ads, and collection ads. Each format has its own strengths and weaknesses, so experiment to see what resonates best with your target audience. We usually run sponsored content campaigns for lead generation, and we test out image and video ads along with lead gen forms versus pointing to a landing page.
Budget and Bidding: How much is too much?
Make sure you're allocating enough budget to your campaigns to allow them to run effectively. If your budget is too low, you may not be able to reach enough people to generate consistent leads. Are you using the right bidding strategy? Facebook offers a variety of bidding strategies, including cost per lead, cost per click, and cost per impression. The best bidding strategy for you will depend on your goals and budget. We've run ads for childcare services where the CPL was around $10 per signup. And our best consumer services campaign was for a home cleaning company which got a cost of £5/lead. This goes to say that a low budget on a campaign can work, it just takes some testing!
In summary, the inconsistency in your lead generation could be due to a number of factors, including lead quality, targeting, creative, budget, and bidding. By addressing these areas, you can improve the performance of your Facebook Ads campaigns and generate a more consistent flow of leads.
I hope this information is helpful. Scaling software campaigns can be difficult which is why a lot of our clients come to us for support. They benefit from working with someone with expertise in scaling software campaigns. We've helped a number of software campaigns increase conversions and lower their CPL, for example by reducing the cost per booking by 80% for student recruitment and driving 447% ROAS in 1 week for eLearning courses. If you'd like to discuss your specific situation in more detail, feel free to book a free consultation with us and we can explore how we can help you achieve your goals.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
