Solved: When to Stop Facebook Ads for Zoom Classes?

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out! I've had a look at the situation with your Facebook ads. It's a common spot to be in, and honestly, the problem isn't quite what you think it is. You're asking when to kill the ad, but the real issues are deeper in the strategy, the offer, and the journey you're asking your potential customers to take. I'm happy to give you some initial thoughts and a bit of guidance on this.

You're Asking the Wrong Question...

Let's get this out of the way first. Asking "when do I kill this thing?" after two days and $25 is like planting an acorn on Monday and digging it up on Wednesday to see why it's not an oak tree yet. You've given it no time, no water, and no chance to even sprout.

Facebook's algorithm is a powerful, complex machine, but it's not a mind reader. When you launch a new campaign, it enters what's called a 'learning phase'. It's basically throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks. It's testing your ad on tiny pockets of your target audience to figure out who is most likely to respond. This takes time and, more importantly, data. Data costs money. $25 is, in the grand scheme of paid advertising, statistically insignificant. It's bought you 622 impressions. That's not enough people to draw any meaningful conclusion from. To put that in perspective, I remember one B2B software campaign where we generated 4,622 registrations—and even with that volume of data, we were still constantly testing and optimising. You simply haven't gathered enough information to know if you have a winner or a loser on your hands. Killing it now would be a decision based on panic, not data.

The real question isn't "when do I kill it?" but "is my entire setup fundamentally flawed?". Right now, I'd say yes, it is. The good news is that it's all fixable. But we need to ignore the impulse to just turn it off and instead focus on rebuilding the machine properly.

We Need to Talk About That "Call Me" Button...

This is, without a doubt, your biggest and most immediate problem. The "Request a Demo" button is often called the most arrogant Call to Action in B2B marketing. Your "Call me" button is its B2C cousin, and it's probably even worse.

Think about the user's journey. They're scrolling through their Facebook feed, looking at pictures of their grandkids or updates from friends. Suddenly, your video ad appears. They've never heard of you. They don't know who you are, what you're really offering, or if you're trustworthy. And your first request is for them to stop what they're doing, tap a button, and immediately enter into a live phone conversation with a complete stranger. That's a massive leap of faith.

For any audience, that's a high-friction ask. For an audience aged 50+, who might be more cautious online, it can feel downright intimidating or even unsafe. You're asking for a huge commitment with zero value provided upfront. You haven't earned the right to that conversation yet. People need to be warmed up. They need information, reassurance, and a sense of control over the process. A phone call removes all of that control. This is almost certainly why you have zero calls. It’s not that no one is interested; it’s that your first step is a chasm, not a step.

You need to build a bridge. That bridge is a simple landing page. The entire purpose of your Facebook ad shouldn't be to get a phone call; it should be to get a click. You want to earn enough interest and curiosity for someone to say, "Alright, I'll look into this a bit more."

This is the funnel you should be using. It's a fundamental process that builds trust at each stage:

Your ad's CTA should change from "Call me" to "Learn More". This is a low-friction, low-commitment ask. It takes them to your landing page where you can properly sell them on the class, show testimonials, explain who you are, and provide a simple, secure way to pay online. This approach respects the user's pace and builds the trust necessary to make a sale.

Your Ad is Getting Skipped. Let's Fix That.

Okay, let's look at your video metrics. An average play time of 3 seconds is telling. It means people are seeing the ad, registering what it is in a split second, and deciding it's not for them before your core message even has a chance to land. Your hook rate of 30% means you're catching some initial attention, but the hold rate of 15% shows you're losing them almost immediately. Essentially, your ad is a revolving door.

You can't just put a video up and hope for the best. The ad's message has to be engineered to grab them by the collar and speak directly to a problem they are feeling right now. Generic ads get generic results, which is usually no results at all.

I'd suggest rebuilding your video script around a classic copywriting formula like Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS). It's brutally effective because it mirrors our natural decision-making process.

Here's how it might look for your online Zoom classes, depending on what you teach. Let's assume you're teaching basic computer/internet skills:

• Problem: Open the video by showing someone who looks like your target customer looking frustrated at a computer screen. The opening line could be something like: "Feeling like the digital world is moving on without you?" This immediately calls out the specific audience and their pain point.
• Agitate: Now, you twist the knife a little. Show quick cuts of common frustrations. A failed video call with family. Confusion over online banking. The voiceover says: "Are you tired of asking your kids for help with simple tasks? Worried about online scams or just missing out on connecting with loved ones?" This makes the problem feel more urgent and personal.
• Solve: This is where you introduce your classes as the clear, simple solution. Show a clip of a friendly, smiling face from one of your Zoom classes. The voiceover becomes warm and reassuring: "It doesn't have to be this complicated. Our friendly, patient-led Zoom classes are designed specifically for you. Learn at your own pace, ask all the questions you want, and gain the confidence to navigate the online world with ease. Click 'Learn More' to see our upcoming classes and book your spot in just a few clicks."

This structure works because it starts with empathy, builds tension around a real problem, and then presents your offer as a welcome relief. It's a narrative, not just an announcement. This is how you turn a 3-second skip into a 30-second view, and a view into a click.

Your Real Problem Isn't Just the Ad, It's the Offer...

This might be a tough pill to swallow, but even the world's best ad campaign will fail if the offer at the end of it isn't compelling enough. The number one reason I see campaigns fail is a mismatch between the offer and the audience's needs. There's a lack of genuine demand for what's being sold, in the way it's being sold.

You're selling a single class for $47. I have to ask: what urgent, expensive, or deeply frustrating problem does one $47 class solve? For most people, it's a 'nice-to-have', not a 'need-to-have'. This makes it a much harder sell to a cold audience. They have to be convinced to spend money on something they weren't actively looking for moments earlier.

You need to think about how you can frame your offer to provide overwhelming value and reduce the risk for the buyer. Instead of a single class, could you offer something else?

• A Taster Session: What if you offered a free 30-minute 'Introduction to Zoom' taster session? This gets people in the door with zero risk. They get to meet you, experience your teaching style, and gain a small, tangible win. At the end of that free session, you can then sell them on a bundle of more advanced classes. You're turning a cold lead into a warm one.
• A Course Bundle: Instead of one $47 class, what about a "Digital Confidence" bundle of four classes for $149 (a slight discount)? This increases the perceived value and your average order value from the start. It positions your offering as a comprehensive solution, not just a one-off lesson.
• A Problem-Specific Workshop: Rather than a general class, focus on a very specific outcome. "The 2-Hour Workshop to Master Online Photo Sharing with Your Family." This is much more compelling because it sells a clear, emotional result.

The key is to shift from "selling a class" to "solving a problem". When you solve a real, nagging problem, the price becomes much less of an issue. Before you spend another dollar on ads, I would seriously reconsider the structure of your offer. A stronger offer will make your advertising ten times more effective.

The Math That Unlocks Growth: Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)

Right now, you're thinking about a single $47 sale. This mindset forces you into a corner where you feel like you can't spend more than a few dollars to get a customer. But what if a customer was worth more than $47 to you? This is where understanding Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) changes everything.

LTV tells you the total profit you can expect to make from a single customer over the entire time they do business with you. If a customer who buys one class is likely to come back and buy two or three more over the next year, their value isn't $47. It's much higher.

Knowing this number frees you from the tyranny of cheap leads. If you know a customer is actually worth £200 to you in the long run, would you be worried about spending £30 or even £40 to acquire them? No, you'd do it all day long because it's profitable. Let's create a simple model for your business.

Play around with that calculator. You'll quicky see that even a modest repeat purchase rate dramatically increases the value of each new customer. This gives you so much more breathing room with your advertising spend and allows you to compete more effectively.

Finding Your Audience on Facebook (Beyond Just "50+")

Your current targeting is likely just an age bracket. This is far too broad. The group of "people over 50" is incredibly diverse. It includes retired CEOs, keen gardeners, tech-savvy grandparents, and people who have never used a computer. You are likely wasting a huge portion of your tiny budget showing ads to people who would never be interested in an online class.

You need to get much more specific. The goal is to define your customer not by their demographic, but by their pain points and interests. You need to think about what stuff people in your specific target audience like, what pages they follow on Facebook, what magazines they read, what organisations they belong to. The key is to pick interests that your ideal customer has, but that the general population does not.

For example, if your class is about "learning to use an iPad":

• Bad Targeting: Age 50-75+.
• Better Targeting: Age 50-75+ AND Interested in: AARP, Saga Magazine, 'Computers for Seniors' books, Good Housekeeping.

If your class is about "online gardening courses":

• Bad Targeting: Age 50-75+.
• Better Targeting: Age 50-75+ AND Interested in: Gardeners' World Magazine, Royal Horticultural Society, specific famous gardeners, specific brands of gardening tools.

You want to layer these interests to build a picture of your ideal customer. Once you have a working funnel and have gathered some data (at least 100 purchases), you can then move onto more powerful audiences, like Lookalike Audiences and Retargeting. This is how you structure your campaigns for scale.

My Recommendations For You: An Action Plan

This is a lot to take in, I know. It's easy to get overwhelmed. But the path forward is actually quite clear. Forget about the current ad for a moment and focus on building the right foundations. This is the main advice I have for you, broken down into manageable steps:

Following this plan will take you from randomly guessing to having a repeatable, measurable system for attracting customers. It's more work upfront, but it's the only way to build something sustainable.

This whole process—from strategy and offer creation to funnel building, ad creation, targeting, and optimisation—is complex. It's why businesses hire experts. You're trying to be a teacher, a marketer, a copywriter, a web designer, and a data analyst all at once. It's tough, and it's easy to make costly mistakes.

With our experience, we can navigate this process for you, avoiding the common pitfalls and accelerating your path to getting a positive return on your ad spend. We've helped numerous businesses, from software companies to course creators, build and scale their paid advertising efforts effectively.

If you'd like to discuss this further, I'd be happy to offer you a free, no-obligation 20-minute strategy session where we can go through your specific goals and map out a more detailed plan. It might be the most valuable 20 minutes you spend on your business this year.

Regards,

Team @ Lukas Holschuh