Are your Facebook ads not converting?
If your Facebook ads aren't converting, you've come to the right place.
In this guide, you'll learn the 10 most important reasons why your Facebook ads don't convert.
We'll also teach you how to fix your Facebook ads so they start converting into customers.
So, keep reading.
1. Ad spending is too low
Creating and managing advertisements on Facebook has many similarities to marketing elsewhere.
For businesses to generate revenue, funds must be spent on advertising.
Starting with advertising requires enough money for the ads to convert into customers.
With little or not enough funds, the chances of potential customers seeing your ads are low.
When a business has enough revenue to run ads without worries of not having enough, their ads should bring in profits.
You don't want to blindly throw money at something, especially with little understanding of how the customer acquisition channel works.
So, start small if you're a novice at running Facebook ads and learn how to run ads profitably.
How to fix:
Many successful Facebook ad campaigns spend $2,000-$3,000 every month.
This is a budget that most businesses can't afford.
Even if you don't want to spend over a $1,000 on ads, try and budget as much as you can, adding more as you generate more revenue from your ads converting into customers.
Remember that lower spending has a higher chance of not giving you the outcome that you might have expected.
The key is not to expect too much results in too short of a time. Let your ads grow, adding more to your budget at a steady pace if you're under the recommended amount for spending.
Don't forget to iterate on what you're selling, its price, and getting repeat customers to supplement for a higher budget on ads.
2. Unsure of the target audience
For beginners, this is a difficult part to master but it's easy to solve through iteration.
For your ads to work successfully on Facebook, you need to know who your target audience is.
Ads are consumer-specific, so an advertisement that interests someone could be completely ignored by another.
Sometimes, people with curiosity in the same niche may feel different about an ad, where one person may not hold an interest in it from its presentation, lack of detail in what's being sold, or its execution.
For the business owner, the target audience for ads can be revealed through algorithms.
However, that's not the only thing needed to get a better idea into who's most likely to click on your ad.
Having a lack of awareness for your target audience typically involves these challenges:
- Not knowing how customers in your niche interact with Facebook and other social networking websites
- Having a lack of understanding of your potential customers, where they live, and their interests that are relevant to the business
- Bad word choices in searches
- How the audience helps or makes a problem more convenient
How to fix:
The solution for this essentially boils down to getting a better understanding of people on the other end of your Facebook ads, the customer.
This is done in several ways, some of which you can do yourself or with the help of other services online. Take a look at them below:
- Surveys - The information that businesses get from surveys is extremely helpful, allowing them to know what people like, potential trends that could emerge in the future, and what they're most likely to spend their money on. Surveys can be done in ads, or relinquished to a different company and done for you.
- Communicating with customers - Most thriving businesses having success on Facebook will constantly stay in communication with the people in their niche. They may speak with them by phone, email, or on the Facebook platform itself. The information gained from communication can help you in growing your business, and getting potential customers to visit your landing page.
- Asking the right survey questions - When conducting a questionnaire or survey, be sure the questions will benefit you in some way. You should know why a customer likes what you sell, how many people they recommend you to, how they heard about your business, and the benefits that the relationship with you provides them.
3. Unclear value propositions
Value propositioning is integral to understanding your customers. But what is it, and how can it help you run successful Facebook ads?
In basic terms, the value proposition is the messaging that businesses show their customers to showcase how their products services can help ease a burden, solve a problem, or simplify a task.
That's the "value" part. The propositioning is how that messaging is carried across.
For example, there are clever ways in which food delivery services with mobile applications market themselves. They typically will show consumers the benefits of ordering online.
The business will point out how no ride is needed to get their favorite food to their home, even with restaurants that consumers might not have considered ordering delivery from before.
Value propositioning helps consumers see the advantage that's given to them once a product or service is purchased, its convenience in comparison to other competing services, or stress-free routes to pay for the service.
How to fix:
To use a value proposition, you should have an understanding of why your product or service is better than your competitors', then insulate your business from them.
It's done through persuasive language, but not the kind that requests the consumer to do something. Instead, find out what's being provided that contrasts with the alternative.
Show them why your services are better, or the challenges they'll face in going to competing businesses.
The latter can be done without explicitly naming a business, but making it obvious to them what you're referring to.
An example of this is gig jobs such as Lyft. They use value propositioning to raise themselves in "value" to the customer by showing how fast and low in price their ride is than hailing a traditional taxi.
4. Wrong type of Facebook ad
Ads on Facebook are easy to create but doing it the wrong way may result in fewer clicks and less conversions if they're not tailored to what you're selling.
Sometimes, businesses may venture too far away from their product, to the point where their ads aren't shown by people in their target niche.
Another instance of using the wrong ads is through the options listed on Facebook, those that you choose before running an ad.
If you know that you're getting clicks from promotions being run through photo content instead of video, yet decide to stick with videos anyway, don't be surprised if your Facebook ads aren't converting.
There are different types of ads on Facebook. Using each one according to what your users like to see can improve conversions.
How to fix:
Develop the mindset, "If nothing is broken, don't fix it." Use this mindset to stop yourself from running ads that have no use to you.
Do you find more people are clicking on your videos instead of the banners? Try running more video ads.
Facebook has five different ad types. These include Carousel, Single Video, Single Image Collection, and Slideshow.
You might be familiar with these, but each one can generate more or less conversions and traffic to your site.
Find the one that's getting you the best results and create more of those ads.
Still, don't abandon all of the rest as interest may fluctuate according to what you're selling, the time of year, or when holidays are near.
5. The landing page isn’t designed to convert
Your landing page is where you get convert traffic into customers through running Facebook ads. It's where you want your visitors to end up after viewing your ads.
But a poor landing page will prevent you from getting conversions out of them. It's a more common issue than you might think.
Seeing as how people are taught to put lots of time and money into the ads, it's critical the landing page is implemented correctly too.
Uber.com is a great example of a landing page that converts well.
Never lower the bar for your landing page since doing this could have a negative effect on your conversion rates.
But with some understanding of how to link your landing page to make it fit better with the ads that you're running, you could turn out conversions better than you ever thought possible.
How to fix:
To boost conversions through your landing page, you should first ensure that it fits the style of your ads.
Start by making improvements to your headlines, using a style similar to the ads. Be sure that you don't make the title too big or small.
In some cases, depending on what you're selling, large fonts could be fine.
Don't rush through things and keep the layout simple but attractive, remembering that many, if not most users will view the page from their mobile devices.
You want the entire page to be easy for them to navigate, in either portrait or landscape. The body of the text should be appealing to whoever sees the landing page.
Moderate styles work best. Don't make any mistakes with the body either. If you do, users could be unable to scroll their way through the landing page.
That's a quick way for those interested to become annoyed to the point of leaving the site and hurting your conversions.
6. You aren't engaging potential customers
Your potential customers visit your landing page, but how do you get them to convert into paying customers?
By proactively assisting and engaging them with a personalized customer experience.
However, browsing online for services or products can lack some of that in-person experience. With ServiceBell, you can proactively assist website visitors with the help of on-demand live video calls and screen takeover.
You can also use ServiceBell to better understand how your customers found your website, and how they interact with it.
The results of proactively calling your potential customers with ServiceBell?
- Increased conversions on your Facebook ads
- More trust between your customers and your brand
- More revenue
This functionality can help you further optimize your website for sales engagement, encouraging visitors to take the desired actions or engage with your team through live video calls.
The best part? ServiceBell easily integrates into your existing website with a few lines of code. Sign up for a free trial today, and start converting more customers from your Facebook ads.
7. Landing page doesn’t match the ad
Think of the last time that you clicked on a Facebook ad. Did you visit a landing page?
If so, the landing page might have piqued your interest in the product or service further.
For this to happen, there needs to be a connection between the landing page and ads. A common challenge businesses face is to properly match them to eachother.
Of course, beginners usually have this difficulty more than people that are experienced in running Facebook ads.
A good connection between the landing page and ad can show consumers that the business behind it is consistent and has great presentation, things that consumers look for to distinguish mediocre ads from those run by the competition.
How to fix:
If you're offering the people that visit your landing page something in return for their click, be sure to deliver on the promise.
Some landing pages are notorious for having deceptive marketing techniques that promise one thing yet do another.
In this unfortunate case, the user may visit the landing page not knowing that the person running it is only after their clicks.
So, be honest and deliver on what you claim to have on your landing page, or else users could view your content and brand as dishonest.
Keep the copy in the ad as close as possible to the landing page copy and place some of the claims that are seen in the ads on the landing page.
Consider adding videos or photos on your landing page that are used in your ads. Doing this will help establish trust between your brand and the potential customer.
8. No story or excitement around the offer
It doesn't matter how many offers you provide to users.
If there's no excitement being built around your offer, then it won't interest a majority of people in the slightest.
Ads should be a combination of one mood but contain either an interesting, exciting, insightful, or entertaining vibe.
If they don't, people will quickly consider them to be boring and could avoid buying from your business.
Curious customers are great for increasing conversions, so build your ads and landing pages with content that'll excite an audience. A great way to do this is to use images, videos, and compelling text.
Ads that are monotone and boring will create the same feeling for customers. This usually results in them failing to click on your ad, and visit your landing page.
How to fix:
You can create an ad that looks interesting on Facebook using the steps below.
Change out text for phrases that are easy to understand but fuel interest in them clicking on the landing page.
One way to do this is by adding a story or even on the ad, then concluding it on the landing page.
Think of it the same way as some YouTube content creators promote their videos. The title of a video is usually catchy and an interesting thumbnail is attached.
Titles are sometimes alluding, where they don't fully describe what's going on in the video but ask the user to click on it to read a more detailed description.
Watching the video could be the only way potential customers see and understand what you're offering them.
Bottom line? Place titles, images, and videos in your ads that entertain and motivate people to look further into your product.
9. Weak CTA (call to action)
A call to action can be difficult to implement correctly, on your ads and landing page.
You don't want your CTA to come across as rude or obvious, either.
CTAs should not outright say everything that's shown in your ad and landing pages is for them to help you get a conversion.
However, CTAs should tell users to either buy something or to make a visit somewhere. It's important that CTAs don't come across as aggressive or desperate.
Take a look at some of the call to actions on Facebook and you'll see how troublesome this issue can be.
Furthermore, making demands too often can make your ads feel like an infomercial with their in-your-face style of advertising.
How to fix:
You should gently guide your audience to the landing page, not shout at them to go.
But with a poor CTA, you're essentially shouting at potential customers to buy your product.
The solution is to avoid fluffy and overtly demanding requests from people. Instead, use language, images, and videos to gently guide them to do something.
Consumers should never feel as if they're being forced to do or like something.
10. Targeting is too broad
Everyone wants their ads to reach as many people as they can.
But if you're not careful, you could be spreading yourself out too thin for your own good.
Based on what you sell, a user might have lots of interest in your ad and landing page. So could many more.
Facebook uses audience tagging to allow people from similar niches to view your ad content.
However, over-relying on these parameters may cause the ads to appear to people that aren't really looking for what you're selling.
But, in some instances, having a broad audience could be beneficial.
A narrow audience is good for niche services, though a broad audience could be the trick that gets new customers interested, people that you might not have expected to see click on your ad content.
How to fix:
Stay within a few hundred thousand people when running ads countrywide.
It's not too big or small, yet just enough to stay narrowing but with room for a slightly broad group outside of your niche.
This not only opens the potential for new customers but provides a great sample size for Facebook's algorithm.
Smaller operations can work with fewer people, but the same suggestions are advised in any scale of targeting.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take for Facebook ads to convert?
Facebook ads will usually convert in less than a week, so long as the ads and landing pages are set up well and you have enough of a budget to run enough ads.
The higher the budget, the faster conversions will come. People with more than $2,000 to spend on ads could get conversions within a 24-hour period, sometimes shorter if what's being advertised is trending.
Alternatively, you could try an approach that gets conversions fast when the budget is tight.
Facebook will take about a day when making changes to your ad account in this manner.
This is done by creating ads with Lifetime and Daily budgets that go over what's expected. Let your ads grow to 10,000 impressions, then decrease the budget amount back to its total.
Do Facebook ads convert?
Wait for a couple of days for conversions. If you don't see anything, Facebook may not be moving your ads from a lack of data assigned to them.
Conversions for Facebook must number 50 for every advertisement in a period of seven days for them to be sent out.
If you don't want to wait for 50 conversions, consider using link clicks for a bit.
It'll also provide you some notoriety if the account is new and bring some clicks to your landing page. But when conversions are preferred at a rate that's not too pricey, you should stick to them instead.
What is the best time to run Facebook ads?
The problem with this advice is the people that give it.
Ask and some will tell you a different answer or others could recommend a certain time that's standard for when most people within a region are looking at Facebook on their computers and smartphones.
The truth is that there is no best time other than the one that's best for your ads.
Have you been recommended a specified time for running ads before?
That's probably the time that works best for their ads, not yours.
To pinpoint the times where you could get the most clicks and conversions, pay close attention to the data that's presented to you in Facebook's analytics.
Using this, you can determine when most of your sales are coming in through increases in the rate of clicks, including a truckload of other data.
Here are some of Facebook's data collection widgets:
- Facebook Pixel - You can monitor conversions with Facebook pixel, which lists its rate and determines the value of the ads that you use. It's a great tool for generating even more conversions and clicks.
- Analytics - From Facebook Analytics, you can track which ads are seeing the most traffic. Being one of the best ways to set up a time for when you run the most ads, use Analytics to help you with this, then check it to get stats relating to all the traffic that comes past your ads.
What’s a good conversion rate for Facebook ads?
Conversions rates recommendations change based on the business and what they market.
But with Facebook ads, the number is approximately 10%. The average is a little over 11%.
It's basically the same as the average conversion rate for all businesses, which numbers from nine to 12%.