Seven Reasons Your Ads Aren’t Converting

Show Notes: 

Facebook™ ads not converting? 🤒😔

Don’t worry, I’ve got you!

After brainstorming with my expert media buyers on what they are seeing as the TOP reasons client campaigns don’t perform…we’ve narrowed it down to 7 reasons.

Yes, 7. All of which come from years of experience working with clients and making sure their ads get them the outcome that they desire.

And if you can 🔨nail down 🔨 all these 7 I can guarantee you’ll have better results from your ads 😉

🎧 Tune in to the latest episode of Marketing on Tap to make sure you’re not making these mistakes.

Key Takeaways:

7 Reasons Why Your Ads Aren’t Converting

❌ You’re not speaking about the right problem or benefit in your ad — you’re talking in a general manner and not addressing specific needs of your target audience.

❌ You’re not stopping the scroll — your graphic or video is not enticing enough.

❌ Your copy isn’t compelling enough — your copy didn’t do its job of converting your audience into customers.

❌ Your posts are clickbait-y — your copy is overly enticing and attracting everyone, so it does not attract the right people.

❌ Your offer blends in with your competitors — you’re not making yourself stand out from the rest of the competitors in the market.

❌ You’re not overcoming objections — your copy doesn’t counter the objections of those who read it.

❌ You’re not eyeing the right target — you appeal to the general public and do not target the right audience for you.

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Get the Transcript here:

Seven Reasons Your Ads Aren’t Converting

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies.

Jessica Walman: Welcome back to The Marketing On Tap podcast with your host, myself, Jessica Walman. So pumped to be back guys, and I hope you guys are having an amazing, amazing week. I know I am. I’ve got lots of things happening this week. I actually just wanna make sure I can get sleep this week, so that is an amazing week cuz no matter what guys, y’all need sleep.

Sleep is important. I realize if I don’t have enough sleep, I cannot function the way I know I need to function. So just quick tip, make sure you’re getting your good, close to eight hours if you can’t of sleep. Everyone’s a little different. Me personally, I need closer to eight hours and then I’m like feeling on fire.

if it’s under seven, I’m now dying. I used to be able to survive off like five or six hours. I don’t know what happened. It must be age, it cannot happen anymore. alright, so let’s dive into it. This will actually be probably, maybe a little bit shorter of an episode. But I wanted to go over some of the reasons why your ads may not be working as well as you thought.

We go over these things internally with my agency, with my media buyers. we have daily meetings, we have weekly meetings, and then monthly meetings that go over, what’s working, what’s not working, what are we seeing trending right now? And just, in general, what are we.

See in each client’s account that have been proving to, move the needle. And so, we have noticed some trends, ongoing some are just always, they’re pretty, really, everything I’m gonna go over is, really standard. But, it’s something that’s important as to why maybe we aren’t seeing ads work the way we want them to work.

You when we work with our clients, we’re looking at the ads, the funnel, the offer, the whole thing. But if we go just straight to the ads only, we did kind of narrow down seven of the top reasons why your ads aren’t working. And if you can nail all seven of these, or at least the majority of them, then really should be nailing all seven and you’ll see why.

and that will make sure your ads are super strong in bringing in the right people and, allowing your offer to do its job, right? Your sales vehicle, like your webinar, or you’re challenged to sell. And then, you’re offered to be able to get buyers so, We’re just gonna dive right into it.

so the first reason your ads aren’t working is that you are not speaking to the right problem or benefit in the ad.

It may be a problem or benefit, but it’s not strong enough for them to take action. So I want you to think through, okay. So if you have like a general statement like, We help you have a happier life. I’m just gonna give you that example. that’s not super specific and it’s not, the exact wording that someone’s saying in their head.

it’s just not strong enough for if you’re saying, you are you, again, not saying this is compliant in any way, shape, or form, just kind of going off the top of my head here. if you’re like, you hey, Are you unhappy day to day? You taking naps, sleeping 12 hours a day, and, not, you having time with, your kids or loved ones.

I’m just trying to get specific, right? Like the more specific you can get without, again, you gotta make sure that you are staying compliant. And we just did an episode on being compliant, with Facebook, but just getting more down to the nitty gritty. With the right problem or benefit in the ad, that will lead to them clicking through and saying, yes, that is for me.

And you literally want them to say like, we just had a client, so awesome. I love when they do this. we had a client, Hey, can you write down what a day in the life of your avatar is? And they wrote down a day in the life and it was so specific that this ad was killing it. It had so many comments and shares and likes.

Because it was speaking so specific to their, problems or their issues or, on a daily basis, like, oh my gosh, that’s me. Oh my gosh, that’s me. That’s literally what people are saying. And so I love those type of ads. they don’t always work, but they can to be really, really strong. And so again, if you can think of how to really speak to the right problem or benefit, not the problem or benefit that you think in your head, but the right one, and that might mean you might need to survey some people just to be really sure on what that is.

Okay? The second is you’re not stopping the scroll. Which means your graphic or a video is not enticing enough at a glance for them to stop. so really making sure that when you are testing graphics and videos, you’re testing a good at least three to four minimally out the gate. And then of course adding more in.

And they all should be different. They shouldn’t be, oh, well these two look really similar. I’m gonna test these two and these two. then you only kind of test the two things you. Really need to make sure that you are testing graphics that are different from each other so you can get an idea of. What is trending, what is working, what’s getting the most clicks?

And we kind of track this with our ctr all, this is how we track it. You click through it all wepeople who stop on the ad and click it, that means that you got something to stop the scroll. If you’re not stopping the scroll, your competitors are, which we will talk about later. Okay? is copy isn’t compelling enough for them to click through to the next step.

So let’s say your cool graphic got them to stop, great, but when they start reading through the copy, They are not clicking to your page. Your copy was not compelling enough. It did not do its job. We tracked this with the, CTR link, your click through rate link, meaning they click the link to go to the next step.

And most people do that after they kind of read through the copy, right? So if your copy didn’t do its job, they’re not clicking through now maybe the right problem or desire, but it’s not written in a way designed for them to take. Action. So really you start reading through the copy and you get towards the end, is it designed in a way for them to be like, oh my gosh, I need this now.

And you’re telling them, go get it now, and it’s has a really strong call to action in there. If not, it’s not compelling enough. We have a client right now who, actually has a student of mine I think she has four, or five different copy. She’s testing. And her images are great.

Like she’s getting a 5.8 something percent clickthrough rate. All it’s fantastic. we look for like a 3% minimally but her CTA link is only like 0.57 and we look for about a 1%. So she’s not there. all of her copy that I noticed, even though they were good, we’re all long. So one thing for her was can you make it short and snappy?

these are for her audience, they’re moms, and so maybe they just don’t have the time. And so making it short, snappy to the point. that might work. So she’s gonna test that next. So just your copy isn’t compelling enough, so make sure your copy’s compelling enough to make them wanna click through.

Okay. then is your copy or image or video is clickbaity and attracting the wrong people. Okay, so if I’m like, Hey, click here and learn how you can make six figures a month. Who’s gonna click there? Everyone and their mother. All right. Everyone’s clicking there, and so that’s a bad example of click wait, right?

Like you don’t wanna sit there and just have something really juicy that is vague and like everyone wants to click because then what are you doing? You’re not attracting your right person, you’re not attracting the ideal person. So now you can still be super, kind of juicy and sexy in your copy to your ideal client, but make sure it’s not super click baby.

Cuz at the end of the day, even if you have to pay more for the click, pay more for the conversion. If you’re attracting the right people by not trying to get all flashy and clickbait with your image and copy, it’s better cuz you’re gonna convert more on the back end with the right people.

Right. So again, we’ve tested like doing a dog, like a really cute dog image in, the newsfeed. and sometimes it’s like, well, that has nothing to do with what you’re writing about. I mean, it doesn’t, right? It doesn’t. So you might call that click baby.

I’m trying to get people to stop because everybody stops, looks at a dog, right? A cute dog. when they go to read the copy, then that really is gonna tell us who’s the right person. So I, do get a little. like if I’m gonna test something like that, I don’t like to test it a lot. I like to test a little bit.

I have a few clients who have just the cutest dogs and they take such cute pictures with them. And so I’m like, you know what? We have to test this. And sometimes they are their best performing images, but it’s not like I’m doing really crazy random. like an image of money flooding out of like a laptop and then someone you it’s like, oh, I get all this money from being online or something.

Like, it’s not like that, that’s super Click Beatty and could give you a lot of clicks that are just not the right people. Okay, so make sure your copier image isn’t click Beatty. Cuz you might be like, man, I’m getting all these clicks. It’s fantastic, but nobody’s converting. It’s cuz you’re probably, not attracting the right people.

Okay? fifth is your offer blends in with your competitors. So it looks like all the rest. So you need to figure out what is gonna make your ads look different. you need throw rocks at competitors, right? that is always kind of differentiating yourself. in your copy and in your images and video, you can slide in credibility pieces such as what you’ve been featured in, or number of students you’ve helped, or results from students or clients or even your own results, right?

you can walk through how it works, like a little behind the scenes so they can clearly see how your offer is different. You have to figure out a way to make you stand out from your competitors, because if you’re just doing the same thing, especially if you’re just starting or whatnot, they’ve been seeing the competitors longer and you just wanna stand out.

Otherwise, they’re gonna look at you guys and say, well, which price is cheaper? And nobody wants to compare it off price. what makes you stand out? What makes you different? What makes you unique? So they’ll come to you and then pay the price point you offer. six, you’re just not overcoming objections.

if you have a webinar, it’s like, I’m gonna teach you how to lose. Five pounds in 10 days. Let’s just say again. Nah, it’s not compliant, but let’s just say that’s what it is. in your ad, if someone read that, they might be saying, bull honky not gonna happen, or you know what that yeah, I to starve myself or eat no carbs, or like, do cardio for two hours a day.

Right. Those are all the objections in their head. So how do you overcome those in your copy? How do you, in your copy. Make sure you know what, I know these are like the common three or four or five things that they’re saying right now, and I wanna overcome them. I want them to know you don’t have to do these things.

I’ve got a new way. I’ve got a new method for you that works. And so how can you overcome those objections? If you’re not doing that, then someone is going to. Read your ads, say This is what this person says they can do for me, but I don’t think that’s possible cuz of X, Y, Z. And no one ever told me otherwise, so I’m just not gonna click through.

overcoming objections in your ads. Okay. And then seven, which I think the rest of them are more important, but seven targeting, targeting is important. The rest of ’em I think is so much more important, but targeting is important. I would say, it depends on how you’re targeting. sometimes I can get super, super narrow and niche in my targeting and sometimes that can be great, but sometimes it’s actually hurtful.

so what I’ve noticed more and what my media buyers have noticed more is getting more open and broad with our audiences. have been working. The reason is, you are getting in front of a large pool of people and if you have a seasoned pixel, if you’ve been running ads and Facebook already knows who your ideal client is, and so you’re copying image Facebook should be getting you in front of that audience, but in even bigger audience, and then you’re copying image should be attracting the right people.

The copying image should be so specific that if they see it, it’s not general, it’s not confusing. it’s okay. This image, this copy is for me and for what my goals and desires are, and this can help me. So making sure that your image and copy are on point and attracting the right people in front of this larger audience.

start thinking of like, for your targeting, you can go broad. but you can even do like a ton of organizations and that’s it. Or a ton of books that your i o client, follows or a ton of influencers or interests, like outside of the box, right? and start thinking that way.

So it’s two ways. I think that with your targeting, it’s either getting ’em open and broad. do this with either having zero interest in there. Okay? Like zero. All we do is like age, gender, and location. And that works well. A lot of the times, especially if you’ve got a seasoned pixel, if you have less of a seasoned pixel, then this is where you need to start doing some, interests.

And we still do interests even with season pixel, but I’m just telling you like these are, something that we’ve tested more and more of. but if you don’t have a season of a pixel, then I would say really think outside the box and think of organizations and, books and influencers and 

we have an E-com client selling, makeup brushes. and we were sort of targeting things like TV shows and specific actresses and things like that. And they just started killing it. Like, it’s so random. And we’re like, well, what does this TV show have to do? Anything that it doesn’t, but like, it really just started working well.

it was like, let’s think of our ideal client and shows that they may like. Boom, right? So it wasn’t like super off the, board, but still it was random and it was outside of the box and people probably aren’t even targeting that, which means guess what? Our CPMs were really low then our CPA was super low too, which was fantastic.

so these are you guys. The seven things are not speaking to the right problem or benefit in the ad. Not stopping the scroll with your graphic or video. Not getting the click because your copy isn’t compelling enough. Your copier image are too clickbait and so you’re attracting the wrong people by trying to be too juicy or sexy in your copier image, your offer is blending in with competitors.

Your webinar or slow offer, whatever is you’re offering. As blending in. So you need to figure out a way to make it not blend in with competitors. you’re not overcoming objections in your ad copy and then your targeting, may just need some adjusting. So those are probably the top seven. There are definitely others, but if your ads are not working, look at each of these.

See if there’s something that you can tweak in your ads that will get them to convert. And actually, I should add at a last one here, just because, I see this a lot. Is make sure you’re testing enough creatives and audiences, that’s key. I swear, it happens all the time. I, and that’s totally fine.

Just cuz I do this all day, so to me, this is second nature, but I see a lot of students and then clients who came to me who were running their own ads beforehand know, they tested two or three audiences with two or three images and they’re like, it just didn’t work.

I’m like, no, you need to test way more than that. you need to test more. three to four images minimally, but we’ll do five to six minimally before we say this isn’t working. or something isn’t working right. audiences minimally three to four out the gate, but I would say eventually we do five to six just out the gate for testing, as we continue to test.

And and then of course, like I said, we’re adding more. So if you like, have only tested a couple of audiences and a couple of images test more, and along the way, obviously you’d be tracking other data metrics. Like, okay, I have these, People are clicking the ads, but there’s a huge drop off.

Like people aren’t even landing on the page. Like the page speed is super slow and so people aren’t even landing on the page. Well make sure you check that data or people are getting to the page but they aren’t opted in. Well check that data too. Like there’s other data points you have to check along the way.

but those are important. So. Alright, so hopefully this was helpful guys. Start getting your ads working, start getting them converting, implement these and I will see you guys in the next episode. Bye.