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16 reasons why Facebook ads are ineffective and how to fix them – Should you hire someone to run Facebook Ads?

HT Vũ Ngọc 18 Jan, 2025 Facebook Marketing
Facebook ads is one of the most popular advertising options due to the nearly 2 billion users on the platform. However, despite 92% of marketers claiming to use Facebook Ads, many still fail to generate positive conversion rates. In this article, we will highlight some common mistakes people make when running Facebook Ads campaigns, explore the reasons why Facebook ads are not effective, and suggest solutions to improve them.

I – Signs of an Ineffective Facebook Ad

No Interaction, No Messages

The most obvious sign of an ineffective Facebook ad campaign is the lack of engagement and messages from your target audience. In some cases, you may still be paying for each click, but no one comments or sends messages to inquire about your products or services.

Low CTR (Click Through Rate)

For Facebook Ads, the ideal CTR is about 0.9%. However, this figure can vary depending on the product you are offering, the ad campaign, the placement of your ad, etc. You should track the average industry benchmarks and those of your competitors.

According to a survey by Wordstream of 256 client accounts in the U.S., the average CTR for Facebook ads is between 0.75% – 1.25%. The highest CTR is seen in the retail industry, at 1.59%. Industries such as education, finance, banking, real estate, and automotive have lower CTRs, averaging below 0.75%.

High CPC (Cost Per Click)

According to Wordstream’s statistics, the average CPC for Facebook Ads is $1.72, with the finance and banking industry having the highest CPC at $3.77, and the fashion industry having the lowest at $0.45.

Low CR (Conversion Rate) / No Sales

A low conversion rate indicates that customers are not having a good experience on your landing page. If you’re using Facebook Ads for sales purposes, “no sales” is a clear sign that you need to reconsider your ads.

II – Why Facebook Ads Are Not Effective?

Lack of In-depth Campaign Analysis and Management

After setting up your Facebook Ads campaign, ad sets, and learning how to run the ads, it’s important to regularly monitor and check your campaigns. In addition to assessing whether your ads are generating sales, you should focus on analyzing reports and measuring the effectiveness of your Facebook Ads campaign. Ignoring this process will leave you passive in improving and optimizing your ads.

Many people tend to start changing their objectives or target audience when they don’t see immediate results from their Facebook ads. While this may not be wrong, it’s essential to first analyze the key metrics. Sometimes, making a few small adjustments can significantly improve the overall results.

Additionally, you should review the processes in place for product management, customer service, and order management. Look at customer comments and messages to evaluate their priorities and interests in your product, and set up a more effective sales process, which includes responding to user queries and providing helpful customer advice.

Setting Unclear Goals

When creating a campaign, selecting an advertising objective is the first essential step. Based on this, Facebook will provide specific feature options and settings that it believes will help you achieve your goal. Therefore, if you choose the wrong objective, you may miss out on other features that could be beneficial for your campaign.

For example, the “Brand Awareness” objective allows you to select a call-to-action (CTA) button such as “Learn More” for the ad. But choosing the “Reach” objective will provide entirely different CTA options to choose from.

Solution:

Hover over the information icon to learn more details about the objectives and review Facebook’s Ads Guide to explore how each objective works.

See more products: Buy advertising accounts

Not Reaching the Right Target Audience

A key advantage of Facebook ads is that they allow you to target your ads precisely, ensuring that your posts are shown to a group of people who are most likely to be interested in, curious about, or engaged with your products, services, or offers, and who are likely to click through to a specific landing page. However, the downside is that if your ads are poorly targeted, your Facebook Ads will be shown to people who have no interest in them, leading to poor website conversion.

High CTR, Low CR: These could be curious clicks from users who aren’t truly interested in the product or service you’re offering. Not only will you fail to make a sale, but you’ll also end up paying for meaningless clicks.

Solution:

To run effective Facebook ads, you need to target your ads correctly. First, you need to identify who your customers are and create a custom audience profile. Knowing the characteristics of your ideal customers will give you the chance to set up ads that are shown to the right people. Key information you should research about your customers includes:

  • Age and gender
  • Location
  • Who they are / What influences them
  • Language
  • Interests

If you’re unsure about your customers, you can use Audience Insights – a tool Facebook provides to help you research your ideal customer base.

Targeting Too Broad or Too Narrow

Overly Broad Audience

Targeting an audience that is too broad means you’re competing with other marketers for the attention of those individuals. This often leads to paying more for each click and possibly receiving fewer impressions and lower conversion rates. Additionally, there is no guarantee that these individuals are interested in the product or service you’re offering.

However, broad targeting can be effective in certain cases, such as when the goal is to increase brand awareness.

Overly Narrow Audience

Targeting an audience that is too narrow may limit your results. Interests and topics are not always 100% accurate, so marketers need to be careful not to target an audience that doesn’t align with their offer.

Solution:

You should select no more than 10 user behaviors and interests when defining your target audience and break them into smaller segments to run ads effectively.

For location targeting, instead of selecting “nationwide,” you should choose a maximum of 10 provinces or cities, including major cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and focus on the areas where you make the most sales based on your previous data.

Duplicate Audience

When the audience has similar interests across multiple ad groups in a campaign, Facebook will attempt to prevent your ads from competing against each other in the “auction process.” This means that Facebook will only run the ad groups it deems to perform better based on historical adset performance.

Solution:

You should review your targeting options to check how similar your audience segments are by using Facebook’s Audience Overlap Tool.

Campaign Lacking Sufficient Budget

Although advertising on Facebook is often more cost-effective than on other social media platforms like LinkedIn, you may experience poor performance if your budget is too low. Low or reduced impressions due to Facebook distributing ads below the required level is a clear sign of this issue.

While the actual campaign budget is influenced by several factors (payment events, target audience, etc.), the basic cost for campaigns ranges from $2 to $10 per ad per day. This amount typically provides Facebook enough budget to distribute your ads to a sufficiently wide audience and gather meaningful statistical data.

Solution:

Consider increasing your maximum cost-per-click bid if you are using manual bidding. If you are using automatic bidding, increase your budget and monitor your ad impressions.

Additionally, you should review how you set your budget (daily or lifetime budget):

  • Lifetime Budget

Target audience for using Lifetime Budget:

– Running a campaign with a clearly defined budget and a specific end date.

– Running campaigns such as retargeting efforts or special promotions (shorter duration).

– Not concerned about consistent daily spending.

  • Daily Budget

Target audience for using Daily Budget:

  • Wants consistent daily spending in their advertising campaign.
  • Running a continuous campaign over a long period, such as a brand awareness campaign.

Inappropriate Bid Setting

If you notice that your ads are not getting enough impressions or clicks, you may want to consider adjusting your bid settings.

Your ads are competing with thousands of others in a huge digital auction. And bidding is one of the key factors that Facebook uses to select the winner in this auction. Setting a bid too low may result in fewer impressions or even no impressions at all.

Solution:

If you previously set the “Automatic” option and didn’t see any results, you can switch to the “Manual” option.

If you are using a bid cap but still facing distribution issues, the simplest solution is to adjust the bid to a higher amount or switch to the lowest cost option without a cap.

Additionally, you can also explore and refer to the strategies we provide for optimizing Facebook advertising costs, in order to optimize your budget and achieve the best results.

Errors in Facebook Ads Post Content

Errors in Expression and Writing Style

Overly long, rambling, and not to the point will make consumers quickly scroll past your post.

Words like “ours,” “we,” or “I” are ineffective. You should rewrite your ad copy using words that focus on the user, such as “you” and “your.” The more you create a conversation and interact with customers, the more likely they are to take action on the ad.

Asking Customers to Take Action Too Early

Everyone who buys goes through a series of stages leading up to the purchase, called the customer journey, which includes Awareness, Consideration, and Decision. Skipping the first two stages can result in poor conversion rates.

Spam Content

Facebook defines spam content as “ads that ask people to interact with it in specific ways, such as requesting likes, comments, or shares.” In some cases, this may be the reason why an ad is not running on Facebook, simply because the content violates Facebook’s policy.

Clickbait Language

Facebook states that clickbait language is “ads that use exaggerated headlines or demand responses from people without delivering on the landing page.”

Random Insertion of Icons or Links

Using icons in posts is a way to make it easier for users to read and visualize what you’re introducing. However, for Facebook Ads, excessive use of icons can backfire, causing users to feel confused and damaging the brand’s image.

Image Errors

Potential buyers are often looking for entertainment on Facebook. They won’t have a good experience if a luxurious company image appears out of place while they’re scrolling through posts from friends. It immediately lets users know they’re viewing an ad, which may negatively impact their response to the offer.

Incorrect Image Sizes: You can refer to the standard image sizes for Facebook Ads.

Not Using Video

Video is becoming an essential format, especially on Facebook, as the platform is currently prioritizing video content. You can easily notice on Facebook’s newsfeed that most posts are videos. This format is gradually becoming a trend to capture consumers’ attention.

Unattractive CTA

Although Facebook provides predefined CTA options to choose from, that doesn’t mean the ad copy cannot include a compelling CTA. One reason your ad may have a low click-through rate could be due to an unattractive CTA. You should convey urgency and encourage users to take a clear action.

Improper Format, Placement, and Timing of Ads

Each type of advertising objective has a format and placement that work best. Depending on your target audience and ad budget, you can choose the appropriate placement. However, statistics show that 95% of marketers prioritize and rate the “news feed” as the most effective placement for reaching customers.

You can check Facebook’s recommendations on placement and ad format for each objective here.

Additionally, you should run ads during the hours when your customers are most active online. Also, make sure to set the timezone of your ad account according to the time zone of the market you’re operating in.

Not Using a Custom Landing Page

People expect to see the same terms, CTA, and images on the website they visit as they saw on the ad they clicked through. If you’re directing customers to your homepage, you may create a poor user experience.

Using a homepage as the destination URL can also affect your Quality Score. If Facebook notices that people are clicking on the ad and quickly exiting, you’ll be assigned a low relevance score, resulting in less visibility for your post.

Solution:

Create custom landing pages for your campaigns that allow you to control the elements on the page, provide a clear conversion opportunity, match the ad copy with the landing page copy, and achieve a higher Quality Score.

Not Running Facebook Ads Split Tests

Split testing is one of the most effective ways to run ads and should be done on all marketing campaigns, especially on Facebook. Split testing allows you to run multiple ad sets with small differences between them, which are randomly delivered to your audience. This enables you to determine which one performs better, which one works faster, and how to improve your campaign.

Solution:

Create ad variations and let them run for a few days, then review the data. You’ll find that one ad might generate better website conversions than others.

You can experiment with targeting, formats, ad placements, copy, images, etc. It’s essential that you test and make fundamental changes to your current ads.

Relying Only on Facebook Ads

Facebook Ads is indeed an effective tool for finding and reaching customers. However, don’t make it your only tool. With the current multi-channel marketing trend, you can leverage many other platforms to grow your brand and revenue, rather than focusing all your resources and time on optimizing Facebook Ads.

Solution:

Here are some suggestions you can apply when Facebook Ads aren’t performing well:

  • Selling on Personal Pages: Traditional sales posts may not work well with your friend list. Try focusing on entertaining, engaging posts with catchy titles and headlines.
  • Post in Groups: Selling in community groups can be very helpful if you know how to create engaging content and make the most of the product’s standout features. The people in the right group are likely already potential customers.
  • Instagram Ads: Items like food, clothing, cosmetics, etc., are perfect for online business on Instagram.
  • Livestreaming: Live streaming your products on personal pages, fanpages, or groups is an effective way to sell.
  • E-commerce Platforms: With the increasing trend of consumers using e-commerce platforms for shopping, you can boost sales on platforms like Shopee, Lazada, Sendo, Tiki, etc.

Not Reaching New Customers

If your Facebook Ads were effective initially but have recently shown signs of diminishing returns, and customers are no longer responding well, you should check your frequency metric.

  • If the frequency is below 1.5, it means your ad is not repeating. However, it could be that your target audience is too broad and their responses vary.
  • If the frequency is around 2, it means your ad is repeating and not reaching new customers.

Solution:

  • Modify the audience for your ad set, change the characteristics entirely so Facebook can reach new users.
  • In the ad set, create a new ad with fresh content. Facebook will evaluate and distribute it from the start. Old users might engage better with the new ad.
  • Completely discard the ad set and create a new one within the same campaign. This new ad set will reach a new audience, as well as some old users. Be sure to track the campaign’s performance.
  • If the ad sets’ frequency is under 2 but the campaign’s frequency is close to 2, your ad performance may start to slow down. In this case, you should delete the campaign and start a new one.

Interruption in Ads

Constantly Turning Ads On and Off

Frequently toggling Facebook Ads on and off will negatively affect their performance. Instead of turning the ads off immediately when they don’t show immediate results, you should wait 1-2 days for the ads to stabilize and distribute effectively. Also, try optimizing your ads rather than disabling them without applying useful solutions.

Not Making Timely Payments to Facebook

A simple issue that’s easy to overlook is exceeding your spending limit in your account. Once the limit is reached, Facebook Ads won’t run—it simply won’t spend or distribute the budget. Therefore, be sure to check the “Billing & Payment Methods” section and monitor your spending limits regularly.

Not Using Retargeting Strategy

Retargeting is one of the most effective advertising methods, meaning targeting individuals who have already shown interest in your business or products and services—this is also known as remarketing. Running retargeting ads on Facebook allows you to filter out those who aren’t interested in your offer and focus on those who have more intent. If you don’t take advantage of retargeting, you could waste ad spend on an audience that will never convert.

Competitors’ Offers Are Better

You might be running a 10% discount promotion, but your competitor could have a 15% discount campaign. This will cause you to lose potential customers to your competitors.

Solution:

You can track your competitors’ offers on Facebook using the Ad Library or search for keywords they are targeting through Google.

See more products: Buy advertising accounts

III – Solving the Problem of Ineffective Self-Running Facebook Ads

If running ads on your own isn’t yielding results and it’s taking too much time and effort to implement all the optimization measures for Facebook Ads, you may want to consider partnering with an advertising agency. With their expertise and hands-on experience, they can help optimize your conversion rates and boost your sales revenue.

Here are some considerations when choosing an advertising agency:

  1. Reputable, Professional, and Experienced Agency
    Be cautious of individuals/agencies that promise to boost likes at low costs, as this may not yield effective results for your campaigns.
  2. Reasonable Budget Calculation
    You should choose an agency that offers thorough consultation on budget allocation and ad goals based on the customer journey.
  3. Create a Business Account to Protect Your Page
    Losing your page is a common issue when running Facebook Ads. To minimize this risk, it’s recommended to create a business account to protect your fanpage.

With over 5 years of experience handling large and small-scale projects, buybm365.com is a trusted and professional agency providing comprehensive marketing services. Our team will consult, strategize based on the customer journey, and implement Facebook Ads campaigns, helping you increase your conversion rates and achieve your sales revenue goals.

Facebook Ads can be a great way to increase conversions and drive revenue from your target customers. However, if you’re still not seeing a satisfactory return on investment, you may be making some common mistakes that are preventing your ads from being effective and attracting the right custom audience.

If you need the most reputable payment method and advertising account provider, you can message the fanpage buybm365.com-Ads to receive advice from HT Media. In addition, you can follow the articles. Latest articles related to our Digital Marketing.

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