Getting Clicks but No Sales? Fix These Common Meta Ad Mistakes

Jan 27

4 min read

All Clicks and No Sales?

You’re spending money on Meta Ads, but instead of sales rolling in, you’re left wondering where your investment is going.

Let’s be honest, none of us have the time, money or headspace to waste on running ads that aren’t serving your business.

So, without further ado, here are 4 quick checks to help you find out why your Meta Ads may not be converting and the steps you can take to fix them.

A Bit of Theory…

I’m the kind of person who has to understand WHY something is the way it is in order to accept it (which is probably why I was so bad at A Level maths).

For that reason, I’m going to pause for a bit of marketing theory. Bear with me. I’ll keep it brief.

The Messy Middle

Anyone who has even dipped one single toe into the world of marketing has heard of a sales funnel- the idea that any customer has to go through a number of stages of getting to know a brand before they pull out their credit card to buy.

In 2020 Google updated our thinking to include “the messy middle”.

In a nutshell, the messy middle indicates that customers are actually taking longer in the middle phases of exploration and evaluation than ever before.

Increasing competition and distrust means that the number of “touch points” (times a customer encounters a brand) we require before we buy is going up and up each year.

Your Meta Ad = One Touchpoint

Your prospects are unlikely to sign on the dotted line just because your face popped up on Facebook once.

They need to see you repeatedly showing up, demonstrating your expertise and allowing them to peak into your world.

Basically, it’s that age-old know, like and trust factor.

Your Ad is the First Step of the Customer Journey

… and you need to have their path mapped out.

Don’t show an ad to a customer without giving them a next step. Make sure you have a plan to draw them into your orbit.

Here’s how you do that.

Planning Their Path

Lead with Your Goal

Instinctually, you’d think that the best ads to post on social media are either your best performing existing posts or a bespoke ad that says “buy me”.

But is your goal here to make an immediate sale?

For a very low ticket sale, it might be! You might be drawing them in with an offer they can’t refuse, at a price that feels low risk, in the hopes that they’ll be back for more.

However, for anything more than about £30, your goal should be more about reeling them in to your world, giving you space to build that rapport that will eventually lead to a sale.

For example, your goal could be to grow your email list, in which case, your ad will show off your freebie or free webinar.

Your goal could be to get in discovery calls in the diary, build traffic to your website, increase engagement on your social media or simply to build brand awareness.

Whatever it is, you need to be clear on the end goal before you even start.

Bring Them to a Landing Page

You’ve decided your goal. You’ve posted your ad. It’s strong. They clicked.

Now where do they go?

Here’s where you need a great landing page.

In my opinion, there are two boxes things your landing page needs to tick.

#1- Do what you promised. If you promised an amazing freebie, take them straight to the sign up form for that freebie. Make it as easy as possible to find the sign up form.

#2- Do ONE thing well. Once you’ve delivered what you’ve promised, the job of the landing page is done. Don’t confuse the customer by then giving them secondary calls to action that might distract from your goal.

Okay, you think, but whilst they’re there, what if I also want to get them following social media? What if I also want them to look at another amazing product I have to offer?

Capture Those Leads

One of the biggest Meta ads mistakes is then allowing this new, interested prospect to simply click away, never to be seen again.

How do we avoid that? We get their contact details (and their permission to use them) before they go.

Find a way to get them onto your email list.

If they are signing up for a freebie, collect their emai address and let them know you’ll be sending it there. If they are making a purchase or booking a call, add a tick box to say their happy to be contacted by you.

Then, you can send them an automated email sequence over the next few days, covering all those other actions you’d love for them to take.