When a Campaign Underperforms & Things Don't Go as Expected

About the Client

The client operates an eCommerce store that sells a variety of candies.

The Problem

The business had been burned by other ad agencies in the past and wanted a Facebook Ads strategy that worked for their store.

The Goal

With the holidays approaching and demand for candy going up, the client wanted to use a Facebook Ads campaign to boost their sales.

The Solution

After reviewing the client’s website we found several issues. The site was a simple WordPress blog template without an effective checkout system. So, we decided to take a different approach.

We recommended using the newly launched Facebook/Instagram Shop feature. By setting up a page using this tool users would have a better experience. Conversions would also likely be higher.

Next, we wanted to take advantage of the fact that this was a small mom-and-pop business. We used simple copy and creative that was presented as a recommendation from a friend, rather than a generic corporate ad.

Finally, because we weren’t driving traffic to their website we optimized the ads for the funnel event “Add to Cart.” We determined this was the best course of action based on Facebook’s recommendations and our creative process.

We launched the ads on December 19th, as per our agreement. Partially due to the buggy nature of Facebook/Instagram Shops, the campaign didn’t quite live up to expectations. While it generated excellent CTRs, CPMs, CPCs, the sales and traffic were below what we wanted.

This happens with Facebook Ads sometimes, so we continued to test and optimize the campaign.

What We Changed

We created a new variation of the ad on January 6th, this time using a carousel campaign that directed customers straight to the website.

The new ads performed much better in spite of the declining interest in candies coming as a result of the end of the Holiday season.

The client wasn’t impressed and decided not to continue with the ads

So, what could we have done better to prevent this from happening?

What We Learned

In hindsight, there were some errors encountered when setting up the Facebook/Instagram Shops. As a result, while the ads performed well the product did not.

Not every campaign will work exactly how we want it to.

This is why we try our best to explain our processes & expected results as concisely & clearly as possible.

We welcome anyone reading this post to give our material a read:

1. Frequently Asked Questions - https://my.prakhargupta.net/faq
2. Our timeline for first 4 weeks of the ad - https://my.prakhargupta.net/timeline
3. Our campaign optimisation process - https://my.prakhargupta.net/creativeprocess

These have been tested, experimented & perfected over the last 7+ years & continue to evolve as per our client’s needs & changes in the Facebook ads ecosystem

Although, ads are only a billboard that gets people’s foot in the door. It’s equally important that the business provide expansive product options, affordable pricing & be an authority in their field for the campaign to truly succeed.

Products Used

The client purchased our Advanced Tier 2 package, which includes campaign set-up, multiple ad variations, ad monitoring, optimization, and more.

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