I went against my own Facebook Ads advice

Hey,

When you've been running Ads for some time, there are occasions when you just know, in your gut, that something isn't working.

I ignored my own advice

This goes completely against my own advice and recommendations, but a couple of weeks ago, I was testing some new videos I'd created for my Facebook Ads.

One day into these new video Ads being launched, however, I swapped out the videos for a proven image I'd used previously.

The new Ads, with the videos, hadn't exited the Learning Phase, but even 1 day into the Learning Phase, I have a good feel for what the CPCs (Cost-Per-Clicks) and CTRs (Click-Through-Rates) should be.

Yes, they are still higher than I'd like them to be because that's what happens in the Learning Phase, so I account for that when looking at the data.

But these video Ads I'd created were way above my threshold and had completely blown past the acceptable range I like to see the key metrics operate in during the Learning Phase.

To give you an idea of performance...

– The CPCs were anywhere from $0.50 to $1.30

– And the CTRs were less than 1%

Even after new Ads were launched, within 24 hours and still operating in the Learning Phase, I'd expect to see CPCs below $0.30 and CTRs of at least 2%-3%, or higher.

Sometimes, you just know in your gut that something isn't going to work, and having worked with Facebook Ads for so long, spent so much money on them, and seen a lot of data, I trust my gut feelings.

Maybe, just maybe, if I'd let those Ads continue to run, they could have started to outperform previous Ads.

Personally though, from all the Ads I've run, if things aren't going too well in the Learning Phase, then it doesn't look too good for the long-term sustainability of the Ads.

So, why am I telling you all this?

In the beginning, yes, you should let things just roll, collect data, and get a feel for what your baseline metrics are (i.e. your average CPCs, CTRs, Conversion Rates, etc.).

If you start making decisions too early and cutting things off before you truly understand how your Facebook Ads operate, you're likely going to be having a negative impact on your results.

The reason being, that you are operating from a scarcity mindset; you're seeing money being spent with little to no results and so you turn everything off and forget about the importance of investing in data collection and your education in learning something new.

After 6-12 months of running Facebook Ads, you will have built up a very good understanding of how your Ads perform and you will have your own acceptable thresholds for CPCs, CTRs, etc.

Once you reach that stage, even if you can't imagine it today, there will come a time when you have this sort of "sixth sense" and you'll see red flags if something is operating outside normal parameters for your Facebook Ads.

This is when you will naturally start using a combination of your instincts and data to make decisions from.

You may be here already, in which case, use that instinct.

Data doesn't lie, but in most cases, once you have a lot of experience under your belt, neither does your instinct.


To Your Success

– Matt