“Half my advertising is wasted; I just don't know which half.” - John Wanamaker

Introduction:

Ads get blamed for everything. When leads don't turn into customers, the first instinct is to change the creative, the audience, or the budget. Most of the time the ad is doing its job, and the break sits somewhere you're not looking. An ad is one link in a chain: ad, click, landing page, offer, follow-up, sale. Money goes in at the top. Customers come out the bottom only when every link holds.

Now, here are 3 places where the chain usually snaps. 👇

1. The ad and the landing page don't match

Someone clicks an ad about saving money and lands on a generic homepage. The promise vanishes, and so do they. The page should finish the sentence the ad started.

2. Nobody follows up

A person who clicks today but doesn't buy today isn't gone. They're busy. If no one reaches out within a few minutes, the competitor who does will win them.

3. You're counting the wrong thing

Clicks and impressions look good in a report and pay no bills. The number that matters is what it costs you to land one paying customer.

Before you touch the ad again, follow one click all the way to the sale and find the link that breaks.

Other resources to help you get more from your ad spend

Your ad performance checklist

Here's a quick checklist to find the leak before you spend another dollar.

• Match every ad to a dedicated landing page, not the homepage

• Make the landing page repeat the ad's exact promise

• Set up follow-up that fires within minutes of a new lead

• Track cost per paying customer, not clicks

• Kill the ads that bring clicks but no customers

Find the link that's costing you customers. [Get a free ad-to-sale audit].