29: Behind the Curtain of My Failed Ads (and Why I Shut Them Down)

Chapters

00:00 The Flop: A Candid Reflection on a Failed Campaign
02:26 Understanding the Offer: The Importance of Testing
05:24 The Decision to Stop: Knowing When to Pull the Plug

Even ad strategists have campaigns that flop. In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on one of mine where I launched ads for a brand-new offer and quickly realized... they weren’t working.

But instead of tweaking the copy, switching the audience, or burning more budget, I made the call to shut the whole thing down.

In this honest behind-the-scenes breakdown, I’m sharing:

•   What went wrong
•  Why I didn’t try to fix it
•   And how to know when it’s better to pause than push

Because sometimes the smartest ad move you can make... is stopping.

Takeaways

• The campaign completely flopped with no leads or conversions.
• I decided to shut it down instead of trying to fix it.
• I launched a free offer to build my email list.
• I set up a funnel and ran ads to cold traffic.
• Despite good click-through rates, there were zero conversions.
• The problem was the untested offer, not the ad itself.
• I realized I hadn't tested the messaging or the offer organically.
• It's important to know when to stop spending on a failing ad.
• Low-cost ads can help validate an offer before a full launch.
• Sometimes it's better to pause and relaunch when ready.

🎧 Tune in now and learn from my mistake so you don’t make it too.

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Transcript

Stacy Covitz 
Hey hey, Stacy Covitz here with another MetaAds Quick Tip episode. Today is behind the scenes of a recent campaign I ran for my own business and it totally flopped. Like, no leads, no magic.

Here's the kicker is I didn't even try and fix it. I shut it down completely. And I'm going to tell you why.

Stacy Covitz (01:03.768)
So let's rewind for a second. I launched a brand new offer and it was to, it was actually a free offer. was to build up my email list with new subscribers. And so it was a free offer and I was so excited about it. I even mentioned it on the podcast a few times, but I hadn't tested it.

It was a free five day challenge and it was already a month. It was already past the deadline I had initially set for it. I had wanted to start the challenge a month earlier and then time just got away from me. So it was already delayed and I was already feeling rushed.

So I naturally I set up a funnel. I created a landing page and opt in everything. Created an ad and I started running it to cold traffic. My goal was to build an email list so I wanted to reach new businesses. I didn't want to send it to a warm audience.

And on paper, I guess I did everything technically right. The copy, creative, targeting, and here's what happened. Zero conversions. Not one opt-in, not one lead. So ouch, right? So after a few more days,

and I still had zero conversions. I went ahead and I looked at the data, tried to keep my feelings in check and just look at the numbers. And I had a pretty good click through rate and a decent amount of clicks, which tells me people were interested in the

content or at least they were curious enough to click but I didn't have any conversions so what was happening was people were interested like tell me more clicking on it and then not opting in well here's the thing I I didn't test it I didn't test the copy

I didn't test anything. never had even tried to get anyone to opt in for this challenge before. So I started doing what many of us do is I opened up ads manager and I was looking at the edit button and contemplating. Should I change the headline? Should I retarget? Should I make a new image? In fact, I did. I did add a new creative. But...

Here's the truth. I knew, I knew the problem wasn't the ad, it was the offer. It was untested and I went ahead and I created the whole entire thing, which I know better. And I'm here to hopefully share that knowledge and experience with you that...

It wasn't ready. I hadn't tested it organically. I hadn't tested the messaging. So why I decided to pull the plug instead of fixing it. I could have spent the next week rewriting it.

but I knew the smartest move wasn't to do any tweaking. It was just to stop. Stop putting money into this ad, into this offer that I don't even know if it will convert at all. So I shut them off. And not because ads don't work, because I know ads do work.

And I think that was my problem is I had a little bit too much confidence in my ability to know how ads work and get them to work. But my offer wasn't ready and I was not going to try and force that with money. And honestly, it's a move I wish more business owners knew about, which is why I'm, I think it's important for me to share my fail.

Because the biggest ad mistake isn't necessarily a bad campaign, but it's letting a bad campaign keep going when you already know that a major piece is missing. And the funny thing about it is if I were working with one of my clients with the same scenario, I would have advised against using ads.

for an offer that has not already been proven. But there's another side to that. Low cost ads are a good way to validate an offer. And that was what I was thinking going into it. I was thinking, you know what? I can spend $10 a day and test this offer. The problem was it wasn't converting and my challenge was already scheduled. I had already set up.

everything to launch on a specific day. So it just wasn't going to work. So if you've launched something and it's not converting, it's not always the right option to optimize. Sometimes, you know, if you know in your gut that that one of the pieces is missing, it's okay to pause, reevaluate, and then relaunch when you know

that you have everything set up. you're wondering whether your business or your offer is ready for ads, send me a note on social. Everything's in the show notes. And of course, if this was helpful, or at least not terrible, it would mean the world to me if you gave me a follow. And I will see you next time. Thank you so much.