Stop Wasting Money on Ads — Optimize Your Funnel Instead

1.) Why More Ads Won’t Fix Low Sales

You can now run ads much easier. Anyone can log into Google or Facebook, set a budget, and in just a few clicks you can be sending traffic in a minute or two. The easy part is getting impressions and clicks on your ads. The hard part is converting that traffic to sales.

So when conversions are low, business owners typically assume:

1.) The platform is performance

2.) The audience is bad

3.) The market changed

4.) Ads became too expensive

In reality, either those assumptions are wrong or it simply means:

There is no real marketing funnel strategy in place to move the potential customer from first contact with you to actually buying.

People do not really buy something on the first chance they see it. Customers need to understand value, trust the brand, compare things they buy, see social proof of decision-making and feel good about that decision. If the funnel does not create these experiences, few users will convert even if you get thousands of visitors.

2.) What a Marketing Funnel Should Do

A marketing funnel is not a campaign or a landing page, but is instead an entire customer journey, taking a stranger to a buyer step by step. Advertising will create the traffic, but the funnel is designed to convert it.

An effective funnel should:

1.) Explain value

2.) Build trust

3.) Educate the customer

4.) Remove doubt

5.) Proof authenticity

6.) Direct the user towards action

When the funnel handles those tasks effectively, every rupee spent on educating through advertising becomes a positive return on investment. Your funnel will always be weak if your advertising spend was high.

3.) How to Know If Your Funnel Is Not Working

Your ads may be costing too much if:

1.) You're getting clicks but no traffic.

2.) Users add items to the cart but don't check out.

3.) You have a high bounce rate.

4.) Your leads are consistently not responding or not engaging with you.

5.) Your cost per acquisition is continually increasing.

6.) You feel you need to continually spend more money on ads to create the same outcome.

If you are finding any of these problems, don't blame the ad, blame the funnel experience.

4.) Improve the Funnel Before Increasing the Budget

Prior to expending additional assets to drive new visitors to your website or landing page, first invest in improving the experience of visitors already experiencing the page.

One of the key starting points when it comes to improving the visitor experience is the landing page. Upon coming to a page, a visitor should have a clear idea of what that page offers them, who it is for, and why is it important. If it takes some process of thinking for a visitor to work out what the page is offering, they will leave. A clean and simple landing page will convert better than a page that does not adhere to those factors.

Another factor is the offer itself. Sometimes the issue is not traffic, but again, the offer. If the offer feels flimsy, not urgent, or not valuable, there will not be any enthusiasm for it. A good offer solves a contributing problem that gives a visitor a valid reason to take action and purchase.

Also, most do not buy on the first pass. They need time. This is where follow-ups are valuable. If you are not engaging in some form of email, WhatsApp, retargeting, and valuable content form of follow-ups, you are losing customers that could use a little more information to make a purchase.

5.) The Role of Content in a Funnel

Content is an excellent way to help people navigate the decision process without making them rely solely on advertisements. A content marketing funnel allows you to build trust, educate your audience, and gradually lead them to a purchase. Initially, your content helps people to understand that they have a problem and learn something valuable.

This might be through a blog post, video, or guide. Once people know and recognize your brand, your content can answer basic questions, share information, provide testimonials, and foster trust. This consists of things like case studies, product demos, or webinars.

Finally, when your audience is ready to purchase, high-quality content, like good landing pages, testimonials, clearly stated pricing, or frequently asked questions, provides the confidence necessary to move ahead. If your content is effective, there would be many conversions that would happen without the need for propelling ad dollars.

6.) The Importance of Customer Retention

One of the biggest mistakes that businesses make is thinking that the sale is the end of the conversation. However, the most profitable part of any funnel is repeat business. It is much cheaper and easier to sell to someone who has already purchased than it is to sell to a new customer.

When customers return, they are more likely to purchase more from the business because they are already familiar with the brand, which means that the business can grow more easily without having to spend on ads. There are simple ways to turn one-time buyers into repeat customers, including following up with customers, helpful onboarding, exclusive offers for existing customers, and referral points.

A business focused only on getting new customers through ads will have to spend an increasing amount of money just to maintain its position, while a business focused on retention will be able to grow more consistently and sustainably.

7.) A Better Use of Advertising Money

To comprehend the importance of a funnel optimization, let’s envision two businesses which spend the same amount on ads. One has a below-average funnel and converts only one percent of visitors from their ads. The other has a well optimized funnel and converts three percent of visitors from their ads. The difference in results can be astounding while not spending more money.

This is exactly why the funnel is going to be a higher return on investment before raising your ad spend provides any additional return. Once the funnel is strong, we can raise our ad spend with confidence, and know that the traffic we purchase will convert.

Final Thoughts

Before you spend more on advertising, ask yourself a few questions. Do you have your funnel structured correctly? Does your landing page immediately make sense? Is your offer strong enough? Are you following up with people who don't convert? Are you using content to build trust rather than expecting someone to purchase right away?

If the answer is no, then your priority is very clear. Fix the funnel first. Then you can invest in ads.

Ads are not the problem. Ads are simply a fuel source. And fuel isn't helpful until you have a vehicle to get it going. A well-built funnel makes advertising profitable, while a poorly-built funnel makes advertising costly.

Build the system. Then buy the traffic. That is the way to achieve consistent and predictable business growth.