I spent 6 months using the wrong audience targeting in Facebook Ads

About 4 months ago I kept wondering why my click-through rates were so low even though my creatives looked solid. Then I ran a breakdown report and realized I was targeting people based on interests instead of behaviors. My boss just glanced at the data and said "you're reaching people who browse, not buy." It clicked instantly. Has anyone else made a similar targeting mistake that tanked their campaigns for months?

2 comments

2 Comments

perez.christopher23d agoTop Commenter

Funny you mention that, I had a total different kind of wrong audience problem. Targeted dog owners for a pet food brand but forgot to exclude people who only follow rescue pages. My CTR was trash for like 3 months and I kept blaming the creative. Turns out those people just wanted to look at sad dog photos, not buy premium kibble. My boss pulled up the report and was like "you're showing ads to people who donate, not buy." Same energy different industry. Felt like an idiot for not catching it sooner.

abby83623d ago

Haha @perez.christopher, I once ran Facebook ads for a local bakery and accidentally targeted people who only liked "gluten free" pages. Nothing like paying to show croissants to people who literally can't eat them.