FUNNEL DIAGNOSTICS

BOTTLENECKS &
THEIR POSSIBLE CAUSES

OCTOBER 2019
FIRST STEP:
GET THE BASICS IN PLACE FIRST
The secret to success as an advertiser - if you enter the auctions as a
really good advertiser and combine this with a solid ad strategy, you’ll
do well. Generic, we know.

So let’s explore this a little more.

TAKE THE TEST - AM I A GOOD ADVERTISER?

Q1 I have a privacy policy on my website and landing pages (T/F)

Q2 I have a cookie notice bar on my website and landing pages (T/F)

Q3 I have disclaimers on landing pages where I make claims (T/F)

Q4 I have at least two payment methods attached to my account (T/F)

My funnels and landing pages are mobile optimised and load in

Q5 (T/F)
under 3 seconds

Q6 My Facebook Page has engaging content posted to it recently (T/F)

Q7 I have schema (meta data) installed on my website and landing pages (T/F)

FUNNEL DIAGNOSTICS | DIGITALDISTILLERY.COM 1

THE GOLDEN RULE OF
FB ADVERTISING:
NEVER FORGET FACEBOOK’S MAIN MISSION

Ultimately Facebook’s deepest desire is to build it’s user base, but not just any
user base, it wants engaged users. If it can do this then it can command the
advertising dollars.

So believe it or not, based on this golden rule, Facebook sees advertisers as less
important that it’s user base. This is important for you to remember as - if you
can help Facebook towards its ultimate goal (of engaged users) - you will score
yourself brownie points that can make or break your campaigns.

TIPS FOR GETTING FACEBOOK ON YOUR SIDE

If you weren’t a teacher’s pet before, it’s time to cozy up.

Increased competition means FB will favour advertisers that it sees as high

quality. Some basics to help you edge your way into their good books:

#1 Make sure your landing pages have cookie notice bars

#2 Make sure funnels & landers have privacy policies and disclaimers (if
you are making claims)

#3 Make sure funnels and landers have schema (meta data) installed (click
here to learn how)

#4 Ensuring funnel and landers load in 3 seconds or less and are easy to
navigate on mobile

#5 Making sure you have art least two payment methods in your billing
section (FB will penalise you if a payment method bounces)

FUNNEL DIAGNOSTICS | DIGITALDISTILLERY.COM 2

FINDING YOUR BOTTLENECK
The biggest mistake most advertisers make is to assume campaigns aren’t working because
audiences have fatigued or creatives need refreshing (or, often, because Facebook has
“broken”).

In order to fix your campaigns, you first need to understand what is wrong with them.
Facebook will provide you with plenty of data around this - so your job now becomes one of
adopting a detective’s mindset.

First step is to make sure your reporting columns are pulling up your ad engagement & quality
scores to help you troubleshoot and optimise your results. Please note: these metrics will only
appear once you have reached 1,000 impressions per ad.

Facebook will tell you if they are average of above average across three metrics:

1 Quality score - feedback left on your ads (positive, negative, hide, ban
advertiser etc)
2 Engagement rate ranking - Likes, comments and shares on ads
(although it’s clear FB prefers comments over and above all)

3 Conversion rate ranking - how well your funnel converts

You can review these metrics and results on Page 4 of this document.
Setting Up Your Reporting Column

Next, make sure your reporting column pulls up each step of your funnel.
For eCommerce here are the events you usually want to have up in your reporting column:

1 SPEND 4 LINK CLICKS 7 ADD TO CART

2 CPM 5 LANDING PAGE VIEWS 8 PURCHASE
3 CPC 6 VIEW CONTENT 9 ROA

IMPORTANT: If you are using custom events in your funnel you’ll need to create custom
conversions of these events first before you can pull them up in your reporting column.

EXAMPLE OF SETTING
UP A REPORTING
COLUMN

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UNDERSTANDING
CAMPAIGN PERFORMANCE
Typically, the most important metric to report on will be your ROAs
(return on ad spend), below is a graph depicting what factors directly
and indirectly affect your ads’ performance.

ROA
CPA AOV

CPC CONVERSION
RATE
WHAT YOU
HAVE MOST
CONTROL
OVER

CTR CTM

TERMINOLOGY USED:
ROA - Return on ad spend CPC - Cost per click
CPA - Cost per acquisition (How much it costs you to CTR - Click through rate
acquire a customer) CPM - Cost per thousand impressions
AOV - Average order value

FUNNEL DIAGNOSTICS | DIGITALDISTILLERY.COM 4

POTENTIAL CAUSES LISTED IN
ORDER TO ADDRESS THEM IN
WHAT NOTES POTENTIAL TROUBLESHOOT
CAUSES
LOW CTR CTR isn’t always a Placement Check your spend isn’t feeding into right hand column or desktop (which
benchmark to be both usually have low CTRs)
concerned with and
only really concern Ad creative weak Check your engagement and quality ranking. Are these below average?
yourself with this if your
CPC is high. If so > new creative. If CTR under 0.5%, test new creatives.

Targeting Are you testing out at least3 different targeting options? Are they are low
CTRs? If yes, review your creative. If no, roll out new targeting tests.

HIGH Some audiences will Low CTR Is CTR below 1% - if yes, refer to CTR troubleshooting steps
naturally cost more than
CPC others, ideally try to
aim for CPCs of under
$5. For some really
competitive audiences, High CPM Usually an indication that Facebook is penalising you or competition.
be prepared to spend Check “Delivery Insights” for auction competition (read more) and
more! Quality Ranking to see if campaign falls below average.

Address quality or delivery issues. If these are not causes, try targeting
bigger/broader audience

HIGH For retargeting (small) "Usually an 1. New ad creatives (more choice for FB)
or highly sought after indication that 2. New audiences
CPM audiences (such as Facebook is 3. Improving funnel itself (load times, con %, cookie notice, privacy
targeting business penalising you policy, income claims, schema)
owners) $40+ CPMs are or competition. 4. Making sure FB Page has engaging content
not uncommon. Also Check “Delivery 5. Responding to all comments on ads
certain times of the year Insights” for auction 6. Making sure payment method doesn’t default
will (eg: Black Friday) competition (read
can cause higher CPMs more) and Quality
Ranking to see if
campaign falls below
average.

HIGH UX issue 1. Check mobile experience

2. Check difference between Landing Page Views and ViewedLander to
BOUNCE ensure no huge tracking discrepancy
RATE
Losing scent Get someone who doesn’t know your campaign or product to view your
ads - what do they expect to hit when they click on ad?

1. Are memes or other “click bait” style imagery in use (attractive people,

Poor Landing Page

While the templates we provide you with have been tested using
hundreds of thousands of dollars, some audiences will react differently

Traffic issue It is known that occasionally Facebook will send poor quality traffic into
funnels (especially is your quality score is low or if there a flag on one
of your assets).. If you have gone through an troubleshooted all of the
above, then first relaunch the ad set and optimise for the ViewedLander
event (but delay the event fire by 3 seconds to ensure quality).

If that fails to fix this problem, add brand new events to your funnel and
launch a new campaign optimising for the new event.

FUNNEL DIAGNOSTICS | DIGITALDISTILLERY.COM 5

AD RELEVANCE DIAGNOSTICS
QUALITY ENGAGEMENT CONVERSION CAUSES RECOMMENDATIONS
RANKING RATE RANKING RATE RANKING

Average or Average or Average or You’re all good! Optimize for your advertising objective
above above above

Below - - The ad is Improve the quality of your creative assets

Average perceived as low or target an audience more likely to
quality. perceive the ad as high quality.

Average or Average or Below The ad isn’t Improve the call-to-action of your ad or

above above Average producing post-click experience, or target a higher-
conversions. intent audience. Some produts and
services naturally exhibit lower conversion
rates than others. If your conversions meet
your expectations you may not need to
adjust your ad.

Average or Below Average or This ad isn’t Improve your ad’s relevance to your
above Average above spurring interest. audience (For example, by making it more
engaging, interesting or eye-catching) or
target an audience more likely to interact
with this ad.

Below Average or Average or The ad is Improve the quality of your creative assets
Average above above perceived as low or target an audience more likely to
quality. perceive the ad as high quality.

Average or Below Below The ad isn’t Improve both the ad’s relevance to your
above Average Average spurring interest audience (For example, by making it more
or producing eye-engaging, interesting or eye-catching)
conversions. and the call-to-action of your ad or post-
click experience. Alternatively, target an
audience more likely to interact with and
convert from your ad.

Below Below Average or This ad is Improve the quality of your creative assets
Average Average above perceived as low while also making it more relevant to your
quality and isn’t audience (For example, by making it more
spurring interest. engaging, interesting or eye-catching).
Alternatively, target an audience more
likely to perceive the ad as high quality and
relevant.

Below Average or Below The ad is Adjust your ad to more clearly represent

Average above Average click-baity or the product or service you are advertising.
controversial. Some products and services naturally
exhibit lower conversion rates than others.

Below Below Below There’s room for Try testing different targeting strategies,
Average Average Average improvement creative, optimization goals, post-click
across the board. experiences, and so on.

FUNNEL DIAGNOSTICS | DIGITALDISTILLERY.COM 6

THANK
YOU !

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