a single source, nothing corroborates it

Sort the failure before you blame the channel

Failures come in three kinds that cost very different amounts to fix: careless setup mistakes, a mistaken strategy, and problems on the platform's side. Read genuinely terrible numbers as evidence of a settings error rather than a wrong thesis about the audience, because after a thousand visitors at under one percent, forgetting to exclude foreign traffic is the likelier explanation than being completely wrong about who buys. Have somebody who knows the platform build or audit the campaign, including the free account managers the platforms themselves provide.

The method

1. 01

   Sort a failing campaign into one of three error types - careless setup mistakes, mistaken strategy, or platform-side problems - because each takes a different level of expertise and cost to resolve.

2. 02

   Read truly terrible numbers as evidence of a settings mistake rather than a wrong audience thesis, and check the mundane settings first.

3. 03

   Have someone who knows the ad platform build or audit the campaign, including the free account managers the platforms themselves provide.

What it returned

• 1,000

  His test: after 1,000 visitors with under 1% conversion, forgetting to exclude foreign traffic is a likelier explanation than being completely wrong about the audience.

• He frames them as errors a proofreader catches, errors needing an editor, and errors made by the publisher.

Sources

• Why Ad Campaigns FailGreg Kogan · gkogan.co · How Ad Campaigns Can Fail · 2017-01-17