Here's the goal of this article: we are going to understand when to tweak, stop, or upgrade your ad creatives. Digital advertising isn't static. As marketers, we must respond and adapt based on campaign performance and market shifts. Finding the perfect timing for these changes can be tough, especially if you're new to the field. This article will give you a clear plan on how to recognize when your ad campaign needs an update or if it's time to hit the brakes. For the purposes of this article, we are referring to ad copy and ad creative when we refer to ad campaigns.

But first, why is regular monitoring important?

Regular monitoring and analysis of your ad campaigns are fundamental to digital marketing success. By continuously tracking your campaigns' performance, you can catch trends and fluctuations in real-time, respond promptly to changes, and make data-driven decisions that maximize your campaign's effectiveness.

On platforms like Meta/Facebook Ads and Google Ads, you can access real-time data about impressions, click-through rates, conversion rates, and more. For example, a sudden drop in your ad's click-through rate might indicate a need for better targeting or more compelling ad creative and copy. Conversely, an uptick in impressions with no change in conversions may suggest your landing page needs improvement. Regularly analyzing these metrics helps you identify problems and opportunities, adjust your strategies, and continuously improve your campaign's performance.

Poor ad performance is probably draining your budget.

Poor performance in your ad campaign is not just a missed opportunity for gaining leads or making sales; it can also significantly drain your marketing budget. Consider this: If your ad's click-through rate (CTR) falls below industry averages, you're essentially paying for impressions that aren't translating into clicks, and even less likely, conversions. Your ad creative isn't pulling its weight.

Let's take Google Ads as an example. Suppose your cost-per-click (CPC) is $2, and you're generating 1000 impressions a day, but your CTR is just 1%. That means you're spending $20 a day on clicks, but what about the 99% of users who saw your ad and didn't interact? You're essentially spending money on 990 impressions that aren't leading to any engagement.

Meta ads has some clear guidance around this:

Ads that are shown around 3 times or more tend to decline in performance, even if they were initially very successful. We recommend creating a new ad with a new image or text about once a week. Make sure to stop your previous ad before running the new one so that they don’t compete with each other.

In such cases, your marketing budget is not effectively utilized and leads to low marketing efficiency. Even if you work with an external agency for your creative work, there are some metrics you should keep in mind as a general rule of thumb. While you don't want to micromanage your agency managing your Facebook campaigns, you still need to have a handle on how they're spending your money.

Understanding this helps underline the importance of timely updates to your campaigns or shutting them down if necessary to save resources and optimize your marketing budget effectively.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that help preempt issues with your campaigns.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) serve as vital checkpoints to understand how well your campaign is performing. Different KPIs can provide insights into various aspects of your campaign. Let's dive into a few examples:

Click-Through Rate (CTR): This is the percentage of people who click on your ad after seeing it. It's a primary indicator of how attractive or relevant your ad is to the audience. A low CTR may suggest that your ad content isn't compelling enough or you're targeting the wrong audience. If CTR has gone down over time, your target audience may be experiencing creative fatigue—simply gotten tired of viewing the same ad.

Conversion Rate: This measures the percentage of users who complete a desired action after clicking on your ad, such as making a purchase or filling out a form. A low conversion rate could indicate issues with your landing page, product, or the alignment between your ad and the landing page. If you run Google Ads, you can use Airboxr to find out if your landing pages are leading to conversions/purchases. This is a good proxy to understand if the ad creative and copy on your landing pages are successful at converting users.

Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): This KPI tells you how much it costs to acquire a new customer through your ad campaign. A high CPA—especially on paid social—could mean your ads are not cost-effective, and you might need to reconsider your ad strategy or targeting.

Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): This KPI measures the financial return on your ad expenditure. A low ROAS could indicate that your campaign is not profitable and requires adjustments or possibly termination.

Frequency: Frequency refers to how often your audience is exposed to your ads. If your audience is small (e.g., a remarketing audience targeting visitors to your website), you might end up alienating your audience by showing them the same ads too often: time to update your creative.

These KPIs, among others, offer valuable insights into your campaign's performance. Regularly tracking them helps identify areas for improvement, ensuring your campaigns are effective, profitable, and delivering the desired results within the target audience you want.