So you are getting lots of clicks on your ad campaigns but not many conversions. Well, it’s not you alone. On average, only 4.4% of clicks on Google ads convert to sales. This is worse in the case of the Google Display Network, where you see 0.57% of clicks leading to conversions.

You should at least strive to achieve more results than the average. Luckily, you can improve. By making a few tweaks, you can learn and improve what’s causing/reasons people not to convert.

Here, I’m discussing 7 reasons why your ad campaigns are not converting.

Your Ad Targeting Is Wrong

You want to reach your exact target audience when it matters the most. If done correctly, online ads can bring you great results.

You might be approaching ad targeting in the wrong way because of these reasons:

Wrong audience: Here, we have the basics of marketing. Know your customer. If you are missing this, go back to the basics and assess your buyer persona. Focus on these things: Demographics, Occupation, Goals and Motivations, Challenges and frustrations, Interests and influences, and Favorite online channels.

You’re failing to target your audience: Maybe, you know your customer, but you must get familiar with targeting options on the ad platform you’re working on. This can range from Affinity and life events to detailed demographics. You may also find the option of similar audiences.

You’re failing to target the right keywords: You have to know what keywords to target and when to do that. For example, if someone is searching for “blanket with sleeves,” they might not be looking to buy a product immediately. But someone looking for “Snuggie” knows that they want it now.

Your Post-Click Landing Page Is Poorly Designed

Next up, your design plays a huge role in increasing conversions. Even if you have the hottest deals around, you won’t convert customers if you are giving a poor user experience.

Here’s how design / reasons might be killing your conversions:

Slow load times: People are going to bounce off quickly if your page is taking a lot of time to load. In fact, a page that takes 3 seconds to load has a 32% higher bounce rate than a website that takes 1 second to load. To prevent this, reduce the number of server requests and JavaScript, compress images, and minify HTML and CSS files.

Not mobile-friendly: You knew it was coming. If you didn’t, I’ll talk about just one stat. Over 50% of website traffic comes from mobile devices. So either you make those mobile visitors feel at home with a responsive website, or you repel them with a clunky website.

Problems with conversion elements: Make sure that your calls to action, buttons, and forms are prominent and working. Use necessary forms only. Include a clear call to actions button to inspire action.

An unappealing design: Sure, your page has a great site speed. But is it visually appealing? Make sure to audit your page design in order to solve this issue. Is there a good balance of text and images? Are paragraphs feel readable? Ask for feedback from colleagues and friends as well.

Your Landing Page Lacks Focus

So if you are targeting the audience in a perfect way and still not seeing conversions, the problem may lie in the focus. Landing pages are not meant to be a general page. They are focused.

However, many people send traffic to their homepages which are always meant to provide an overview of your company.

If you send traffic to that kind of generic page, they are going to bounce off. Instead, make your landing page with a single offer and a single focus in mind.

Remove navigation and links to other pages. These things cause distraction. You want to lead them to the conversion button. Do everything to achieve that goal.

Your Post-Click Landing Pages Don’t Align With Pre-Click Ads

This is a recipe for disaster. Why would someone make an ad about an SEO tool and then sell a social media marketing tool on the landing page? I’ll never understand.

So make sure that there’s an alignment between the pre-click and post-click experiences. The message you were sharing in the ad should be identical to the one on your landing page. This way, the audience is more likely to convert.

Your Post-Click Landing Pages Aren’t Personalized

What’s in it for me? When you make a sales page according to this buyer question, not much can go wrong.

Some offers are going to appeal to some and be unattractive to others. So stay away from the one-size-fits-all approach.

Your Offer Isn’t Compelling

These are the reasons. If you have checked all the boxes above and still your offer doesn’t sell, it may not be worth buying. Or maybe, it’s not clear enough.

Go back to point one and start understanding your audience. Think about what they want and what excites them. In the case of an e-commerce website, maybe everything is great except that you don’t offer free shipping.

Start doing interviews with your clients. Ask what they want and figure out why they will buy your stuff.

You Rarely Experiment Or Test

In the first point, I mentioned a basic rule of marketing about knowing your customer. Here, we have another golden rule of marketing: Test.

Yes, a simple test can bring increases in profile. A simple A/B test for your headline can mean 3 to 4 times more conversions. So don’t be afraid to test and experiment.

Have you figured out why your ad campaigns are not converting? Let me know in the comments below.