As a nonprofit, you’re always looking for ways to get the most out of your marketing budget.
Meta Ads (Facebook and Instagram) can seem like a powerful tool to connect with your audience, raise awareness, and drive donations. However some nonprofit marketing professionals we speak with were feeling disappointed and frustrated with their ads failing to deliver the expected results.
Perhaps your ads generate clicks but few conversions, or maybe the engagement looks promising at first but doesn’t translate into real value. The truth is, even a strong platform like Meta Ads can underperform if not optimised correctly.
The good news? There are practical things you can do to turn your underperforming ads around.
In this guide, we’ll explore the common pitfalls behind low-quality Meta ad results and walk you through eight actionable strategies to boost performance, generate more donations, subscribers, and improve your performance from Meta Ads.
Whether your goal is driving donations, recruiting volunteers, or increasing event sign-ups, these steps will help you get the most out of your Meta Ads investment.
1. Prioritise Performance Goals
One of the most common reasons Meta Ads underperform is a misalignment between your actual goals and the performance objective you set within the platform.
This step alone can make or break your campaign.
Meta’s algorithm is smart, but it will do what you ask it to do—so it’s critical to give it the right direction from the start.
For nonprofit marketers, the stakes are often higher. You’re likely working with limited budgets and need to drive impactful results, like donations, volunteers, or event registrations. The wrong performance goal could end up wasting ad spend on clicks and impressions that don’t take action or even engage at all.
Let’s explore how the right performance goal can reshape your Meta Ads strategy for higher-quality outcomes.
Understanding Meta’s Focus: You Get What You Optimise For
At its core, Meta Ads will optimise your campaign based on the performance goal you choose. If you tell Meta to focus on maximising clicks, that’s exactly what it will do—without considering the quality of those clicks or what happens after someone clicks through.
Don’t make the mistake of assuming that high engagement means success, as Meta’s algorithm isn’t concerned with what happens beyond the click unless you tell it to be.
That’s why your performance goal should directly align with your endgame.
Whether it’s donations, event sign-ups, or long-term supporters, optimising for a goal that pushes people closer to those actions will lead to more meaningful results.
Looking Beyond The Purchase For A Competitive Advantage
When running donation or purchase campaigns, many nonprofits default to optimising for conversion volume—the number of people completing a transaction. But quantity alone doesn’t guarantee value. Meta’s algorithm might deliver plenty of conversions, but if each one is a small donation, your overall revenue could still fall short of its potential.
An alternative you might want to test – and I say test, because it might perform worse than max conversion volume – is to optimise for conversion value rather than just the number of transactions.
This subtle shift tells Meta to prioritise users likely to make higher-value contributions, even if it means fewer overall conversions. For example, while you may see fewer donations, the average donation amount will be higher, potentially maximising your campaign’s impact.
Optimising For Lead Quality Over Quantity
For nonprofits, building a robust list of quality subscribers can be crucial for ongoing engagement and future marketing performance. But if your performance goal is set to just maximum number of leads, Meta will drive as many sign-ups as possible, regardless of the quality of those leads.
You could end up with lots of names and emails from individuals who are unlikely to donate or participate further.
To counter this, you could shift the focus to conversion leads—a more refined performance goal.
This helps you track the actions that come after someone provides their information.
Optimising for the post-lead actions ensures you’re attracting higher quality subscribers, more likely to be genuinely interested in your cause, making your leads more valuable in the long run. However be warned that at the time of this writing, the technical configuration to set this up can be a brutal one!
Improving Traffic Quality: Don’t Settle for Empty Clicks
Traffic goals like maximising link clicks or landing page views can be misleading. These goals might generate a high volume of clicks, but what happens after users arrive on your site?
Are they engaging with the content, or simply bouncing after a few seconds? When traffic is your primary goal, Meta will deliver the cheapest clicks possible, often resulting in low engagement or irrelevant visitors from the worst ad placements.
If you are running the prospecting and retargeting 2 step funnel approach, this will also be affected. Retargeting low quality traffic is unlikely to be successful.
Instead, try implementing custom event tracking to measure the actions users take on your site.
For instance, you can track behaviours such as scroll depth, watching a video, spending a certain amount of time on a page or clicking specific buttons that indicate deeper interest.
By optimising for these custom events, you ensure Meta shows ads and drives users who are more likely to engage meaningfully with your content, leading to far greater overall performance.
2. Refine Your Offer
The offer presented by your Meta Ads is what determines whether you capture / hold attention—and more importantly, whether that attention translates into meaningful engagement.
You may or may not be familiar with the value equation coined by entrepreneur Alex Hormozi (in the image above). I thought this was a good representation of the perceived value of an offer.
Alex Hormozi’s Value Equation is a framework that helps break down how to craft an irresistible offer by focusing on four key components that determine how much value a potential customer sees in your offer.
These four components are:
- Dream Outcome (What they want to achieve)
- Perceived Likelihood of Achievement (How confident they are that they’ll achieve it)
- Time Delay (How long it takes to get results)
- Effort & Sacrifice (How hard it is to achieve the outcome)
Applying the Value Equation to Nonprofits:
When nonprofits structure their offers—whether it’s a fundraising campaign, volunteer drive, or another form of engagement—they can use the Value Equation to enhance how supporters perceive the value of their involvement.
1. Dream Outcome (What supporters want)
For nonprofits, the “dream outcome” could be a tangible impact on the cause the supporter cares about. Supporters want to know that their contributions (donations, time, or advocacy) will directly improve the situation they care about, whether it’s providing clean water, education, or animal protection.
Nonprofit Example: If a nonprofit is raising funds for building a school, the dream outcome for a donor might be that their contribution will directly lead to better education for underprivileged children.
2. Perceived Likelihood of Achievement (Confidence in impact)
Supporters need to feel confident that their contributions will actually make a difference. This is where you as a nonprofit marketer, must build trust by clearly showing past successes, current goals, and specific examples of how contributions are used.
Nonprofit Example: A nonprofit could increase the perceived likelihood of achievement by showcasing stories of individuals whose lives were improved by similar campaigns. Demonstrating transparency and using metrics like “80% of your donation goes directly to educational supplies” boosts confidence.
3. Time Delay (How soon they see results)
Supporters are more likely to take action if they believe the impact of their contribution will be immediate or soon. Reducing the time between the donation and the perceived result is crucial for keeping engagement high.
Nonprofit Example: You could show how donations are deployed within days or weeks, and a real-time update on how many children are receiving food aid because of the funds raised, thus minimising the perceived time delay.
4. Effort & Sacrifice (How easy it is for supporters)
The easier it is for people to contribute—whether that’s through donations, volunteering, or sharing your cause—the more likely they are to take action. If the process is too complex or the personal sacrifice feels too high, fewer people will engage.
Nonprofit Example: You can simplify the donation process by offering one-click donations, recurring contributions, or small but impactful donation amounts (e.g., “Just $10 feeds a family for a week”). Lowering the perceived effort and sacrifice makes it easier for more people to say “yes.”
Why Your Offer Matters
Your audience’s interaction with your ad starts and ends with the offer you’re presenting. When your offer is generic or doesn’t align with your audience’s motivations, even the best ad will fall flat.
This can be a reason some nonprofit Meta Ad campaigns struggle. That by simply presenting your cause will be enough to drive action. But in a crowded digital space, your offer needs to stand out as a no-brainer—something so relevant and compelling that your audience can’t resist engaging.
If your Meta ads are underperforming and your performance goal is solid, then you might have a problem with your offer or how it’s being communicated through your ads and landing pages.
Review your offer through the lens of the value equation and look for improvements to test.
Tips To Improve Your Offers
- Incentives: Sometimes you can ramp up the value by including an incentive. For example, instead of a general call for sign ups or donations, you include an offer of a specific and relevant incentive, like exclusive access to a report, an invitation to a VIP event, or even a branded token of appreciation. For example, our client Top Blokes offered a weighted vest for people taking part in their fundraising walk challenge.
- Segment Your Audience: Different groups within your nonprofit’s audience will respond to different offers and it’s OK to test running different offers to different audience segments to find what resonates.
- Limit Your Offers: Don’t spread your ads across too many different offers at once, especially to the same audience. Focus on testing a couple compelling, high-value offers that directly address the interests of your target audience. Then, with a winning offer identified, look at testing different ways of communicating that offer with your ads, copy and landing pages. Testing multiple offers can be useful, but too many at once can dilute your message and confuse potential supporters.
Offer Incentive Ideas for Nonprofits
Here are a few offer incentive ideas that can improve conversion rates:
- Exclusive Event Invitations: If your nonprofit is hosting a virtual summit, special speaker series, or a behind-the-scenes tour, use that exclusivity to entice people to sign up. For example, “Register for a Free Virtual Insider’s Tour of Our Latest Project” can attract leads who are genuinely interested in your cause.
- Downloadable Resources: Offering educational content, such as eBooks, whitepapers, or reports on a specific issue your nonprofit tackles, is a great way to engage those who want to learn more. For instance, “Get Our Impact Report to See How XYZ” speaks directly to prospective donors’ desires for transparency and accountability.
- Interactive Tools: Consider offering tools that align with your cause. For instance we worked with Charitable Reuse Australia to redesign their reuse impact calculator. This is an ungated tool but if it was designed to generate sign ups, you could make it so that people had to subscribe to get the results from what they entered into the calculator. This kind of personalised interaction can significantly increase engagement and bring in more invested supporters.
- Competitions: More care needs to be taken if your incentive is to enter them into a prize draw to win something. You don’t want lots of low quality leads who are only entering to win the prize. The way to combat this is to make the prize super relevant to your cause. This way, you know that anyone it appeals to will likely be a supporter or interested in becoming a supporter.
3. Copy and Creative That Speak to Your Ideal Supporter
In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the mechanics—optimising budgets, tweaking audience settings, or testing ad placements.
But none of these factors will save an ad with weak messaging or uninspired visuals. What’s more, with the Meta Ads of today, it’s your copy and creative – the ad itself – that doubles up as the main driver of audience targeting. This is because broad targeting tends to be the way to go now, instead of the old way of having multiple, highly targeted ad sets.
So if you’re performance goal is solid, your offer is strong and relevant and your Meta ads are still underperforming, then it might be the way the offer is communicated through your copy and creative.
For nonprofits, where emotional connection and urgency play a crucial role in driving action, powerful copy and compelling creative are the heart of a successful Meta Ads campaign.
The challenge isn’t just getting clicks; it’s getting clicks from the right people—those who are passionate about your cause and ready to engage. Your ad copy and visuals must work together to connect with potential donors, volunteers, or advocates on a deep, emotional level.
Understanding What Motivates Your Audience
Before you even start writing, it’s crucial to understand what motivates your audience to take action. For nonprofits, this often involves highlighting the impact of their involvement.
Whether your goal is to recruit volunteers, raise funds, or spread awareness, the key is to communicate how their participation directly contributes to the change they want to see in the world.
Here’s how to tailor your messaging to speak to their motivations:
- Emphasise Impact: People want to feel like they’re making a difference. Your ad copy should paint a clear picture of how their actions—whether it’s donating or volunteering—will lead to tangible outcomes. For example, instead of saying, “Donate today,” try something like, “Your donation provides clean water to families in need.” The clearer the connection between the action and its impact, the more powerful your message.
- Use Emotion to Drive Action: Nonprofits have an advantage here—your cause already holds emotional weight. Use storytelling techniques in your copy to tap into that emotional drive. For example, share a brief story of someone whose life has been changed through your work, and tie it to the action you want people to take. Instead of “Join our mailing list,” consider, “Be part of the change—get updates on how you can help families like Sarah’s find a brighter future.”
Crafting Compelling Ad Copy
When writing copy for Meta Ads, brevity is often key. People scroll through their feeds quickly, and your message needs to grab attention in just a few seconds. But brevity doesn’t mean sacrificing emotional depth.
Here are a few principles to follow for writing ad copy that resonates:
- Start With a Strong Hook: The first line of your ad copy should immediately engage the reader. For example, starting with a question like, “How can you help change a life today?” piques curiosity and opens the door to deeper engagement. Alternatively, lead with a shocking fact or statistic that puts the issue into perspective, like, “Every day, 1 in 9 people lack access to clean water.”
- Keep it Conversational: Use language that feels personal and speaks directly to the reader. Instead of formal, third-person language like, “Our organisation provides relief,” use phrases like, “You can make a difference today by helping us bring relief to families in need.”
- Highlight Urgency: Incorporating a sense of urgency can prompt quicker action. Nonprofits often deal with urgent causes, and this urgency can be reflected in your copy. For example, “We need your help now—just $10 can feed a child for a week. Donate today to make an immediate impact.”
Visuals That Stop the Scroll
Even the best copy won’t be read if your ad doesn’t first grab attention. That’s where your visuals come in. High-quality, emotionally resonant images or videos are essential for nonprofits.
People are more likely to stop and engage with your ad if it features compelling, real-world visuals of your cause in action.
Here’s how to make sure your visuals align with your copy:
- Use Faces to Tell a Story: Images or videos that feature real people (or nature), particularly those directly impacted by your cause, can evoke a stronger emotional response than stock images. For example, a photo of a child receiving clean water or a video of volunteers working on the ground is far more impactful than generic imagery.
- Keep It Authentic: Audiences can sense authenticity, and nothing kills engagement faster than visuals that feel staged or insincere. Show the raw, real impact of your work—whether it’s a community rebuilding after a disaster or an individual whose life has been transformed by your programs.
- Test Different Formats: Meta allows a variety of ad formats, from carousel ads to videos to slideshows. Experiment with different formats to see what resonates most with your audience. For instance, a short, impactful video highlighting the journey of someone helped by your nonprofit might be more engaging than a static image.
Tips for High-Impact Creative
To make your creative work for you, think about how to pair your messaging with the right visuals:
- Before and After: Show the impact of your work in a before-and-after format. For example, a series of images showing how a community has been transformed by access to clean water can be incredibly powerful.
- Emotional Close-Ups: Use close-up images of individuals who have benefited from your nonprofit’s work. The more personal and intimate the image, the stronger the connection it builds with the viewer.
- Action-Oriented Video: A brief, action-focused video showing volunteers in the field or showcasing how donations are used can create a sense of involvement and urgency. Meta’s autoplay feature will ensure videos start as soon as they appear on-screen, which helps draw attention.
Ad fatigue is a real thing so if your ads have been running for a while and used to perform well, then it might be time for a refresh.
In short, your copy and creative are the keys to converting passive scrollers into active supporters. By tailoring your messaging and visuals to speak directly to your ideal audience, you can ensure your Meta Ads capture attention and drive meaningful engagement for your nonprofit.
4. Improve Your Lead Forms for Higher Conversion Rates
When it comes to running successful Meta Ads, especially for nonprofits, capturing quality sign ups is only half the battle—ensuring those subscribers take action is just as crucial.
One of the most overlooked factors in this process is the design and structure of your lead forms. A poorly designed or overly complicated form can turn off even the most interested potential donors, fundraisers or volunteers.
Your lead form should be a seamless part of the user’s journey, not a roadblock. By simplifying and optimising your forms, you’ll significantly increase your chances of turning interested individuals into valuable supporters of your cause.
Why Lead Form Design Matters
Every extra field you add to your form is another point of friction—another opportunity for someone to abandon the process.
If the form is too complicated, or asks for too much information upfront, even well-meaning individuals may back out before completing it. That’s why it’s essential to strike a balance: you want to gather enough information to make the lead valuable, but not so much that the process feels overwhelming.
Steps to Create an Effective Lead Form
- Keep It Short and Sweet: The most effective lead forms are concise and focused on gathering only the information you absolutely need. For nonprofits, this might mean asking for a name and email address, with perhaps one or two more fields related to the type of engagement (e.g., volunteering, donating, or signing up for an event). Any additional questions can often wait until after you’ve secured their interest.
- Use Multiple-Choice Fields When Possible: Open-ended questions can slow down the process and cause frustration. Instead, use drop-down menus or multiple-choice options where applicable. This speeds up completion time and gives users a clearer path to follow.
- Example: When asking about preferred volunteer roles, offer pre-filled options like “event volunteer,” “fundraiser,” or “advocacy support” rather than an open-ended field.
Tips for Optimising Your Lead Form
- Form Type Selection: Choose between More Volume (faster submissions) and Higher Intent (with an additional review step) based on your audience’s behaviour. Higher intent forms reduce spam / low quality sign ups, but might lead to fewer submissions.
- Keep Questions Minimal: Meta Instant Forms work best when you limit the number of questions. Stick to essential fields and use pre-filled fields to minimise friction.
- Conditional Logic: Use this feature to tailor follow-up questions based on previous answers, ensuring relevance without overwhelming users.
- Customisable Closing Message: Use this section to inform users about the next steps, such as linking them to a specific webpage or providing a downloadable resource.
By keeping the process smooth, mobile-optimised, and brief, you increase the likelihood of collecting high-quality leads.
Test and Optimise for Maximum Results
Even after creating a well-designed lead form, continuous testing is key. Test shorter forms against longer ones, try different call-to-action buttons, images within the form, or even play with the wording in your form fields and thank you section. What works for one campaign might not work for another, and testing ensures you’re constantly optimising for better results.
Conversion Tips:
- To improve lead quality, ask more questions and to increase lead volume, ask fewer questions (in addition to choosing more volume or higher intent option in Meta’s ad manager)
- Use lead filtering to filter out people you don’t want as subscribers. This also helps to train the Meta algorithm as to the types of people you want to complete the form.
5. Test Your Audience Inputs & Targeting
In many Meta Ads campaigns, broad targeting can often deliver the best results, especially when paired with Meta’s powerful algorithm, a strong, relevant offer, good copy and creative and a well designed, relevant landing page.
By starting broad, you allow Meta to learn and optimise who sees your ads based on real-time performance, letting the ad do the targeting. For nonprofits, this can be an excellent way to reach a wider pool of potential donors, volunteers, or supporters.
How Campaign Objectives and Performance Goals Affect Targeting Options
The audience targeting options available to you depend on the performance goal you set. Your targeting choices, such as whether you can turn off things like Audience Expansion (Advantage Detailed Targeting), change depending on these settings.
- Advantage+ Audience: You hand targeting over to Meta. You can provide an audience suggestion, if you want to, and Meta will apparently take it into account, but will also automatically expand your reach by showing your ads to people they believe are likely to take the action you want.
- Audience Expansion (Advantage Detailed Targeting – screenshot above): If you’re not using Advantage+ Audience, Audience Expansion is likely toggled on. This is similar to Advantage+ Audience in that it allows Meta to go beyond your initial criteria.
When Broad Targeting Struggles
Sometimes broad targeting and audience expansion may not deliver the results you’re expecting. In this case, there are several strategies to improve performance:
- Test different audience suggestions and inputs: The more specific suggestions might help the algorithm to find the right audience, but probably isn’t going to have a significant impact in the grand scheme of things over time, but it’s worth testing.
- Change Performance Goals (to unlock different targeting options): If adjustments to your audience still aren’t improving results with audience expansion, consider changing your performance goal so that you can turn this option off and just use regular detailed audience targeting (at the time of this writing). Then test different interest based targeting, custom audiences and lookalike audiences to try turn performance around.
- Review Your Offer and Messaging: If performance is still lacking, then I’d revisit your offer, messaging, ad creative, copy and landing page. Poor messaging or an unclear offer can impact campaign success, even with strict targeting.
6. Optimise Your Ad Placements for Maximum Impact
Ad placement can play a crucial role in the success of your Meta Ads. While Meta’s default setting is to display ads across its entire ecosystem (Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, Audience Network), nonprofits can benefit from customising placements to focus on where their audiences are most engaged. The key is to test and refine your placement strategy based on performance.
In most cases, if you have a good, event based performance goal (ie not clicks and views), then you shouldn’t run into too many placement issues and Advantage+ Placements are likely the best option.
When Manual Placements Matter
By selecting manual placements, you have more control over where your ads are shown. This is particularly important for clicks and views performance goals where it’s trying to get you as many clicks and views as possible for the spend, regardless of quality.
The cheapest clicks and views are usually from the Audience Network so it will go straight there to achieve this performance goal if you let it.
The quality of these is usually super low, which is why this might be an optimisation you consider if you think this is affecting the performance of your Meta Ad campaigns.
For example, some placements, like Facebook’s Rewarded Video format, may attract users primarily interested in quick rewards (such as in-app benefits) rather than serious engagement.
For nonprofits focused on driving meaningful actions, these placements can result in wasted spend. Instead, focus on placements where users are more likely to be motivated by your message and willing to engage and / or take substantive action such as the newsfeed.
Test removing placements that you think might be a driver of poor performance based on your data. Even in the best placements though such as the newsfeed, the algorithm will still try to get the cheapest clicks and views possible, which might not be the best approach (see optimisation 1 earlier in this article – the performance goal).
7. Ensure Your Landing Page Matches the Ad Experience
A key factor in converting Meta Ad traffic is a well-optimised landing page that aligns with the expectations set by your ad and maintains ad ‘scent’ – the messaging, look and feel are consistent. If your landing page doesn’t deliver on what was promised, or loses scent, then users are likely to bounce.
Here’s how to ensure your landing page drives results:
- Consistency is Key: Your landing page should seamlessly match your ad in terms of messaging, visuals, and offers. If your ad promises a specific outcome (e.g., “Donate to Provide Clean Water”), your landing page should immediately reflect that same promise. Visually it should also look and feel consistent.
- Simple and Focused: Avoid overwhelming users with too many options. Your landing page should have one clear call-to-action (CTA), such as “Donate Now” or “Sign Up to Volunteer.” Keep the design clean, with minimal distractions like unnecessary navigation or links.
- Mobile Optimisation: Since many Meta users access ads via mobile, ensure your landing page is mobile-friendly. It should load quickly, with clear buttons and easy-to-read text.
- Social Proof and Urgency: Including testimonials, impact stats, or real-time progress bars (e.g., “82% of the goal reached”) can add credibility and urgency, driving conversions.
By aligning your landing page with your Meta Ads, you maintain momentum from the ad click to the final conversion step, significantly improving your ad performance.
Bonus Item: Look for opportunities to implement a ‘Daisy Chain’ to maximise performance per user
A daisy chain strategy can be a powerful way to keep users engaged and moving through your funnel after they’ve completed the initial action, such as filling out a form. In this approach, you link multiple offers or content pieces together in a logical sequence, guiding users from one step to the next.
For example, after a user signs up, redirect them to a thank you page that makes a donation offer, or vice versa, if a user donates, redirect them to a thank-you page with an invitation to follow you on social media or ask them to complete a short survey to learn more about them and what they want from your nonprofit.
This continuous engagement can improve the % of users taking the next step in the customer journey and the overall performance of your campaign.
How to Build a Daisy Chain Strategy:
- Sequential Offers: After a user takes the initial action, offer something else of value. This could be exclusive content, event invitations, or the opportunity to participate in a volunteer program.
- Personalised Paths: Create a journey tailored to each user based on their initial interaction, whether it’s a donation, event sign-up, or newsletter subscription.
- Maintain Momentum: Keep the communication flowing with timely follow-ups, ensuring that your supporters stay connected and engaged with your cause.
By connecting multiple touchpoints in this way, nonprofits can deepen relationships with their audience, leading to higher lifetime engagement and donations.
Conclusion
Turning around low-performing Meta Ads requires testing multiple factors to pinpoint the issue. It could be any one or more elements impacting performance, so systematically work through them. Start by looking at your data and developing a hypothesis as to what you think is the issue.
Then choose what you want to test and continuously monitor results, optimising as needed to drive meaningful actions and maximise support for your nonprofit.
If your Meta Ads aren’t delivering the results your nonprofit needs, don’t go it alone. Our team at Reef Digital Agency specialise in helping purpose-driven organisations optimise their campaigns to maximise donations, engagement, and impact. Our expert team can guide you through data-driven strategies tailored specifically for nonprofits. Reach out and say hello and we’ll be happy to have a no obligation, complimentary consultation to help turn your underperforming ads into powerful campaigns that drive real change!
A Checklist & Workflow To Help Troubleshoot Underperforming Meta Campaigns
Meta Ads Troubleshooting Workflow (Based on Campaign Performance)
1. High CTR, Low Conversions on Landing Page
☐ If your ad gets lots of clicks but no conversions, then:
- Ad Scent: Ensure consistency between your ad and landing page (visuals, copy, offer).
- Optimise the Landing Page: Simplify the layout, reduce distractions, and ensure a clear, prominent CTA.
- Optimise the Offer: Revisit your offer and how that’s communicated via the ad and the landing page
2. Low CTR with Broad Targeting
☐ If broad targeting is not generating enough clicks, then:
- Refine Your Creative: Test new ad formats or fresh visuals that grab attention.
- Optimise Ad Copy: Ensure headlines are engaging and clearly communicate the benefit to the user.
- Test Audience Inputs: Test different interest-based, custom and lookalike audiences with audience expansion options turned off.
3. High CTR, Poor Lead Quality
☐ If you’re getting clicks and leads but they are low quality, then:
- Qualify Leads Better: Add more specific questions in the lead form to filter out unqualified leads.
- Switch to Higher Intent Forms: Use Meta’s “Higher Intent” option to focus on users who are more committed.
- Reassess Your Offer: Ensure the offer is attracting genuinely interested leads.
4. Broad Targeting Not Delivering Results
☐ If broad targeting with Advantage+ Audience is underperforming, then:
- Test Audience Inputs: Test Advantage Detail Audience (Audience Expansion) and/or Detailed Targeting without audience expansion
- Leverage Custom or Lookalike Audiences: Use more specific data to improve results, such as existing donor data.
- Refine Performance Goal: Switch to a more focused goal (e.g., conversions instead of traffic or a conversion touchpoint earlier in the funnel).
5. Poor Traffic Quality from Ad Placements
☐ If some placements (e.g., Audience Network) are bringing low-quality traffic, then:
- Test Manual Placements: Turn off low-quality placements and focus on high-performing ones, like Facebook News Feed.
6. Lead Forms Not Converting Well
☐ If your lead forms aren’t converting at a high rate, then:
- Simplify the Form: Reduce unnecessary fields to remove friction.
- Test Different Form Types: Use “More Volume” for quicker sign-ups or “Higher Intent” for better quality leads.
- Revisit your offer / ad: Test different offers or how the offer is communicated (copy and creative) before they reach the lead form.
7. High Engagement but Low Retention
☐ If people sign up but disengage after initial action, then:
- Implement a Daisy Chain Strategy: Follow up with relevant, next-step offers (e.g., invite them to an event or further engagement).
- Retarget or Send Follow-Up Emails: Use email nurturing or retargeting ads to keep them engaged after their first action.
8. Conversions but Poor Long-Term Retention
☐ If your ads convert users but they aren’t staying engaged long-term, then:
- Post-Conversion Follow-Up: Implement or optimise your email and retargeting nurturing sequence.
Nonprofit Meta Ads Troubleshooting Checklist
This is a more basic checklist of the points in this article for you to work through and refer to if you are troubleshooting an underperforming Meta Ads campaign.
☐ Review Performance Goals: Ensure goals align with your campaign objective and you are providing Meta with what it needs to identify high quality traffic if you are running a traffic based campaign. Test different goals such as a conversion touchpoint further up the funnel or an engagement event based goal.
☐ Check Offer Relevance and Value: Evaluate your offer against the value equation and the relevance to your audince and update / test different offers as needed.
☐ Audience Targeting:
- Start with broad targeting using Advantage+ Audience or Advantage Detail Audience (Audience Expansion)
- Test custom audiences and lookalike audiences if broad targeting struggles as well as interest targeting
- You might need to adjust the performance goal to enable the option to turn off audience expansion.
☐ Optimise Lead Forms: Simplify fields and ensure they are mobile-friendly.
☐ Test Different Ad Copy & Creative: Ensure it’s emotionally engaging and visually compelling with clear messaging.
☐ Review Placements: Test manual placements (if applicable).
☐ Align & Optimise Your Landing Page: Ensure consistency with ad messaging, offer, visual look and feel and a clear CTA.
☐ Daisy Chain Strategy: See if you can improve overall performance by guiding users to further actions after the initial action.