How do YOU decide to ditch a dud campaign?

randerson · 11-08-2010, 02:37 PM

I gave up on a CPA campaign awhile back, and I kept meaning to come in here and see what criteria other people use to decide what's a dud, and what they might do first.

I was diret linking on MSN. I did great keyword research. I had clicks. My ads were awesome. But the product just did not convert. When I chose the offer, I felt it really could have gone either way: either convert like mad, or do nothing, and I took the chance. When I saw it doing nothing, I didn't do much to throw good labor after bad, and went with my instincts.

How do you guys handle the situation when you think you might have a dud? How long do you wait? What do you do to try to salvage it?

williamrs · 11-08-2010, 03:19 PM

First of all, you need to see if your offer can convert without landing pages. Some offers (specially free trials and CPS offers) require some sort of preselling, so split-testing landers can give you better results than just direct linking.

Also, have you driven enough volume? Offers with a high payout that require a CC# to convert usually require a few hundred clicks to be considered ineffective.

And, finally, did you pick the right traffic source? Search can be very good since it has only laser targeted traffic, but some offers simple don't do well on search engines and convert better with social traffic.

William

randerson · 11-08-2010, 04:26 PM

Yeah, I thought about content network, which I did not use. I let it go 300 clicks, and no conversions with or without squeeze page. It wasn't a high payout--it was a $49 product!

Should I have let it go twice as long because of the two different landers? It was direct linking, so I didn't have control over the landing pages, but I thought the copy was good for the target audience.

randerson · 11-08-2010, 06:13 PM

Yep. That's what I did, and totally with ya. I took a gamble and lost.

Ken_Caudill · 11-08-2010, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by randerson

I gave up on a CPA campaign awhile back, and I kept meaning to come in here and see what criteria other people use to decide what's a dud, and what they might do first.

I was diret linking on MSN. I did great keyword research. I had clicks. My ads were awesome. But the product just did not convert. When I chose the offer, I felt it really could have gone either way: either convert like mad, or do nothing, and I took the chance. When I saw it doing nothing, I didn't do much to throw good labor after bad, and went with my instincts.

How do you guys handle the situation when you think you might have a dud? How long do you wait? What do you do to try to salvage it?

Kick the losers. Let the winners run.

Juan-Pablo · 11-09-2010, 01:07 AM

Don't waste much time setting up CPS campagins. You could stand to lose a lot of money. Instead try some easier CPA stuff like zip/email submits and work your way up.

300 clicks should be enough to see if an offer converts. If it's not, you're spreading yourself too thin (maybe split testing too much at once), or the offer just sucks, or you were a victim to statistics (no action on your clicks). Move on to another offer.

badboy_Nick · 11-09-2010, 03:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by randerson

How do you guys handle the situation when you think you might have a dud? How long do you wait? What do you do to try to salvage it?

I think I need to chip in here.

You need to be ruthless ... do a ROI analysis BY KEYWORD ... if you cant bring the costs on most of the keywords then just delete them and focus on the ones which make money. Sometimes you need to reduce the bids in order for a keyword to become profitable, but I usually give a campaign about 6 weeks.

During that time you WILL lose money, ultimately you should break even or have a small loss, and once you start trimming down the keywords that drain your budget you can turn your campaign into a HEALTHY one.

That's what I do every single time. But dont spend months tweaking it, flogging a dead horse just doesnt work. Accept the fact you are sitting on a dead horse and move on to the next adventure.

Any questions just let me know

Nick

11-08-2010, 02:37 PM	#1
randerson Active Warrior Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 55 Thanks: 9 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Social Networking	How do YOU decide to ditch a dud campaign? I gave up on a CPA campaign awhile back, and I kept meaning to come in here and see what criteria other people use to decide what's a dud, and what they might do first. I was diret linking on MSN. I did great keyword research. I had clicks. My ads were awesome. But the product just did not convert. When I chose the offer, I felt it really could have gone either way: either convert like mad, or do nothing, and I took the chance. When I saw it doing nothing, I didn't do much to throw good labor after bad, and went with my instincts. How do you guys handle the situation when you think you might have a dud? How long do you wait? What do you do to try to salvage it?
	Last edited by randerson; 11-08-2010 at 02:39 PM. Reason: added something

11-08-2010, 03:19 PM	#2
williamrs Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Brazil Posts: 3,496 Thanks: 174 Thanked 1,159 Times in 614 Posts	Re: How do YOU decide to ditch a dud campaign? First of all, you need to see if your offer can convert without landing pages. Some offers (specially free trials and CPS offers) require some sort of preselling, so split-testing landers can give you better results than just direct linking. Also, have you driven enough volume? Offers with a high payout that require a CC# to convert usually require a few hundred clicks to be considered ineffective. And, finally, did you pick the right traffic source? Search can be very good since it has only laser targeted traffic, but some offers simple don't do well on search engines and convert better with social traffic. William
	>> STOP... << Stop struggling alone. Stop wasting time. Stop being scammed. Only 1 SPOT LEFT - CLICK HERE

11-08-2010, 04:26 PM	#3
randerson Active Warrior Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 55 Thanks: 9 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Social Networking	Re: How do YOU decide to ditch a dud campaign? Yeah, I thought about content network, which I did not use. I let it go 300 clicks, and no conversions with or without squeeze page. It wasn't a high payout--it was a $49 product! Should I have let it go twice as long because of the two different landers? It was direct linking, so I didn't have control over the landing pages, but I thought the copy was good for the target audience.

11-08-2010, 06:13 PM	#4
randerson Active Warrior Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Baltimore, MD Posts: 55 Thanks: 9 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Social Networking	Re: How do YOU decide to ditch a dud campaign? Yep. That's what I did, and totally with ya. I took a gamble and lost.

11-09-2010, 01:07 AM	#6
Juan-Pablo Active Warrior Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 55 Thanks: 0 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post Social Networking	Re: How do YOU decide to ditch a dud campaign? Don't waste much time setting up CPS campagins. You could stand to lose a lot of money. Instead try some easier CPA stuff like zip/email submits and work your way up. 300 clicks should be enough to see if an offer converts. If it's not, you're spreading yourself too thin (maybe split testing too much at once), or the offer just sucks, or you were a victim to statistics (no action on your clicks). Move on to another offer.