AI Tips for Identifying and Fixing Underperforming Ads

Running ads for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can be an incredibly effective way to drive traffic and sales. However, not every ad performs as expected. In fact, many ads may underperform, leaving businesses wondering where they went wrong and how to improve results. Fortunately, Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools can make identifying and fixing underperforming ads faster and more accurate than ever before.

In this post, we will walk you through practical AI tips for identifying and fixing underperforming ads, so you can optimize your ad spend and maximize ROI.

1. Why Ads Underperform: Common Causes

Before we dive into how AI can help, it’s important to understand why ads underperform. While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, some of the most common reasons include:

Poor targeting: If your ad is shown to the wrong audience, it’s unlikely to convert.

Ineffective creative: An unappealing ad design, weak copy, or a lack of relevance to the audience can lead to poor performance.

Inefficient bidding strategies: If your bid isn’t competitive, your ad might not be shown enough, or it might not get the right type of engagement.

Low-quality landing pages: Even if an ad performs well, a poorly designed or slow-loading landing page can turn potential customers away.

Inadequate budget allocation: Sometimes, underperformance is simply due to not spending enough money on the right ads.

2. How AI Can Help Identify Underperforming Ads

AI can be a game-changer when it comes to identifying underperforming ads. By analyzing massive datasets quickly and accurately, AI tools can pinpoint issues that might take hours or days for a human to uncover. Here’s how AI helps:

a. Predictive Analytics and Trends

AI platforms can use predictive analytics to forecast ad performance. These tools analyze historical data, detect patterns, and provide insights into which ads are likely to perform well and which ones might struggle. This allows SMBs to adjust campaigns before a significant amount of ad spend is wasted.

Tip: Use AI to track trends across different audience segments and ad creatives. Predictive analytics can tell you when to pivot your strategy, and help you focus on ads with the best potential for conversion.

b. Real-Time Monitoring and Optimization

AI can monitor ads in real time and detect performance dips as they happen. This enables businesses to make immediate adjustments, such as changing the ad copy, modifying the targeting parameters, or tweaking bidding strategies. Real-time optimization ensures that ads continue to perform well throughout the campaign, without letting underperforming ads drain your budget.

Tip: Look for AI platforms that offer automatic optimization features, which can adjust bids, creatives, or targeting in real time based on performance metrics like CTR (click-through rate) and conversion rates.

c. A/B Testing at Scale

While traditional A/B testing is still a useful method for optimizing ads, it can be time-consuming. AI-powered platforms can run A/B tests on a much larger scale, testing different elements of your ads (such as copy, images, and CTAs) and determining which combinations are most effective. AI tools can even suggest new combinations and variations based on the results of previous tests.

Tip: Use AI to automate your A/B testing. AI platforms can run dozens of simultaneous tests and provide more statistically significant results in less time.

d. AI-Powered Visual and Copy Analysis

AI can analyze the visual and textual elements of your ads to determine which aspects resonate with your target audience. For example, AI tools can assess whether the imagery used in your ads is visually appealing, or if the copy is too complicated or not engaging enough. This helps ensure that your creative assets are optimized for maximum impact.

Tip: Use AI tools like Pattern89 or Copy.ai to assess and improve your ad creatives. These platforms provide suggestions for optimizing visual elements, text, and even CTAs.

e. Audience Segmentation and Targeting

Targeting the right audience is crucial for ad success. AI can help you identify the best-performing audience segments based on demographic data, behaviors, and past engagement patterns. It can also automatically refine your targeting parameters as new data is collected, ensuring that your ads are shown to the most relevant people at the right time.

Tip: Use AI for audience segmentation to ensure that your ads are shown to the people most likely to convert. AI tools can refine your targeting in real-time to improve performance.

3. Fixing Underperforming Ads with AI: Step-by-Step Guide

Now that you know how AI helps identify underperforming ads, let’s look at how to use AI to fix them.

Step 1: Analyze Campaign Data

The first step is to analyze your campaign’s data. AI tools like Google Ads’ Smart Bidding, Facebook Ads Manager, and Moosend offer detailed analytics dashboards that display key performance indicators (KPIs), such as:

Impressions

Click-through rates (CTR)

Conversions and conversion rates

Cost per acquisition (CPA)

Return on ad spend (ROAS)

By using these metrics, AI platforms can highlight ads that are underperforming relative to others.

Step 2: Optimize Targeting with AI

Once you’ve identified an underperforming ad, AI can help you optimize its targeting. AI tools analyze audience data and suggest new targeting parameters that could improve performance. This might include refining demographic criteria, testing different interests, or adjusting geolocation targeting.

Tip: Regularly review your audience targeting and use AI to test and implement adjustments in real time.

Step 3: Improve Ad Creative

If the issue lies with the ad creative, AI can assist by analyzing elements such as text, images, and CTAs. Many AI platforms offer copywriting tools that can help you rewrite your ad copy for greater clarity and engagement. Visual optimization tools can also suggest better images or layouts to increase attention and appeal.

Tip: Use AI-powered creative platforms to test new ad variations and determine which visual and textual elements resonate with your audience.

Step 4: Refine Bidding Strategies

AI can also help refine your bidding strategies to improve ad visibility and performance. Many AI platforms allow you to automate your bids based on KPIs like cost per click (CPC) or ROAS. By adjusting your bid strategies based on performance data, you can maximize your budget and increase ad effectiveness.

Tip: Use AI to set automated bidding rules that adjust bids based on performance, helping you optimize ad spend.

Step 5: Implement Real-Time Optimization

Once the changes are made, monitor the results in real-time. AI platforms can automatically adjust campaign parameters, such as budgets, bids, and targeting, to ensure the ad continues to improve.

Tip: Let AI handle real-time optimizations to make sure you’re always running the most effective version of your ad.

4. Conclusion

Identifying and fixing underperforming ads can be time-consuming, but AI is here to streamline the process. By leveraging AI’s predictive analytics, real-time monitoring, A/B testing capabilities, and optimization tools, SMBs can quickly identify issues with their ads and take action to improve them. The result? More efficient ad spend, better ROI, and higher conversion rates.

Implementing AI-powered ad optimization strategies not only saves time and effort but also helps businesses stay ahead of the competition in an increasingly complex advertising environment. Whether it’s fine-tuning targeting, improving creatives, or automating bid adjustments, AI tools are indispensable for fixing underperforming ads and driving ad campaign success.