Question

Would you recommend turning off campaign if ctr is constantly droppong with no add to carts or purchase. Even if campaign is 5 days old and only gave one sale in first day for a new ads account?

Answer 1

That’s a great question, and one many media buyers wrestle with, especially when launching fresh campaigns in a new Google Ads account.

Here’s a breakdown of what to do if your CTR is dropping, no add-to-carts, and only 1 sale on Day 1:

What You Should Do (Before Killing It)

1. Audit Click Quality First

   • Go to Search Terms (if using Search campaigns)
     → Are clicks coming from relevant queries?

   • In Performance Max or Shopping → Check Search Impression Share and asset-level signals (if available).

2. Review Ad Relevance

   • Is your CTR dropping because your ad is showing to the wrong people?

   • Check for disapprovals, low Quality Score, or mismatched intent.

3. Check Landing Page Experience

   • If you’re getting clicks but no action:
     → Is the page loading fast?
     → Is it mobile-optimized?
     → Do CTAs make sense for the intent?

4. Evaluate Your Conversion Setup

   • Is your pixel or tag firing properly?

   • Use Google Tag Assistant or DebugView (GA4) to ensure purchase events and add-to-carts are tracked correctly.

5. Look at Funnel Indicators

   • Even without purchases, check:

     • Time on site

     • Bounce rate

     • Scroll depth

   • These metrics tell you if users are even considering buying—or just bouncing.

Should You Turn It Off?

Not immediately.

A 5-day-old campaign with one sale—especially under Google's initial budget cap—hasn't had enough room to optimize. Here’s a better approach:

Recommended Action Plan

• Pause? Maybe — but only if:

  • CTR is <1% and falling

  • All traffic seems low intent

  • CPCs are rising and no signals (ATC, view content, etc.) are present

• Better alternative:
  Duplicate the campaign, but:

  • Refresh creatives or headlines

  • Adjust targeting (audience layering, negative keywords)

Start with a different bidding strategy (e.g. Manual CPC or Max Clicks)