it still befuddles me to see that most ad dollars still haven't switched to cost-per-action (CPA), i.e. only paying for actual conversions
This assumes that ad networks with useful returns offer such an option.
I have no idea what Facebook have been playing at over the last month or so, but I do know that the new system seemed to charge us about 4-5x as much per real visitor to our site as the old one, despite having what appears to be the closest equivalent set up for click-based charging in the two systems. Of course, even that is only Facebook's idea of clicks, which includes non-conversion clicks such as people liking your ad itself or your page, not just the conversions you actually care about.
We pulled all Facebook advertising within a couple of days as a direct result of this and asked them what was going on. They claimed nothing had changed, and I'm told they suggested the dramatic difference was just down to "increased competition". Our theory is that a lot of other small/niche advertisers were also confused by the new model, but many didn't realise what was going on and continued running their own campaigns at the vastly higher cost per click, at least initially.
Comments
it still befuddles me to see that most ad dollars still haven't switched to cost-per-action (CPA), i.e. only paying for actual conversions
This assumes that ad networks with useful returns offer such an option.
I have no idea what Facebook have been playing at over the last month or so, but I do know that the new system seemed to charge us about 4-5x as much per real visitor to our site as the old one, despite having what appears to be the closest equivalent set up for click-based charging in the two systems. Of course, even that is only Facebook's idea of clicks, which includes non-conversion clicks such as people liking your ad itself or your page, not just the conversions you actually care about.
We pulled all Facebook advertising within a couple of days as a direct result of this and asked them what was going on. They claimed nothing had changed, and I'm told they suggested the dramatic difference was just down to "increased competition". Our theory is that a lot of other small/niche advertisers were also confused by the new model, but many didn't realise what was going on and continued running their own campaigns at the vastly higher cost per click, at least initially.