Before I spend money on a new ad channel, I click my own ad. If it promises digital cameras and takes me to a page full of light bulbs, I know exactly what I'd fix first.
Say you run an ad for digital cameras. Someone clicks it, lands on your online store, and sees a page full of light bulbs. You've lost them on the spot. You paid for the click. They still have to find the cameras.
That's the example I'd put in front of anyone buying ads in a new place. On October 5, TechCrunch reported that OpenAI planned a limited U.S. test of visual ads alongside images people generate in ChatGPT. A new place to advertise is worth watching. Before you spend there, follow the path you're already paying customers to take.
Your ad makes a promise. What does the landing page deliver?
Seth Godin wrote, "Attention is priceless and trust is worth even more." In pay-per-click advertising, you can put a price on the first part. It's right there in your campaign report. The second part is what you risk when the customer arrives and has to figure out where you sent them.
The light bulbs make the mistake obvious. The version I'd watch for is a camera ad that sends people to the store's homepage. There may be cameras two menus deep, but the shopper has already told you what they want by clicking. You're asking them to find it all over again.
David Ogilvy's work makes me pay attention to the promise in the headline. Bill Bernbach's Volkswagen work makes me ask what detail makes that promise memorable. Put those ideas to work on the same camera ad. If the headline says "Used Cameras With a 90-Day Warranty," the first screen should show used cameras and make the warranty easy to find. That detail gives the buyer a reason to choose the store and something concrete to check when they arrive.
Test the click before you pay for more of them
Open the ad preview on your phone and follow the link. Look at the first screen before you scroll. Can you see the product, the offer, and what to do next? If the ad promises a price or a warranty, can you find it without opening another page?
If a campaign gets clicks but few sales, this test gives you a place to start looking. A click tells you someone was interested enough to see what came next. Open the page they saw and ask yourself whether you'd have stayed.