When to Stop PPC Advertising (5 Signs You NEED to Stop PPC)

One common question in the advertising space is whether PPC  should be a permanent expense.

If PPC advertising is generating sales and leads, but the ROI remains too low, does a continual investment make sense?

I’m honestly a big fan of paid advertising, but only when it’s done right. Otherwise, you’re just flushing money down the toilet that you’ll never get back.

But should you stop running PPC ads altogether? Scale back? Power through?

Read on to find out.

5 Signs You Need to Stop Running PPC Ads

If you’re experiencing any of the following scenarios, it’s probably time to pull the plug on PPC (at least for now).

#1 – Consistently Negative ROI Despite Optimization Efforts

New PPC campaigns can take some trial and error. And in all honest, it’s tough to win right away and be profitable out of the gate.

But that said, if it’s been 3-6 months or longer and you’re still in the red with campaigns, it’s troubling news. Especially if you’ve taken steps to optimize your audience, ads, and budget.

Take a step back and figure this out before you waste more money.

#2 – High Bounce Rates on Landing Pages From PPC Campaigns

The nature of PPC ads is simple. As the name implies, you’re going to pay as long as someone clicks.

But if people click your ads then bounce, you’re paying for something that isn’t getting results. This is a sign that your ads are either being targeted to the wrong audience or you need to fix the landing pages you’re sending them to. Either way, you need to stop them until this gets fixed.

#3 – Lack of Conversion Tracking and Performance Measurement

How are your PPC campaigns performing?

If you can’t answer this question or you’re not tracking the results, stop what you’re doing immediately.

You need to have conversion tracking in place to measure the effectiveness of your ads.

#4 – You’re Getting Better Results and Higher ROI From Other Marketing Initiatives

You shouldn’t have all of your eggs in the PPC basket. Make sure you have nice mix of both paid and organic marketing strategies.

Furthermore, don’t look at each of these in isolation. You should be comparing the results of all sources to see which ones are performing the best.

After calculating the profitability of your SEO strategies, you might determine that the ROI is 10x higher than PPC. If that’s the case, you can pull back on your PPC for now and re-allocate that spend towards SEO.

#5 – High Acquisition Costs That Exceed Customer LTV

Your ads are converting. Great!

Right? Not so fast.

You need to make sure that the customer lifetime value (CLV or LTV) is worth what you’re paying for those clicks.

For example, let’s say you’re running an ecommerce website and running PPC ads. Maybe it costs you $70 to acquire a new customer, and your average order value is $50. No problem, but only if those people continue to buy from you again in the future.

But if your expected CLV is also $50 it’s a big problem. It means people are only buying from you once and never coming back. So you can’t afford to spend $70 to acquire them from PPC ads.

Final Thoughts: Consider a Second Opinion Before Pulling the Plug

If your PPC advertising results are dismal, you may want to invest in a second opinion before pulling the plug. Many consulting firms offer PPC management services and could help you find the right mix based on their experience.

This second opinion could help you discover tactical errors that are driving up costs unnecessarily. Search marketing in general is constantly changing, so your in-house management team may lack knowledge of or experience with the latest developments. Likewise, if you are using an outside firm to manage your PPC, you may want to question them on the topics discussed here, such as Quality Score. If they respond with a blank stare, then it could be time to start shopping for a new partnership.

Google may also cost more than other advertising options. Not all PPC advertising needs to come from Google. There are alternatives that can produce better results that you should test and explore.