That advice about lowering bids on slow days cost me a campaign

A guy in a Facebook group told me to drop my CPM bids by 40% on Sundays because less competition means cheaper clicks. I tried it for three weeks and my CTR dropped from 2.1% to 1.1% while my cost per conversion actually went up 15 bucks. Did this work for anyone else or was I just listening to bad advice from some random? I'm wondering if there is a better strategy for weekend ad performance.

3 comments

3 Comments

morganhill19d ago

Honestly, that whole "lower bids on slow days" thing is one of those pieces of advice that sounds good in theory but falls apart fast. You mentioned your CTR dropped from 2.1% to 1.1% after the change, so did you check if your ad was still getting shown to the same kind of audience or if it shifted to cheaper but lower quality placements? I've seen the algorithm punish lower bids by dumping impressions into stuff like apps or sidebar spots, which kills performance faster than any savings on cost.

owens.cameron19d ago

Guessed you were right honestly, I used to think lowering bids was a no-brainer way to save money on slow days. Never really looked at where my ads ended up after doing it, just figured lower bids meant fewer clicks but still decent traffic. But after reading your post I checked my own placements and yep, it was all junk traffic from cheap apps and random sidebar garbage. Completely changed how I think about this now, cheaper bids just push you into the worst parts of the network.

pat_coleman19d ago

Honestly, that bit about "junk traffic from cheap apps" got me thinking. It reminds me of how we all fall for the same trap in other parts of life, like picking the cheapest gas station and ending up with bad gas that messes up your engine. Or buying the bargain bin produce that rots in two days. The pattern is everywhere: you get what you pay for, and the cheapest option usually cuts corners somewhere you can't see until it bites you. Tbh, I think the real lesson is that "saving money" on low bids isn't saving anything if the traffic is worthless. It's like paying for a gym membership and only using the broken machines in the back. Ngl, your post made me look at a bunch of my own spending decisions differently, not just ads.