Why Your Facebook™ Ads Are Not Converting

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If your ads are not converting, it is very easy to blame the technical pieces.

You might find yourself thinking things like:

“Maybe my targeting is off.”
“Maybe I need a different lookalike audience.”
“Maybe my creative is not strong enough.”

Targeting and creative do matter. However, after managing Facebook™ and Instagram™ Ads for over thirteen years, there is a pattern I see over and over again.

The problem is almost never the targeting. In many cases, it is not even the budget or the visuals.

The real issue is something I call the expertise blind spot, and it is quietly costing coaches and course creators thousands every month.

Let us break down what that is, how it shows up in your ads and funnel, and what you can do to fix it.

What is the expertise blind spot

The expertise blind spot happens when you have grown so deep into your own expertise that you drift away from the words your audience actually uses.

When you first started your business, you probably spoke in very simple, relatable language. You were close to the problems your clients were facing. You had either lived them recently or had just helped someone through them.

As time goes on, things change. You:

Learn new frameworks and methodologies
Take certifications and advanced training
Work with more and more clients

Your thinking deepens, your process evolves and your language shifts with it.

You start talking about transformation and methodology. You explain the “what” and the “why” behind your approach. You use industry terms that feel normal to you.

The problem is that your ideal client is not living in that headspace yet. They are still stuck in their current reality.

They are not thinking, “I need sustainable revenue systems.”
They are thinking, “I am exhausted and cannot seem to get past this income plateau.”

That gap between your expert language and their lived experience is the expertise blind spot. When it shows up in your ads, your landing pages and your emails, it quietly blocks conversions.

How the blind spot shows up in your ads

Here is a simple example.

Imagine you are a business coach who helps women scale to multiple six figures.

In your ads, you might write a line like:
“Ready to implement systems that create sustainable growth and scalable revenue streams”

It sounds accurate. It describes what you do. It speaks to your level of thinking.

However your ideal client is living in a very different inner conversation. She might be thinking things like:

“I am so tired. I am working nights and weekends.”
“I am stuck at $8,000 per month and cannot figure out why.”
“I feel like I am doing everything right, but nothing is shifting.”

Your ad is speaking in expert language. She is living in her current reality.

When there is a gap between what you say and what she is experiencing & feels, she scrolls. Not because you cannot help her, but because she does not recognise herself in your words.

The same thing often happens in other niches. A health coach talks about “transforming your relationship with food” while her ideal client is thinking “nothing seems to work since I hit 40 and I am tired all the time.”

The offer is right. The words are wrong.

When misaligned messaging creates a leaky funnel

The cost of this does not stop at the ad.

Let us say your image or headline is strong enough that someone clicks anyway. They land on your opt in page.

If the page is filled with phrases like “transformational frameworks” and “breakthrough strategies”, while they are still thinking about the very practical problem they want fixed today, the disconnect continues.

They may bounce straight away.
They may opt in, then feel confused or underwhelmed by the first email.

Your ad talks in one way.
Your landing page talks in another.
Your emails introduce a different angle again.

This is what I call a leaky funnel.

At each step, a few more people fall away. Not because your offer is weak or your targeting is wrong, but because the message feels inconsistent and slightly “off” at every stage.

You are effectively talking to three different versions of your client, rather than one real person moving through a journey.

How to fix the expertise blind spot in your ads and funnel

The good news is that this is fixable. It does take intention, because you are asking yourself to step out of your expert head and into your audience’s reality again.

Here are three practical steps to start with.

Step 1: Go back to the exact words your clients use

Not the words you use to describe their situation. Their words.

Spend time reading:

DMs and comments
Client enquiry forms and applications
Testimonials and feedback
Notes from discovery or clarity calls

Look for exact phrases that keep repeating. Sentences that make you think, “Yes, this is what they all say.”

Write those down.

These phrases belong in your ad copy, on your landing page and in your emails. They become your raw material. When your audience sees their own language reflected back to them, they feel understood very quickly.

Step 2: Start with their current reality, not your transformation

There is a time and place to talk about transformation. Your programme might offer huge shifts. You may have helped past clients achieve life changing results.

However that is not where your messaging should start.

Your ad needs to meet someone in today’s problem. The one that is keeping them up, frustrating them and sending them back to Google.

Ask yourself:

What are they worrying about at 10pm at night
What have they already tried that hasn’t worked
What do they feel embarrassed, tired or fed up about

Lead with that current reality.

Once they feel seen and understood, then you can introduce the new possibility or the deeper transformation your work offers.

Step 3: Make your messaging cohesive across the whole funnel

This is the step that is easy to overlook.

Your ad, your opt in page, emails in your email sequence and your sales page all need to feel like one continuous conversation.

That means:

The main problem you call out is the same all the way through
The main promise or outcome does not keep changing
The tone and language feel consistent

When someone clicks from your ad to your page, they should think, “Yes, this is exactly what I was just reading about.”

When they open your first email, it should feel like you are picking up the thread, not starting a completely new topic.

When this happens, your funnel feels seamless. People understand what you are helping them with and why it matters, and they feel safe to move forward.

A quick example in action

I worked with a health coach who supports women in their 40’s and 50’s.

Her original ad spoke about “transforming your relationship with food and unlocking sustainable wellness”. It sounded polished.

However her clients were not using those words.

When we reviewed her past discovery calls and messages, we saw phrases like:

“I am tired all the time.”
“I have tried every diet and nothing works any more.”
“My body does not respond the way it used to.”

We rewrote the ad to speak directly to that reality. The headline became:
“Why diets stop working after 40, and what actually works instead.”

Same offer. Same funnel. Same targeting.

The cost per lead dropped from around $6 to around $2.50. Backend sales conversions tripled.

The only thing that changed was the messaging.

Final thoughts

If your Facebook™ ads are not converting, it might be time to look beyond audiences and budgets.

Ask yourself:

Am I speaking my audience’s language, or only my expert language
Does my ad describe their current reality, or just my transformation
Does my funnel feel like one conversation, or several disconnected ones

When you close the expertise blind spot and align your messaging, everything else starts to work more smoothly. Your targeting has a fair chance. Your funnel stops leaking. Your cost per lead and cost per sale begin to reflect the true value of your work. If you would like help doing this in a structured way, this is exactly what we work on inside Abundant Ads Academy. We bring your ads, your funnel and your offer into alignment, so you can finally run campaigns that convert and feel good for you and your clients.