Darren Jamieson: Welcome to this week’s episode of The Engaging Marketeer. Today, I’m going to be talking about Facebook advertising, but not in the way you might expect. I’m not giving you the usual tips on how to run Facebook ads effectively. Instead, I’m going to highlight a massive mistake that some e-commerce businesses make—one that completely wastes their budget.
[00:15]
Darren Jamieson: The reason I’m doing this is because I recently saw an ad that was targeted directly at someone like me. The targeting was perfect. But the ad itself? Absolutely terrible. It was for a UK-based collectible toy website, advertising a selection of geek-related products in a carousel format.
The first item in the carousel was a Transformers Optimus Prime Hot Wheels truck—a brand-new release in the UK, currently on pre-order. Now, as a collector, this immediately caught my attention. It’s a small truck, just like the typical Hot Wheels cars you’d find in toy shops for around £2-£4, but this one was about £7-£10. It doesn’t transform, it’s just an Optimus Prime truck in Hot Wheels packaging. Still, very exciting. So, naturally, I clicked on the ad.
[00:55]
Darren Jamieson: Now, because this was a product carousel ad, you’d assume that clicking on a specific product would take you directly to that product page, right? That’s the whole point. One of the key elements of a successful Facebook ad is the destination—where you’re sending people when they click. If you’re paying to display an ad, you need to ensure that users land exactly where they expect to. This is Marketing 101.
However, when I clicked on the ad, I was taken to the homepage of the website. I couldn’t believe it. Why would they send me to the homepage? Why not the product page? This is a huge mistake. It’s like the advertiser saying, “Screw you, you’ll have to find it yourself.” They were making me do all the work instead of taking me straight to the product I was interested in.
[02:12]
Darren Jamieson: What makes this even worse is that, in Facebook Ads Manager, when running an e-commerce store, you can simply link your products to a Facebook product catalog. This allows ads to automatically direct users to the specific product pages. It’s automated! There’s no excuse for not doing this.
But no—they linked every single product in the carousel to the homepage. Frustrated, I started searching their site manually. I checked the Hot Wheels section. No Optimus Prime truck. I searched ‘Optimus Prime.’ Nothing showed up. I just couldn’t find it.
So I went back to the ad, hoping maybe another product in the carousel would lead me to the right place. But no, every single product linked to the homepage. Worse still, they hadn’t even included product titles, descriptions, or prices in the ad—it was just a series of images.
At this point, I started to wonder: Do they even have this product? Or are they just showing me things they think I’ll like, with no intention of selling them?
[03:46]
Darren Jamieson: Annoyed, I Googled the product and found it on another website—toysandgames.co.uk, or something similar. It was listed for £9.99, plus £4 shipping. I ended up buying two because that’s just how I operate.
A few minutes later, I saw the same ad again on Facebook. This time, I decided to leave a comment. I gave them some free advice: “If you’re going to run a product carousel ad, you should link to the actual product instead of making customers search for it.”
They replied, saying: “We actually like to send our customers to the homepage so they can browse our full range.”
Oh. My. God.
[05:22]
Darren Jamieson: Why would you do that?! That’s not a strategy—that’s just bad marketing. They weren’t intentionally trying to send people to the homepage; they just didn’t understand how Facebook advertising works.
You do not show a customer a specific product in an ad and then make them hunt for it. Because here’s what happens—they can’t find it, they get frustrated, and they buy from a competitor.
That’s exactly what happened to me. Their ad made me aware of the product, but since they made it impossible to buy, I went elsewhere. They literally spent money to advertise for their competitors. And yet, when I pointed it out, they doubled down, insisting, “This is how we run our ads.”
[06:59]
Darren Jamieson: If you are running Facebook ads for an e-commerce business, do not make this mistake. Do not send people to your homepage when they click on a specific product. It’s a complete waste of time, money, and effort.
Instead, follow the basic rules of digital marketing:
- Minimize friction—Make it as easy as possible for the customer to buy.
- Use product catalogs—They’re there for a reason!
- One-click, order, done. That’s how e-commerce ads should work.
I actually covered these principles in detail in one of my earliest podcast episodes, somewhere in the first 10. If you want to know the golden rules of Facebook advertising, go back and check it out.
So, in summary, this toy company had a potential ready-to-buy customer (me), and they lost the sale because they made things unnecessarily difficult.
[08:46]
Darren Jamieson: I hope this podcast has been helpful. I’ll be honest, I didn’t enjoy the rant—it just brought back bad memories of that frustrating experience.
But if you found it useful, please leave a review and share it with anyone running Facebook ads for e-commerce. If they’re making mistakes like this, they need to hear it!
Thanks for listening, and I’ll catch you on the next episode of The Engaging Marketeer.
