I burned through a $550 budget

[Andrea Pisunini]

Hello everyone. I’ve run into the following problem.


I’m part of an affiliate program for an AI adult-content service. The tool turns photos into adult videos in high quality. Previously, all our traffic went to the website through Telegram, which is already not ideal, because every extra transition and button seriously cuts conversion.


I started learning CPA networks and began running paid ads. The creatives are good, there are visits and clicks, but there are no paid conversions.


Basically: 2,600 visits to the website, 11 created payments, 0 paid. I checked, and the issue is not on the payment processor’s side. Technically, the website works perfectly, so there are no questions about that.


I tested completely different models, GEOs, languages, and click prices — from $0.009 to $0.08. In the end, everything was a loss.


A couple of times, an ad campaign generated a good ROI. We launched the same ad again, but with a bigger budget — and the result was 0 payments. Literally 0.


What could be the problem? Please share your thoughts.

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

Creative - stat

 

[T J Tutor]

What is the history of the affiliate program you are promoting? Did you research this?

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

What is the history of the affiliate program you are promoting? Did you research this?

Hello, yes, I have studied it. I have been communicating directly with the developers for several years now — they are friends of mine. The product works properly and there are no complaints. The issue is my lack of experience with targeted advertising in Adult CPA, specifically TrafficStars, so I am looking for help.

 

[T J Tutor]

he issue is my lack of experience with targeted advertising in Adult CPA

Have you looked on any of the intelligence applications to see what other affiliates are using for their landing pages to presell the conversion?

 

[Graybeard]

I’m part of an affiliate program for an AI adult-content service. The tool turns photos into adult videos in high quality.

Did you know that making explicit AI videos of real people—whether known or random—is potentially a civil tort in many places, and if the person is underage, a serious crime?

Even if the AI video isn’t explicit, it could still be considered libelous. And if a fictional person appears underage, it could still be treated as child porn in some jurisdictions.

So if you’re advertising Tier 1, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your traffic is law enforcement or people backing out over legal concerns.

Your real market is probably creators using their own images—OnlyFans models, porn actors, or webcam performers creating additional content legally.

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

Have you looked on any of the intelligence applications to see what other affiliates are using for their landing pages to presell the conversion?

No, I’ve only tested TrafficStars, since it’s considered second after TrafficJunky. I can’t advertise on TrafficJunky because AI deepnude tools are prohibited there. It can’t be that the platform simply doesn’t convert; the problem is more likely in my settings and strategies.

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

Did you know that making explicit AI videos of real people—whether known or random—is potentially a civil tort in many places, and if the person is underage, a serious crime?

Even if the AI video isn’t explicit, it could still be considered libelous. And if a fictional person appears underage, it could still be treated as child porn in some jurisdictions.

So if you’re advertising Tier 1, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your traffic is law enforcement or people backing out over legal concerns.

Your real market is probably creators using their own images—OnlyFans models, porn actors, or webcam performers creating additional content legally.

We have censorship in place. Users will not be able to upload a photo of a minor under any circumstances; strict censorship is in place. We also clearly state that we are against people creating images of anyone without their consent, and that this may result in criminal liability.

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

Have you looked on any of the intelligence applications to see what other affiliates are using for their landing pages to presell the conversion?

If you mean copying other people’s strategies, then yes, I’ve done that, but it didn’t really produce much of a result.

 

[balistix19]

Honestly, that sounds more like a traffic-quality or intent problem than a technical one.
Getting clicks is easy in adult/AI niches, but getting people willing to actually pay is completely different. A lot of cheap traffic is just curiosity clicks, bots, or people hunting free content. The fact that scaling kills the ROI is also a pretty common sign that the original campaign probably hit a small pocket of high-quality traffic by chance.
I’d look deeper at:

• traffic quality/source
• landing page trust
• pricing/paywall friction
• mismatch between ad creative and actual product experience

2,600 visits with 0 paid conversions usually means the traffic isn’t matching buyer intent.

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

Honestly, that sounds more like a traffic-quality or intent problem than a technical one.
Getting clicks is easy in adult/AI niches, but getting people willing to actually pay is completely different. A lot of cheap traffic is just curiosity clicks, bots, or people hunting free content. The fact that scaling kills the ROI is also a pretty common sign that the original campaign probably hit a small pocket of high-quality traffic by chance.
I’d look deeper at:

• traffic quality/source
• landing page trust
• pricing/paywall friction
• mismatch between ad creative and actual product experience

2,600 visits with 0 paid conversions usually means the traffic isn’t matching buyer intent.

Could you tell me where to find buyers? Maybe you know some good platforms, or specific ad settings?

I tried creatives with the price clearly written, like “SUBSCRIPTION FROM $5!!!!” and stuff like that. People still clicked, but there were no payments anyway. What’s interesting is that people do create payments, but don’t complete them.

I suspect that on TrafficStars they might be sending bots to users’ ads.

 

[Rauldd]

Has you tried native ads for this? I did time ago and roi was decent (traffichunters they has very good intent traffic if you got budget, exoclick). also trafficstar has very expensive traffic and it doesnt convert very well.

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

Has you tried native ads for this? I did time ago and roi was decent (traffichunters they has very good intent traffic if you got budget, exoclick). also trafficstar has very expensive traffic and it doesnt convert very well.

Oh, thank you for the tip — I actually haven’t tried that one yet. I’ll test it out. Thanks for your help

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

Has you tried native ads for this? I did time ago and roi was decent (traffichunters they has very good intent traffic if you got budget, exoclick). also trafficstar has very expensive traffic and it doesnt convert very well.

Last time, the TrafficStars managers recommended it to me, but after the experience of wasting budget there, I didn’t really want to try it again and started posting on forums instead. I still think TrafficStars as a platform isn’t suitable for my product. Maybe I really do need to switch platforms.

 

[Andrea Pisunini]

Has you tried native ads for this? I did time ago and roi was decent (traffichunters they has very good intent traffic if you got budget, exoclick). also trafficstar has very expensive traffic and it doesnt convert very well.

What product are you advertising?

 

[Rauldd]

What product are you advertising?

Candy,ia.. swipey,ia and so on

 

[AdsCompass]

Could you tell me where to find buyers? Maybe you know some good platforms, or specific ad settings?

I tried creatives with the price clearly written, like “SUBSCRIPTION FROM $5!!!!” and stuff like that. People still clicked, but there were no payments anyway. What’s interesting is that people do create payments, but don’t complete them.

I suspect that on TrafficStars they might be sending bots to users’ ads.

The abandoned payments detail is actually really useful — that's not bots, bots don't initiate checkouts. That points more to paywall friction or trust issues at the payment step: unfamiliar payment methods, no card options, currency mismatch and so on. Worth investigating that first before changing traffic sources....

On the traffic side — source quality and intent always matter more than volume. Different networks deliver very different audiences even for the same GEO, so testing multiple sources is usually the right move.

At AdsCompass we work with direct publishers across 200+ GEOs — Push and Pop tend to perform well for adult and AI content verticals when it comes to finding actual buyers. Happy to share more details if you want to test

 

[AdsCompass]

Candy,ia.. swipey,ia and so on

these are really good products, so do you work on CPC CPM models?

 

[farixstar]

Dont listen to anyone talking shit. Your problem is conversion. Your creative might give you clicks for 0.00001$ but you wont get conversions because that traffic is motivated. Either rewrite your ad copy which might help a little or put a hook in your landing page text. Also in your case the audience you target matters. Kids will just burn your money on clicks and views. Target adults. They actually got money. Then after you go broad you can add interests later. But at the start that will just make your costs higher.