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Archive for the ‘Win of the Week’ Category

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Moving Beyond Keyword Match-Up

Friday, May 17th, 2013

 

Before we do anything else, guess which ad outperformed the other:




Answer: Ad B outperformed Ad A by 817%. Let that sink in for a minute — Ad B created an 800% increase in Click-Through Rates!


So what’s the big difference? Here are the obvious ones:


  • Shop vs. Find
  • Modern & Unique vs. Eclectic
  • Containers & Tools vs. Canisters, Jars, & Tools


So which elements are the crucial ones?


Frankly, with that much of an increase in CTR, I think there’s plenty of credit to go around and I think that all of Ad B’s changed words represent an improvement, but if I had to weigh one change more heavily than the rest, I’d put it on the last one: moving from the more generic “containers & tools” to the much more visual and imaginable “canisters, jars, & tools.”


Why?


First because vivid, imaginable words almost always do better. But mostly because I think that “canisters” and “Jars” are really what searchers are looking for when they search for kitchen storage and tools. And, really, creating a significantly better match-up of searcher intent is pretty much the ONLY way to get over an 800% improvement!

So what’s the take-away?

Testing, really. When seemingly small, but smart word choices can make an 800% difference in response rate to your ad, you’d be foolish NOT to test those kinds of changes, wouldn’t you?


And if I had to give another, I’d say always look further than mere keywords to the buyer intent expressed by those keywords, because matching-up with buyer intent is the real key to extraordinary PPC Ad performance, which is why this contest was this week’s Win of the Week.


 

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Posted in Ad Text Tips, Ad Writing Techniques, Ads in the Wild, Copywriting, Paid Search, Win of the Week | No Comments »


The Clean Bathroom Approach to PPC Ad Copy

Thursday, May 9th, 2013

 

We naturally believe in the principle of internal consistency. It may not make sense in every situation, but we believe it anyway.


If you walk into a restaurant’s bathroom and it’s filthy, you wonder how clean — or disgusting — the kitchen is, even though it’s unlikely that the same people who clean the bathroom also work in kitchen. Or at least one hopes that it’s unlikely!


Well, the same principle of internal consistency applies to PPC Ad copy. Take a look at the following contest, and with that principe in mind, see if you can’t pick out which ad outperformed the other:





So, assuming that the search Keyword was “Turquoise Earrings” the ads are fairly similar, with Ad A offering more specifics to strengthen the “save” claim and Ad B strengthening the free shipping claim with “on all orders.” But frankly, neither of those is the deciding factor here


The deciding factor that put Ad B ahead on Click-Through Rates was the internal consistency between the headline offer of “Turquoise Earrings” and the body copy describing them as “Beautiful & Authentic.” Because when you’re talking about natural stone — especially a natural stone that’s often over-dyed and imitated — a claim of “authentic” is naturally what you’d expect to hear. It’s internally consistent with the offer, thereby making the whole ad more persuasive and believable.


And that’s why Ad B won the contest AND a spot in today’s WIn of the Week column.


 

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Posted in Ad Text Tips, Ad Writing Techniques, Copywriting, Paid Search, Win of the Week | No Comments »


The Power of Consistency? It’s Worth Testing!

Thursday, April 25th, 2013

 

Ok, first, look at these two ads from a “Designer Wallpaper” campaign, and pick the ad you believe performed best:



This one is kind of tough. Ad B has a better keyword match-up in the headline and it places the savings offer up-front at the very beginning of the first line of copy. And yet, Ad B lost. It was Ad A that more than doubled Click-Through Rates, boosting them by 143%


So what does Ad A have going for it?


While there are a few nuances of language in the headline and first line of body copy — “on sale” vs. “sale,” plus the claim of “Exclusive” — I think the real driver is the fact that Ad A doesn’t make the online store’s membership requirement explicit in the way that Ad B does.


Ad B says “Join Now,” which sets off alarm bells if you’re just shopping and don’t want to join a membership site. Ad A doesn’t. And I think that ups the Click-Through Rate.


But then, when people DO click through, wouldn’t they bounce once they see the registration requirement? Not in this case. Once the searcher commits to seeing what the e-tailer has on offer, she gladly delivers up an e-mail address to browse the website — she’s already made that commitment.


But when that same searcher is actively sorting through offers and ads, she has no commitment, and the idea of a membership gets rejected.


Will it always work this way? Don’t count on it. But is it worth testing? Absolutely! And that’s why this contest is a win of the week.


 

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Posted in Ad Text Tips, Ad Writing Techniques, Copywriting, Paid Search, Win of the Week | No Comments »


What They Want vs. What You THINK They Want

Friday, April 19th, 2013

 

Before we do anything else, pick the winner:




So without preamble, Ad A won the contest, more than doubling Click-Through Rates. And in looking at this win, I couldn’t help but see the results as part of a larger pattern, wherein ads containing copy about:

  1. Compatibility Matching, and
  2. “Affluent” Singles/Men

almost always lose to ads that offer the chance for the searcher to “find” matches on their own and that leave out any mention of affluence.

So if they don’t respond to these factors — or if searchers actually do care about them, but are offended at such a bald mention of them in PPC copy — then what DO they seem to respond to?


Answer: potential dates who are “mature” (even when the add isn’t specifically aimed at over-40 singles) and “ready to find someone” (which in this ad takes the form of “looking for dates”).


Now, this may not seem like that big a deal, because it’s “just” online dating, but the dynamic IS a big deal when you think about it in terms of using PPC to find out what your prospects ACTUALLY care about rather than what you THINK they care about.


And once you have that insight it’s applicable to far more than just PPC — it can then be used to improve landing pages, Web copy in general, and even e-mails.


But you’ll never get those insights unless you test, and unless your PPC ad writers come at the ads from different angles, testing out different appeals. In other words, unless you have multiple ad writers capable of adopting an outside perspective on your business and industry.


So what kind of testing are YOU doing? And what are you learning from those tests?


 

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Posted in Ad Writing Techniques, Copywriting, Paid Search, Win of the Week | No Comments »


You Are Not Your Prospect

Thursday, April 11th, 2013

 

Ad copywriters have a bad habit of writing copy that appeals to them, rather than to the prospect. Sometimes it works out, if the copywriters have roughly the same needs and sensibilities as the prospect. But most of the time it doesn’t.


So check out this ad contest and see if you can’t tell which one was likely written by a 20-something ad writer writing to his own sensibilities and which one was written by an ad writer who did her best at putting herself into the shoes of the prospective customer:




OK, if you’re not sure, here are some hints:


  • Young people think nothing about finding dates on line. Older people still have a slight embarrassment around it.
  • Young people tend to feel that there are “Plenty of fish in the sea,” an over forty single who is trying to find a date through an online dating service might have a slightly more jaundiced view.

So, yeah, Ad B is the ad written to appeal to the audience, and meant to reflect their emotional attitude: “Sick of the Dating Game?”


So it’s no wonder that Ad B outperformed Ad A, boosting CTR by whopping 293%! And that’s why this Ad represents the WIn of the Week.


 

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Posted in Ad Text Tips, Ad Writing Techniques, AdWords Ad Best Practices, Copywriting, Paid Search, Win of the Week | No Comments »


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