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Posts Tagged ‘Lot’

Are Your PPC Ads a Joke?

Monday, May 6th, 2013

When you’re telling a joke, you’ve got to hold the punchline until the end. It’s the surprise punchline that gets the laughs. Works great for comedy, but it’s lousy for PPC Ads.

When people scan search results, they’re looking for immediate confirmation of relevance — will this result take me to what I want? — that can be effortless confirmed as they sweep their eyes over the results for, oh, just slightly longer than a nano-second, I suppose.

And that means the keywords and trigger words need to be as high up and far to the left of the ad copy as possible. At the front of the headline, at the front of the first line of body copy. That sort of thing. A PPC Ad isn’t a joke — don’t save your keyword “punchline” until the end!

With that principle in mind, the rather confusing results from this test start to make a lot more sense:

If the keyword is cookware, you’d think ad copy that focuses exclusively on “Cast Iron Pots, Pans, and Dutch Oven Sets” would alienate a lot of people who are in the market for stainless steel, copper, non-stick, and most other kinds of cookware. In other words, you’d think that the cast-iron exclusivity would sink the winning ads performance. But oddly enough, it didn’t.

So what happened?

The winning ad used “cookware” earlier in the headline, and in the first line of copy, AND used the confirming add-on words of “Pots, Pans, and Dutch Oven Sets.” When searchers glance at that ad, they instantly know that it’s relevant to their search, and may even overlook the “Cast Iron” part.

Compare this to the losing ad, which delays the use of the keyword to the end of the headline, doesn’t use cookware at all on the first line of copy and uses no other trigger words or confirming language. This ad is sort of a joke, in that it saves the trigger words until the end, making it harder to scan for relevance.

And how much difference does this really make? Well, for this test, it was a 49% increase in Click-Through Rates — which is no small difference!

So take a tip from the boosters: don’t save those keywords and trigger words for the end — put them high and to the left in your copy and use them generously throughout your copy. Because your PPC ad copy is no laughing matter.

Tags: Ads, Cast Iron Pots, Comedy, Confirmation, Confusing Results, Copper, Dutch Oven, Exclusivity, Glance, Joke, Keyword, Laughs, Lot, People, Ppc, Principle, Punchline, Relevance, Stainless Steel, Surprise
Posted in Ad Text Tips, Ad Writing Techniques, AdWords Ad Best Practices, Copywriting, Paid Search, Tips From The Boosters | No Comments »

A Deal Is Only a Deal If…

Monday, January 14th, 2013

A deal is only a deal if it’s for something you actually want. In other words, low price remains unimpressive when their is a doubt over quality. Keep that in mind when viewing this next contest and the results will make a lot more sense:

The main search term is “Diamond Engagement Rings” and so the headline for both ads prominently displays that term for maximum match-up. And that’s when the two ads diverge.

The losing ad assumed “diamond engagement rings” was enough and then jumped right into the savings claim: “30% Cheaper than Retail.” Only afterwords was their really any mention of quality, but on a fast scan, afterwards is really too late.
The winning ad follows up “diamond engagement ring” with an immediate assurance of quality — not just any diamond engagement rings, but rings you’d be proud to give to you fiancee — “Gia Certified Diamond Engagement Rings” and only then does the price advantage get made.

It’s not the biggest difference in the world, just swapping around the order of information, but it’s enough to earn a 25% boost in Click-Through Rates, which is nothing to sneeze at.

So take a tip from the Boosters and test whether quality first and savings second doesn’t work better than the other way around.

Tags: Afterwords, Diamond Engagement Ring, Diamond Engagement Rings, Diamond Rings, Doubt, Fiancee, Lot, Match, Price Advantage, Search Term
Posted in Ad Text Tips, Ad Writing Techniques, Copywriting, Paid Search, Tips From The Boosters | 2 Comments »

It’s Harder Than It Looks

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

OK, without any other pre-amble, pick the winner of this contest:

Got it? Good. Now pick the winner of this contest:

So you’re probably wondering, “why the double contest?”

Because the feature that many experienced ad writers would most likely see as a winning edge — the inclusion of 2012 in the title — simply isn’t. Or at least, it’s not a winning edge all the time.

In the first contest, Ad A is the winner, beating out Ad B with an impressive 174%. So in this case, it seems as if using 2012 in the title to clearly communicate that this is the currency of the anti-virus software is a winning change.

But in the second context, Ad B is the winner, beating out Ad A by an even more impressive 213% increase in CTR.

So what gives?

3 Take Aways

Frist, you have to look to searcher psychology. Mac users want stuff specifically designed for their Macs and not a bastardized piece of software that’s been “ported-over” from its Windows version. So the ad that best emphasizes “designed specifically for the mac” or “Protection for your Mac” is going to be the winner. Those are the ads that best match the searcher’s psychology.

Second, you just never know. While it’s great to have rules of thumb that more-or-less consistently produce better performing ads, sometimes the results will surprise you. You gotta test, because as I said last week: testing rules and opinion drools

Third, ongoing optimization of your ad words isn’t formulaic and it isn’t easy. It takes a lot of testing of a lot of different ad writing approaches. But it IS worth it, as the kind of more-than-doubling CTR results prove.

Tags: Anti Virus Software, Currency, Double Contest, Inclusion, Lot, Mac Users, Macs, Match, Optimization, Psychology, Rules Of Thumb, Windows Version, Winning Edge
Posted in Ad Text Tips, Ad Writing Techniques, AdWords Ad Best Practices, Copywriting, Paid Search, Win of the Week | No Comments »

The Curse of Knowledge

Friday, July 20th, 2012

Can you guess which ad captured this week’s Win of the Week? Take your best guess:

So, normally, I might guess that the clearance for 2011 models might work better, as the anticipated sales price on those older models might lend a bit more credibility to the “clearance” claim.

But the “sales event” ad (AKA Ad A) was the actual winner, and by a hug percentage — 300%, to be exact.

why?

Well, we’ll get to that in a line-by-line breakdown, but mostly it has to do with “The Curse of Knowledge,” which means the tendency of knowledgeable people to assume that knowledge in others, especially in a broader audience.

For example, everybody knows what a sale is. Are you quite sure that everyone knows what a clearance is? And even if YOU know that model year 2013 cars come out in the fall, are you sure that everyone knows that, or would 2012 Model cars seem like a great deal on a current model year car?

See what I mean? So let’s look at these two ads line by line:

Headline

The winning ad promotes a “Toyota Sales Event,” which assumes no knowledge of the car business and is easily understood by everyone. The losing ad declares a “Toyota Final Clearance,” which could be seen as an attempt to sell unwanted cars, rather than a sale on desirable vehicles.

The First Line of Body Copy

Frankly, the first line of body copy is a toss-up with only one major exception: the winning ad is plugging 2012 models and the losing ad is plugging 2011 models. But it’s a huge difference. People searching on new car sales actually want to buy new cars and 2011 models seem too old, and they’re unwilling to believe that they’d get a steep enough discount on them to make it worth it.

The Second Line of Body Copy

The winning ad proclaims “Reduced Prices on All Toyotas,” as in everything on the lot is for sale, whether it’s a clearance item or not.

In contrast, the losing ad asks you to “Buy Today at Clearance Prices,” implying that only the 2011 models are actually on sale. This isn’t so much a “curse of knowledge” sort of thing as a “curse of unintended implications” sort of thing, as I doubt that the write of the losing ad intended to imply that it was ONLY the 2011 models that were on sale. Still, it boils down to the same thing in terms of the value of “an outside perspective.”

Beating the Curse of Knowledge

There are a couple of things you can do to beat the “Curse of Knowledge,” but the most effective is to get someone outside your field to read your ads for feedback, or even to take a stab at writing some of your ads. Obviously, hiring BoostCTR is one way to do that, but there are a number of others.

Sometimes just getting someone from another department can be helpful. How about letting the guys in the shipping department take a stab at writing some ads? Or one of the sales guys?

Or how about having your kid read the ad and ask questions?

Lots of options, why not try a few of them?

Tags: Audience, Car Business, Clearance Item, Clearance Prices, Credibility, Curse Of Knowledge, Desirable Vehicles, Guess, Lot, Model Cars, New Car Sales, New Cars, Older Models, People, Tendency, Toyota, Toyota Sales, Toyotas, Unwanted Cars, Year 2013
Posted in Ad Text Tips, Ad Writing Techniques, Copywriting, Paid Search, Win of the Week | 2 Comments »