7 Ad Copy Tests to Improve PPC Performance [With Examples]

It is safe to say that online advertising is a necessity for any business.

We live in a digital age and if you have any chance of selling your product or service, you need to make sure your ad is directly in front of you Target population.

But just paying for ads in the right places won’t cut it.Forbes found that the average American is exposed to 4,000 to 10,000 ads per day.

Not surprising when you consider these stats 27% of Americans are using an ad blocker.

Those who don’t block ads have their own mental filters that help them decide what they want to see and what they want to ignore.

No matter what product or service you’re selling, it’s becoming clear: you’re going to need some nifty Fascinating copy Helping you stand out from a growing crowd.

Of course, what is attractive and what is not is a very subjective question.what you will want to know Actually What works, what doesn’t work. This is where ad copy testing can come in handy.

help you create the best ads and improve your PPC performancehere are some basic rules, tips and tricks for your upcoming ad copy test.

Don’t test for the sake of testing

As a starting point, you must always assume what you think will increase your conversion rate and why.

Here is the test method that my company follows:

Designed to produce clear results

Always have plenty of data when running tests!

Statistical significance should be your goal (besides improving performance).

According to Googleyour tests should run until one of the following two conditions are met:

1. At least one variant has a 95% probability of exceeding the baseline (this Free A/B Calculator should help).
2. Two weeks have passed, considering the cyclical changes in network traffic during the week.

This leads us to the final test ground rules.

Set test time range

Remember that tests shouldn’t run forever. Define a specific time frame to get valuable data and stick to it.

Not every test will make sense in one way or another, and that’s okay. The chalk test was inconclusive and moved on.

Now, get these ground rules out of the way and start testing!

1. Number abbreviations with.full value

It’s no secret that ads with numbers help quantify information, whether it’s your inventory, discounts, or product prices.

Using numbers can make your ads more noticeable and help them cut through all the noise other PPC ads are making (more on here).

The numbers also show that you are a brand worth taking seriously – after all, you have the data to back up your claims, right?

So basically, the numbers are good.

Then the question becomes:

• How do you think your target will react?
• Is it a numerical abbreviation, such as 15M, or a full numerical value, such as 15,000,000?

When creating ad copy, numerical manipulation has proven to be a great way to grab attention and differentiate your ad.

2. Add, modify and delete pricing

For PPC advertising, price can be a double-edged sword.

In fact, a recent analysis of the top-performing ads showed that 40% The top-performing branded ads and 37% of non-branded ads contain numbers.

What?

On the one hand, upfront pricing can help users make faster purchasing decisions by giving users the information they need to know.

On the other hand, prices can make people feel offended by reminding them that they need to spend money. This is especially true if your product and/or service is not the cheapest to show up in search engine results.

So how do you know which method works? test.

We worked with a homebuilder client to test price inclusion changes. After setting up some tests, it became clear that by promoting the numbers, we could increase the click-through rate of these communities.

Screenshot by author, August 2017

You can also set the price as a discount to make it more attractive to readers. Speaking of discounts…

3. Experiments when quantifying promotions

In PPC marketing, quantifying promotions with numbers is a common practice, often in the form of discounts, conditional pricing, and other special offers.

For example, instead of writing you have “Special auto parts,” You can write something more persuasive like “50% off auto parts.”

However, you can further maximize your CTR by changing the language used in the promotion and testing ads with percentages, actual pricing, and full offers.

Even better, try testing your “discount” with the numbers that drive the most engagement:

Screenshot of Buzzsumo, August 2021

4. Punctuation? ! .

One of the easiest places to start testing is around punctuation, however, few people focus on this “easy” test.

An analysis of 612 top-performing branded paid ads revealed that 48% of ads used an exclamation mark, while only 11% used a dollar sign, and even fewer used a question mark.

Screenshot of WordStream, December 2021

According to the same survey, the following punctuation marks are most common in non-branded paid ads:

• Exclamation mark: 42%
• Comma: 25%
• Question mark: 11%
• Percentile: 9%
• Dollar sign: 8%

Based on our own testing, the use of the exclamation mark makes sense:

Screenshot by author, April 2022

That said, opportunities to test the use of punctuation (question marks, percentages, etc.) are worth exploring and are consistent with using emotion to drive performance gains.

5. Appeal to Emotions

Most ads are very similar. They are boring. They are all the same. Look?

screenshot from search [big data solutions]Google, August 2017

ads that attract people more emotional dimension Can greatly improve the click-through rate.

Determine the customer’s emotions.

• What do they like/hate?
• What is the biggest problem they face?
• How are you going to solve it?

At worst, take cues from the headline categories driving engagement on Twitter and Facebook.

While traditionally reserved for content ideation, use headline analyzers such as this or this It can also help apply emotional headlines to ad copy.

6. Test your CTAs

Let’s face it, different people react to ads differently.

A key factor that affects how people react to your ad is introduce – Basically, you’re asking them to trust your brand or the way you try your product or service.

This is where language come in, it is especially important that Write your CTA.

As trivial as it may sound, the first word of a CTA has the potential to create a positive or negative impression of the ad itself.

The first word in the CTA can be the deciding factor, so you need to test different first words in the CTA (all of which should be verbs) and use high converting copy.

For example, from “Call us now,” replace “Contact us today,” May cause significant differences in CTR.

Similarly, “Now go shopping,” replace “Order now” There may be different levels of audience response.

Here’s a mashup of potential call-to-action variations for you to test:

• get
• shop
• purchase
• put up
• Find
• Book
• Order
• Buy
• start using
• call
• Require
• Booking
• make a reservation
• join in
• try
• take
• download
• register
• study
• subscription
• Look
• find out
• estimate
• start

7. Play around with your landing page

nature, Landing pages are a great marketing toolas they give your target market a chance to decide whether they should engage further with the business.

Therefore, testing your landing page is an essential part of doing business online.

In Google Ads, you can easily do some landing page tests without making any changes to your website:

• Direct links to the most popular products in the categories you advertise.
• Direct link to category page.
• Try different sorting methods on your category pages:
  • Best seller.
  • Cheapest first.
  • The new one comes first.
  • Best to review first.
  • Do promotions first.
  • Manual placement.
• Link to a search for a specific brand, product or product type.
• Link to your home page (yes, it might work for you).

Pro tip: Google Optimize is a godsend for this type of A/B and multivariate testing (for paid media and Search Engine Optimization).

When it comes to campaign optimization, you need Keep doing split tests like this, then analyze your results. Otherwise, you’re doing your company — and your campaign — a great deal of damage.

What’s next?

Anyone in marketing knows that well-placed ads don’t come cheap.

Thorough ad copy testing can give you confidence in your ads and improve your chances of getting a return on the ads you decide to run.

Following the steps above can help you test your ad copy as best as possible before investing in it. But what’s next?

Whether you succeed or find that further changes or improvements are needed, ad testing should be at the top of your list of priorities.

It is important to track ad performance and analyze the data collected.

This will help you change and edit your ad as needed and make more informed decisions in the future to maximize success and profit.

Remember ABT: always. Yes. test.

More resources:

Featured Image: Minimallista/Shutterstock