Google AdWords Tips | Another day of 100% Improvements…
This is something to get used to!
We changed 1 word in an ad and saw our CTR double.
As you may know, it’s crucial to test whether your audience responds better to advertised features or advertised benefits (If you can’t test, bank on benefits first). Another important element is whether they prefer imagery of passive or active results from said product.
I think these next results fall within that last category. We changed up one word (the first one, so a crucial one) in our ads and waiting for results, and when they came in…
… it was pretty huge. It is clear the idea of development better resonates with our audience. The astute observer might ping the losing ad with bad grammar, but that doesn’t always matter.
That one tiny tweak instantly doubled our click thru rate and even though the conversion rate dropped a bit we still developed leads way faster than before.
Why don’t you try testing YOUR ads’ first word and see what happens?
Learn other major tests in our step-by-step AdWords Guide.
Great post, the best first words in an advert I have come across are: affordable, discover and explore.
Uh, did you turn the optimizer off? To make a good test, total impression for both ads should be equal.
Hi Mike,
A very interesting insight into the importance of testing and tracking adwords campaigns. I have found, just like you, that even subtle differences between ads can create dramatic differences in click through rates.
I always use 3 ads per adwords campaign, and select the option to show all 3 ads equally. I then take the ad with the lowest ctr and try to improve on it. Adwords is a great way to drive targeted traffic to sites but the key to success is to constantly monitor your ads, costs and ctr.
That is a great tip that many people forget about when doing ppc is adcopy testing. Nice article.
[...] Google AdWords Tips | Another day of 100% Improvements… [...]
[...] Google AdWords Tips | This Time We Test The LAST Word Of The Ad January 17th, 2008 by Mike W. Read more about Google AdWords Tips We just recently ran an AdWords test showing how important your ads’ first word can be. [...]
The drop in CR would have been an issue because of rise in cost per conversion (though it all depends on the objective of the campaign – over here more leads was the bigger benefit). The good thing about adwords though is that high CTR means lower CPC. Have noticed on quite a few campaigns that an increase in CTR, nearly always leads to decrease in CPC.
Hi there Mike (good name!),
Mate, a 100% increase is fantastic… but…. a 0.06% CTR is pretty horrible.!
I’m guessing that this includes Content Network results?? Did you run this Ad on Google, Search & Content?
What were the Google Network results?
Yes you’re right to test… but nobody should be happy with under a 1% CTR (except a few rare circumstances)
Sorry to be negative, but I think this result should be viewed in perspective.
Cheers,
Mike