Ad Copy: Going for the Click, or the Sale?
Is your ad copy pullin in the right visitors for you? While many of us want to create great ad copy that makers the user click, the end goal should be to make them convert. Let’s take a look at a real time example, and how different ad copy compares.
To see a variation of what advertisers are using in their ad copy, I went to Google and did a general search for “make money“. This is a very basic search phrase, but also highly competitive. The first two listings were both about how to make money, but had different goals in mind. (I have no affiliation with the two sites/campaigns below, just using them as examples)
Ad Copy Clicks vs. Conversions Key Points:
Right off the bat, you can see that the ad copy for ProjectPayDay (PP) is trying to grab the users attention, by saying “Make Money Online – Free” as their main link. This applies to almost everyone… who wouldn’t want to make free money. The ad copy then goes into details on how much you can make with the program.
The title tage for sixfigureincomeforu.com (SFIFU) is more low key, but doesn’t flash the word “free” out there. The description is where the value is. Instead of giving general information and telling the user it’s “free”, they actually list a price it will cost the consumer. This will scare away any visitors who did not want to spend money, hence saving the advertiser on a wasted click.
What’s the End Goal for Your Campaign?
ProjectPayday’s end goal is to get “free” sign ups on their site. In turn, these free signups are then pushed to complete various different offer, which PP will then split a portion with. In the end, the visitor will still have to use their credit card at some point to make money, but not directly with PP.
SFIFU is out there strictly to push the sale and get people who are interested in spending around $70 to make money online. They are not looking for free signups, or to build a mailing list… they just want the sale.
What You Should Walk Away With:
While it’s likely both of these ad campaigns are profitable, since they have been running for a while and are in top positions… if they were to change their ad copies, their revenue/profit numbers could swing dramatically. If PP was to throw into their ad copy that you eventually had to use your credit card, click rates would probably drop. On the flip side, if SFIFU changed their ad copy and didn’t include that it would cost “under $70”, their conversion rate on purchases would dramatically drop.
Is your ad campaign focusing on bringing in the clicks, or new customers looking to buy?
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I go for SALE. 😉
So when promoting Clickbank products, which is the way to go?
Yes, people should also apply these tactics for ad banners on their site (the custom ones)–are they dull and unpersuasive or extremely captivating–landing in a sale?
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I always wonder whether to put the price of a product in my ad if I am advertising for a product (my objective is a sale). I wonder if I will lose potential customers because people won't click on the ad?
I have had sales from people typing in "free product name/service" with no intention of purchasing anything, but then after they get to my sales page, they end up buying.
If my ad had a price in it, the free-searchers would probably never click thru to buy. I guess the other argument, is that you don't have people clicking on your ad that really do not want to purchase anything. What to do?
@Sonia: Best option is to split test. Setup two ad campaigns, 1 with the price and 1 without. See which brings in more sales and compare your epc afterwards.
<abbr>Zac Johnson’s last blog post..Ad Copy: Going for the Click, or the Sale?</abbr>
When you start factoring that you're really paying per click with these advertising techniques, it's important to start going per sale. That way you only pay google when YOU make money from google
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Great post and not something I really thought about. On consideration of the points I would say go for sale but you are right, must split test to see which works best.
When starting out, go for the sale. Then, as you start cashing in, start testing other ads and stuff and see how you make the most money. If you then end up paying more for a sale, and making your ROI decrease, your total sales can possibly, increase and therefore, you end up making more money.
@Sonia:
Is it necessary to set up a new campaign? I would suggest that she create a new text ad within the same campaign or ad group.
Keep coming with the comparative analysis posts – for such a short one, this is a terrific piece of insight, and a very straightforward analysis that speaks volumes.
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It might be worth pointing out that by having a higher click-thru-rate, the overall cost of a campaign can be decreased because Google gives the campaign a better quality score.
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CTR make a huge difference in any sort of campaign one is looking to run & promote Business on Internet. Very helpful post Zac. Keep giving such information in future for better understanding of concepts.
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very useful information that I get, good comparation…I take useful learning
Now this really was a very well illustrated post. You can see exactly what the appropriate use of language is in order to get your desired outcome. A very powerful lesson indeed!
Very well illustrated, and useful. Thanks!
Great post and very well illustrated. I can clearly see what the two ad copy writers are trying achieve. It will give me a lot to think about with my own ads.
I think if you know the goal of your ad it is easier to write the perfect ad copy