When marketers talk about great PPC ad copy, they often refer to a high CTR (click through rate). Usually it’s a pretty valid indicator of an eye catching ad. Unfortunately many think that getting people to click on the PPC ad and getting them to convert to a sale are completely separate targets.
You’ll be surprised how much effect your ad copy has on your conversion rate.
Read closely.
Before people click on the PPC paid ad in Google, Yahoo or other search engine, they at least read the headline and a bit of the ad copy. That little thing that makes them click on the ad automatically influences their mindset and what they expect to see when they land on your landing page.
If you think that the only thing effecting your conversion rate is your landing page … you have another thing coming your way.
The ad effect on conversion rate was tested by the guys from MindValleyLabs who have done an exceptional job of testing PPC ads and their effect on the ultimate conversion rate. The results were very interesting.
For example;
Test 1. Using meaningful action words such as “Learn“, “See“, “Discover” adds great value to the conversion rate on the landing page as people right from the start begin to understand what your website will do for them.
Test 2. Having words such as “Download” in your PPC ad copy will most likely boost your CTR especially if it’s “Free Download” of something that will be interesting to your target market.
Test 3. Saying things such as “Learn ***** before you buy” or “Warning … don’t even think about buying *** until you read this report” will increase your CTR (click through rate) significantly. Just make sure your landing page is damn good to justify the extra traffic.
Test 4. Promise something. When the PPC ad promises a benefit, you can be sure that the CTR will increase. Important part of this trick is to make sure that the landing page reinforces the promise and converts the visitor.
Test 5. Having your PPC ad be a question will increase the CTR. Looking for a *****? This makes people say “YES”. It’s just like the ad commercials. “Are you tired and grumpy all night? Do you feel like your energy level is too low?….” If you can get people to say YES to these ads, you have their attention. PPC ads proved quite a few times to have a similar effect. It’s good eye grabber.
I’ll add that recently few tests showed that having your company’s URL avoid using capital letters showed better CTR (go figure). The theory is that because organic search results do not capitalize any letters of the company URL, paid ads on the left side might be mistaken for organic. Something you might want to test on your own my friend.
That’s all folks.
