Why AB Testing Ad Copy is Important

I love creating ad copy for my clients' ads, but how do I know if I'm are on the right track? Of course, click-through rates and conversion rates are a great way to measure, but it would be difficult to gauge how I could do better if I only have one advert showing.

That is where AB testing ad copy comes in.

Testing ad copy using the AB method is helpful for several reasons. The main reason is that it allows you to effectively pit elements of an advert against each other and build on the winner to create the best performing ad.

Let's look at an example:

Here we have one of my Garage Door clients, and I am testing the ads' headline. As you can see, there is a clear winner in terms of the click-through rate, which is ad A.     

And I know from other data that the conversion rate is more substantial with advert A too.

That's great, but what next?

I want to take the elements of advert A and build on that to create either an Advert C or completely replace advert B and just run the two ads.  

What to look for when creating ad copy to test

Here at Pledge Consultancy, I have tried and tested formulas for creating high performing ad copy. When creating ad copy, I always start by asking the following questions:

1. Will we test the headlines or descriptions?
2. Will we use technical or lemans terms?
3. Who are the adverts trying to connect with?
4. What are the features and benefits?
5. Where is the advert going to take them to – what landing page?

Deciding which element you will test is essential because if you have too many elements testing, you won't know which worked.

A search ads core elements are headings and descriptions. I would recommend starting testing headings first and getting those right, then moving on to optimising your descriptions.

Questions 2 and 3 are connected because if you spent time going through question 3, then answering question 2 will be easier.

It is essentially all about whom you are talking to in your adverts.

For example, if you were selling a technical product with specific specifications, your audience may want to see that in the ad to provide reassurance that what they are looking for you provide. Equally, you may want to use less technical language to appeal to those researching and looking to understand what you offer at an understood level.    

Features and benefits are a great way to communicate why your service or product is better than your competitors, and they should click on your advert.

This could be a great AB test opportunity to see which performs better the features or benefits (or a mixture of both).

Finally, looking at the landing page is just as important as the ad copy itself!

While technically not ad copy, we wanted to make sure we included a section regarding landing pages. You could run exactly the same ad (once you know it's got a good CTR) and have two different landing pages, and AB test those! Asking yourself where the person will land once they have clicked on your advert is so vital.   

So there you are. Hopefully, I have demonstrated how important AB testing your Ad copy is and provided you with some help on getting started on your AB testing journey.