creative that converts: 10 best practices from a digital ad expert

7/29/2019 Creative That Converts: 10 Best Practices From a Digital Ad Expert

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Creative that Converts10 Best Practices from a Digital Ad Expert

Part One of a 3-Part Serieson Digital Advertising Effectiveness


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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

About The Author ..

Top 10 Creative Best Practices..

Case Studies...

Top 10 Best Practices Cheat Sheet

age 1

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INTRODUCTION

age 2

Local Yokel Media specializes in hyperlocal digitalmarketing, bringing efficiency, scale and performance tohyperlocal ad targeting.

Years of experience in digital advertising has shown that,regardless of your product or service, the 3 most

important drivers of ad performance are:

1. the strength of the creative,2. the context in which the creative is placed, and3. the appropriateness ofaudience who views it.

We are pleased to present this report as the first in athree-part series featuring best practices in each of theseareas, with the goal of helping all advertisers achievemaximum digital advertising effectiveness.

To learn more about how Local Yokel Media helps regional

and national advertisers with local interests improve theefficiency, scale and performance of their locally-targeteddigital advertising campaigns, please visit our website.
http://www.localyokelmedia.com/http://www.localyokelmedia.com/


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ABOUT THE AUTHORBeth Sibbring

age 3

An interactive marketing pioneer, Beth launched

CompuServes first banking, brokerage, travelreservation and other original ecommerceservices in the 80s and 90s.

Beth went on to originate AOLs performance managementteam in 2000, with the mission to contribute to campaignperformance through creative testing and optimization.

Beth is a founding partner of Tangible Impact, Local YokeMedias creative agency partner, specializing in design, testingand campaign management services for interactive marketersacross all channels.

The author of this report, Beth Sibbring, is an expert inperformance based digital ad creative. Beths firm, TangibleImpact powers Local Yokel Medias ad creative strategy andsolutions .
http://tangibleimpact.com/http://tangibleimpact.com/http://tangibleimpact.com/http://tangibleimpact.com/


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Whether for a website or a mobile phone, a display ad or a

landing page, strong creative design is a critical driver of a

campaigns success.

Based on years of rigorous testing and experience in the digital

environment, weve identified 10 specific creative and copy

techniques that are easily executed and highly effective

across digital media.

Section 1The Top 10 Creative Best Practices

52%of an ads

performance is drivenby the strength of its

creative design.

SOURCE ComScore ARS Global Validation Summary

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Best Practice #1

Your display ad is meant to start a conversation. Asking afriendly question is a natural way to engage someone and

encourage a response.

How are you?Do you need something?

Can I help you?

Have a concern?

Testing shows that many individuals are more likely torespond to ad copy phrased in the question format (Want toEscape?) versus a declarative statement (Its time to getaway.)

Start A Conversation

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Speak directly to a person, asthough youre in a face-to-face

conversation.

Alternatively, speak the

thoughts of your audience, inthe first person.

Make an emotional

connection by asking about

personal preferences, needs

and concerns.

Be specific. Quantify

descriptions, attributes and

benefits.

Get Personal

Use or imply the personal pronoun you or I.

age 6

Best Practice #2

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Break large amounts of copy into 2 separate components:

a headline, and a subhead.

Use a consistent font, and distinguish between the headline

and subhead by using a larger type for the headline and a

small type for the subhead.

A short headline will pique interest, and the subhead that

follows can further inform and influence.

Alternatively, the 2 components can act independently, with

the headline leading to a primary call-to-action and subhead

leading to a secondary call-to-action a technique best suited

for tower ad units like the 160x600.

Short Headlines, Big Impact

age 7

Best Practice #3



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Optimal positioning of the Call-to-Action is immediately followingthe main message that ignites theaudiences interest.

The Call-to-Action is a crucialelement for any response-orientedcreative.

Make it a button.

Incorporate easy action verbs

such as: find, get, click, see, etc.

Do not use verbs that implyinvolvement or commitment, like

registercomplete, or

purchase

They discourage response at thisinitial stage of your conversation.

More involved requests should

occur later in the conversation onyour landing page.

age 8

Best Practice #4

Avoid Commitment in Calls-to-Action



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Use High Contrast Colors

Use strong color contrast to make keyelements of the ad stand out for easy

absorption.

Most important is a contrast between the

copy and the background color.

White is a very effective backgroundcolor.

In addition to white, keep the background

un-textured and un-segmented, for a clean

and clear presentation of all important

elements copy, Call-To-Action, image and

logo.

age 9

Best Practice #5



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Use Big and Bold Fonts

Keep fonts simple and fairlylarge in size, to ensure ease of

readability.

Use of large fonts means that

copy needs to be brief, which

will also improve digestion of

the message and response.

age 10

Best Practice #6

Sans-serif fonts like Tahoma, Trebuchet, Arial, Myriad,Helvetica and others are always excellent choices.



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Mirror Facial Expressions

Images of human faces ensure visual appeal and

immediately attracts attention, drawing the audience intoyour message.

Use images ofhappy, smiling individuals and couples in the

targeted age range, making direct eye contact and closely-

cropped to focus on the face. This reinforces the relevancy of

your offer to the audience and boosts performance.

age 11

Best Practice #7



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Animate the Message

A viewer will decide whether or not to click on an ad within 3

seconds. Use brief animation to attract attention.

Animation should be used to focus attention on the copy

and the call-to-action. It should not take several seconds tolead up to the final offer.

Animate the copy, which is the point and purpose of the

creative.

When animating graphic elements, use them to reveal thecopy giving both the graphics and the copy equal attention.

Keep a persistent call-to-action accessible at all times,

on all frames.

age 12

Best Practice #8



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Apply Natural Sequencing

The sequence of elements should guide your audiencethrough the ad, helping them visually process themessage.

In horizontal units, a left-to-right flow is most effective.

age 13

Best Practice #9

In vertical units, a top-to-bottom flow is

most effective, with key elementsconcentrated in the upper, mostimmediately visible portion of the unit.



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The landing page should

immediately fulfill thepromise of the displayad.

Improve follow-throughby giving ad creative andpages a similar look and

feel.

Keep colors, fonts andimagery consistent.

age 14

Best Practice #10

Strong Landing Page Synergy

After clicking on a display ad, an individual invests onlyseconds in deciding whether or not to interact with thepage.



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A few simple

tweaks cansignificantlyimprove ad

performance.

age 15

Section 2Case Studies

The following are some before-and-after examples of how 3

simple tweaks to the creative, applying the best practices

outlined in this report, significantly boosted performance forTangible Impact clients including AARP, Norton and Stouffers.



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Case Study

age 16

AFTER

BEFORE

Whitebackgroundcreates greatercontrast

Prominent,non-commitalCall-to-Action

More succinctmessage, straight tohe core of the offer

CTR: 0.08%Application Rate: 0.99%

Tweak 2:Best Practice #5


weak 1:est Practice #3

CTR: 0.09%Application Rate: 1.30%

3 simple tweaks to this creative boosted conversionrates for this AARP offer by 16%.



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Case Study

age 17

AFTER

BEFORE

Headline is a question, to engage the viewer in conversation

nimated: Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame 3

Animated: Frame 1 Frame 2

he complete message is in a single frame: the first frame

Animation is limited to the Call-to-Action, and draws attention to the

action the advertiser wants the viewer to take

weak 1: Best Practice #1



3 simple tweaksto this creative

boosted clicks by65%.

3 simple tweaks to this creative boosted Nortons click-through rate by 65%.



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Case Study

age 18

AFTER

BEFORE

The core of theoffer (coupon) isprominentlyfeatured, broken

nto short headlineand subhead

The Call-to-Actiobecame a button

placed inprominentposition

Large, bold fontsand strong colorcontrast


Tweak 2:Best Practices #5,6


3 simple tweaks to this Stouffers offer led to a click-through rate increase of358%.



20/21age 19

Armed with these 10 digital creative best practices, youcan now tweak your existing display ad creative to boost

its performance, or begin planning your new campaign

with confidence.

As you prepare to take your new-and-improved creative

for a test drive, keep in mind that creative only

influences 52% of the ads potential to drive

performance: placement of that creative in the correct

context, and showing that creative to the most

appropriate audience, are 2 additional critical drivers.

If you are a business with local targeting interests, Local

Yokel Media can help you reach hyperlocal audiences

within tightly-targeted service areas across the country,

through trusted local content. We call this geo-contextual

relevance, and it is another key factor in driving superior

ad performance.

Your TurnReady to Ramp Up Your Creative?

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Creative That Converts10 Best Practices from a Digital Ad Expert

CHEAT SHEET

Start a Conversation

Get Personal and Specific

Short Headline, Big Impact

Avoid Commitment in Calls-to-Action

Use High Contrast Colors

Use Big and Bold Fonts

Mirror Facial Expressions

Animate the Message

Use Natural Sequencing

Strong Landing Page Synergy

creative that converts: 10 best practices from a digital ad expert

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