5 psychological ad copy hacks to 3x your ctr's by margot da cunha

#SMX #11B @ChappyMargot

5 Psychological Ad Copy Hacks to 3X Your CTR’s


Meet Margot• I’m a PPC Expert & Content Creator

at WordStream

• Background in PPC, social media, & blogging

• New England native


10 lbs 4 oz!


What do these 3 PPC ads all have in common?


They All Suck


Keyword in the Description URL

Special Offers

Call-to-Action

Sitelink Extensions

Social validation

Product Ratings


They Still Suck


Average CTR Top 15% Top 5% Top 1%

Ads without DKIAds with DKI

Relative CTR

Rela

tive

Freq

uenc

yDynamic Keyword Insertion Works, BUT…


Top 5% Top 1%

Ads without DKIAds with DKI

Relative CTR

Rela

tive

Freq

uenc

yDKI Does Not Make Your Ads Remarkable


Stop Limiting Your Ad Copy to “Best Practices”

& Start Thinking About

PEOPLE


“So many of us are winning at search and losing at people… At

some point winning hearts and minds is going to win

on the SERPs.” – Wil Reynolds


First, What’s a Good CTR?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8-1.00%

0.00%

1.00%

2.00%

3.00%

4.00%

5.00%

6.00%

Expected CTR

Average Postion

Sear

ch C

TR


But, CTR’s are All Over the Map

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 80.00%2.00%4.00%6.00%8.00%

10.00%12.00%14.00%16.00%18.00%20.00%

f(x) = 0.0794978739232935 exp( − 0.356411915028956 x )R² = 0.302107634593245

Sample AccountsExpected CTR

Average Postion

CTR


“Be the unicorn in a sea of donkeys!” –

Larry Kim


5 Psychological Ad Copy Hacks to 3X Your CTR’s


Hack #1: Personalize Your Ad Copy


Psychological Truth: Humans are Inherently Selfish


“If you can’t turn yourself into a consumer, you

probably shouldn’t be in the advertising

business at all.” – David Ogilvy, The

Father of Advertising


Business-Centric Copy vs. Customer-Centric Copy


Can you guess which ad has a higher CTR?

NOTE: *Both of these ad have an average position between 1-2 *Roughly same amount of ad impressions

A) B)


62.5% CTR

It’s All About the Searcher!A)

B)

13% CTR


50% CTR! (out 14,354 impressions in 30 days)

Tell the Searcher What’s In it For Them


Your Leads Don’t Care About Your Business – They Care About

Fixing Their Problem


Hack #2: Pull Emotional Triggers


Psychological Truth: Emotions Impact What We Buy


TOP EMOTIONAL DRIVERS

1. Amusement2. Interest3. Surprise4. Happiness5. Delight6. Pleasure7. Joy8. Hope9. Affection10.Excitement


Yet, Can Ad Copy Really Awaken Ones Emotions?


HACK: Swiss Army Knife Your

Customer

Your Customer’s Best Friend

Your Customer’s

Worst Enemy You (the

advertiser)

A thing that Your Customer

Hates

A thing that Your Customer

Loves


HACK: Swiss Army Knife

30% CTR


TOP EMOTIONAL DRIVERS

1.Amusement2. Interest3. Surprise4. Happiness5. Delight6. Pleasure7. Joy8. Hope9. Affection10.Excitement


“The main evolutionary

significance of humor is that it gets us from closed mode to open

mode quicker than anything else.” – John Cleese


Channel Your Inner Comedian


Hack #3: Spark Engagement through FOMO,

Rewards & Uncertainty


Psychological Truth: Our Brains Seek Rewards and Are

Intrigued by Uncertainty


Dopamine is About the Anticipation of the Award (not the award itself)


50% Spike in Dopamine When an Element of Uncertainty is Introduced


46.13% CTR!

40.51% CTR!

Anticipation of a Reward + Uncertainty = INSANELY HIGH CTR’S!!!


HACK: Automate the Process with Ad Customizers


EVEN GREATER HACK: Combine Ad Customizers + Call-Only

Campaigns to Kill the FUNNEL


CALLS WORTH 3X MORE THAN CLICKS TO WEBSITE!

Desktop Search Conversion Funnel

Mobile Conversion Funnel

1. Sees Ad2. Clicks on Ad3. Vists Website

Landing Page4. Lead

Captured

1. Sees Ad

2. Calls Business

3. Lead Captured

No Leaky Landing Page!


Hack #4: Margot’s Ad Headline Moneyball


Psychological Truth: Humans Like to Be Entertained


HACK: PPC Professionals Need

To Start Thinking Like Content Marketers


What Headlines Are Getting the Highest Clicks and

Engagement Rates on Other Channels?


Steal Ideas from Buzzfeed…


Use Buzzsumo to See What People are Sharing


Or use both…


Hack #5: Utilize Repetition


Psychological Truth: Repetition is Likely to Be Interpreted

as Accuracy Over Time


“Tom Brady is a very good friend of mine. He’s a great

guy, for those of you who don’t know him. He’s an honorable guy and an honest guy and

truly great athlete. He is really a very good friend of mine and

I just spoke with him awhile ago, he’s so thrilled and so

happy.”


Yet, People Forget 90% of What We Share with Them


Hack: Create 1 Consistent Message Across

All Marketing Channels


PPC Ads

SocialWebsite

CONSISTENCY30.33% CTR


34.44% CTR


Remarket to Re-Enforce Your Message


1 2 3 4 5 6 70%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

Measuring GDN Ad Fatigue

RemarketingNonremarketing Display

Number of times a user has seen ad

Rela

tive

CTR


1 2 3 4 5 6100%

120%

140%

160%

180%

200%

220%

240%

Conversion rate increases with exposure

Number of times a user has seen ad

Rel

ativ

e C

onv

Rat

e

More than 2x more likely to convert after

seeing your ad 6 times!


THANK YOU!

SEE YOU @SMX WEST

SAN JOSE, CAMARCH 1-3, 2016