Hello! 

Dear media buyers, 

It’s almost Christmas and it’s spirit is already here! 

We prepared another article for you this week - this time, a guide on how to improve your paid ads CTR (click through rate). 

For the newbies - I’ll explain in brief why CTR is an extremely important metric (the higher the CTR, the more clicks you’ll be sending to your landing page, which will mean a higher chance for profit). What’s more, CTR will also let you know if your ad is better than your competitor’s, and if it is, you’ll receive more traffic (if all conditions are equal). 

Let’s now see what it takes to have a good CTR!

‍1st condition: Test, test and test! 

When your campaign is in the “starting phase”, you don’t know what will work and what won’t. That’s the main point of testing - getting to experiment with different angles, images, text and titles. 

To help you with the testing, we allow you to add up to 10 creativity options. 

You just need to upload your creatives and click on the “Add version” button, and create a new version. In this example, I’m using the same image, just changing the title and the description. My advice is to test a minimum of 6 creatives - 3 angles, 2 different images per angle. Once you find the winning creative - add more similar images and scale.

2nd condition: Set up your daily cap

Once you do this, you’re setting a limit on how many times one user will see your ad. It’s a fantastic option because depending on your angles, you’ll need to set a low IP cap (1:24) or a higher one. In our platform you can choose 1:24, 2:24, 3:24 and no cap.

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When starting, you can set up 1:24, which means that a maximum of 1 impression will be sent every 24 h to the same IP. When scaling, you can test higher IP frequencies.  

3rd condition: Start your campaign at the right time, with the right creatives 

Do not launch a campaign around Halloween with creatives related to St.Valentine, basically! Be sure that your creatives are matching the event or time of the year. Just an example: 

As it’s almost Christmas, I’ll use images like the one we’ve just seen, or similar ones (for my dating campaigns).  Another good idea is to create special ads for upcoming events, for example, a new iPhone release.  

4th condition: Don’t copy your competitors

We have mentioned this several times, but there is no logic in copying others. When a lot of media buyers use the same images and angles on a particular traffic source, there will be “banner noise”. 

There are lots of spying tools available, and we encourage you to use them for inspiration, but not for copying! Users are tired of always seeing the same images. Trust in yourself and use your mind to be a little creative. Once you find the best approach, continue exploring. 

5th condition: Prevent the so-called “banner blindness”

Banner blindness appears when users don’t click on the creatives because they have already seen them too many times. Prevent this by changing your creatives often (feel free to keep the angle if it’s profitable, just replace the ad’s image with a similar one). Remember to constantly rotate the ads, in order to accomplish a better CTR. 

If you’d like to learn more about banner blindness, pay attention to this article. 

6th condition: Say it all with an image 

Apply the 5 second rule - it means that you have between 1 and 5 seconds to catch the user’s attention, not more. In most cases you’ll have to narrow the seconds even more, so prepare a strategy in order for the user to click within 1-2 seconds! 

How can you do this? By using images with clear messages, and not confusing ones. 

For example, what is this girl promoting? A car? A loan? An insurance? It’s hard to tell. Avoid the use of complex images and your CTR will boost.

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7th condition: Use amateur pictures

Don’t use photoshopped images, and instead use pictures made by amateurs, especially in the dating vertical! You don’t need fancy model pictures or perfect scenarios, just making sure that the image has a good quality will be enough. Using pictures with eye contact (person looking directly to the camera) is also a smart move. Using stick photos is an option too, especially when running sweepstakes, but try not to make a big use of them. 

8th condition: Bid around the average, or higher

Bidding low is not the best idea when it comes to media buying. Usually, if you bid lower than the network is recommending you, you’ll get less quality traffic, which means less conversions & profit. I strongly recommend to start bidding around the average/recommended bid and slightly increase it when conversions start to appear. 

In our platform, you’ll be able to find the top, minimum and recommended bid in the campaign creation, under “Bid & Budget” selection. As said, start with the recommended and increase it not more than 10%-20% each time, when optimizing. 

9th condition: Target the right audience

In Pushground, you can target your audience by “User Freshness”. User Freshness indicates the time that has passed since the user enabled their device to receive push notifications. As a general rule (doesn’t apply to all verticals, but most), the lower the user's freshness, the more likely it will be this user to convert. At the same time, there will be less available traffic. 

My personal recommendation is to start with low user freshness groups and start selecting more whilst optimizing. 

10th condition: Carefully write your ad copy 

It’s essential to send a short, well written message to your audience, that will convert clicks into users. 

You can use different copywriting techniques such as: 

- Before - After - Bridge

- Problem - Agitate - Solve

- Features - Advantages - Benefits

- Attention - Interest - Desire - Action

- Picture - Promise - Prove - Push

- The 3 reasons WHY (Why you are the best / Why should I believe you? / Why should I buy it right now?)

Learn more about copywriting techniques by reading  this article. 

Be creative and test the different strategies, an apply the right one - you’ll see a significant increase in your ad’s CTR! 

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11th condition: Use aggressive ads

This one’s always a solid idea, but please make sure to follow your Network terms & conditions, such as creative specifications! If you have doubts, don’t hesitate to ask your account manager about them.  

12th condition: Use emojis 

Using emojis usually increases the CTR of your creatives, do not overdo with them! 

On Emojipedia you will find all the emojis you will need. Browse them and find the most reliable ones for your vertical! 

13th condition: Add personalization 

In Pushground we have macros in order to personalize your ads: {city} and {devicename}. The first one shows the visitor’s city and the second one the device from which they browse. The usage is very simple: 

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Put the macro(s) in the title or in the description (do not forget to write it with the {}) and you’re done.  

If you use personalization in the right way, you’ll for sure increase your CTR! 

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14th condition: Put text and/or CTA buttons on the image 

This one is an excellent strategy in order to say extra stuff in your prospect. Use a similar approach as in the images above, and I bet your CTR will be higher. 

15th condition: Choose the colors of your ads carefully

Don’t underestimate the power of psychology! Using the right colors for your ads can give you extra CTR and profit. Read this article in order to understand the influence you can have on human emotions. 

That’s all for today! Now you have the main 15 strategies that will lead you to a good CTR, so you’re just one step closer to boosting your earnings! Don’t miss your chance, and take action today. 

See you soon! 💪🏼