Ad Creative Review to Boost ROI (January 2024)

Hi @Nikki Gloudeman ! We are getting ready to launch our first Vertical campaign for Smartly.io focused on the Travel vertical (airlines, lodging, OTAs, cruises). Our landing page is still in development, but I'd love your feedback on these creatives. The concept is that with Smartly.io, marketers can put their campaigns on autopilot and take a well-earned vacay.

Hi @Jana_Marketing_Maven ,

These ads mostly adhere to our best practices. The only piece of feedback I have is that in the top ad, the person on the radio looks a little cutout/doesn't blend seamlessly with the background, like the bottom 300X600 ad with the man holding a clipboard. I would recommend employing that gradient/blended background template as it's easier on the eyes.

In addition to that, make sure Autodesk is also using the top-performing leaderboard ad sizes (728X90 and 320X50).

Please let me know if they have any follow up questions.

Hello @Nikki Gloudeman we are getting ready to launch our first ads on DSP platform and would love to get some feedback on the ads. Thank you in advance for your help.

Thank you for your feedback, we will pass it along to the creative team!

Hi @Vruta Patel ,

May I ask two questions?

1. Are they utilizing all the top-performing ad sizes (300X250, 300X600, 320X50, and 728X90) for each of these campaigns?
2. Could I see the landing pages for each campaign?

In terms of the ad creative, my main piece of feedback is that the messaging is missing just a little more detail on why the value prop matters to the ICP. Typically, I like to use subheading text to differentiate the value prop by industry, competitive advantage, or level of excellence, to ensure it matters to the audience in question.

Standing by for further details…

All the best,

Barclay

@Vruta Patel

I would recommend they add the 320X50 ad size and target mobile inventory unless there is a reason to do otherwise. I can see a case to be made for not targeting mobile at the purchase stage, but they should most likely include mobile ad inventory and the 320X50 ad size for awareness and consideration campaigns.

For the following campaigns, I would recommend adding short subheading text (5 words or less) to the ad creatives in order to touch on the detailed aspects of the value proposition(s), which are subsequently listed on the landing pages. An example for the Awareness campaign might look something like this:

Heading: Top 5 Leadership Development Challenges

Subheading: Empower your HR pros today.

CTA: Explore Now

As always with any copy additions, make sure to align your new text elements comfortably, eliminating any excess white spice while not pushing the text too close to the border of the ad.

Other than that, I think these ads adhere to most of our 6sense display best practices, which I'm also including here as well. I think if they add the 320X50 ad size to their regular ad sizes, they'll see a significant uptick in CTR and engagement rates. Please let me know if they have any follow-up questions.

All the best,

Barclay

@Nikki Gloudeman my 6sense customer Staffbase has had some questions on LinkedIn assets, do you provide guidance additionally for this channel ? cc: @Giovanni Picone

Hi @Paulo Moreira , we can provide feedback on LinkedIn creative assets as long as they are single image ads. Feel free to reach out via creativeservices@6sense.com

Hi @joycekremer, congrats again on launching your first 6sense campaign! You’re off to a good start by running the top-performing ad sizes. A few other things to keep in mind:

-We generally always suggest A/B testing, which is a great way to glean actionable intel and drive up CTR. To do this effectively, we recommend launching campaigns with at least 2 distinct ad groups to start, featuring one isolated creative variable (for example, same visual, different copy). Once the ad groups have reached >50K impressions, turn off the lowest-CTR ad group and iterate on the highest-CTR ad group—by, for example, taking the winning copy and pairing it with a new visual. Note that each campaign should optimally focus on one objective (whether it be downloading a report, requesting a demo, etc.) to keep this A/B testing clean. For this campaign, since you’re deliberating between red and yellow, you can A/B test both visual approaches and see which one works best.  

-Due to their limited real estate, we generally recommend avoiding imagery on leaderboard ad sizes. Instead, focus on the copy, logo, and CTA. Also, make sure leaderboard ads are compositionally balanced. As a rule of thumb, the logo should be left-aligned, the CTA should be right-aligned, and the copy should sit in between both. Alternatively, the logo and CTA can also be stacked on the right, with the CTA on the bottom. 

-This applies more to the leaderboard ads, but to avoid posing readability issues or causing visual distraction, make sure to keep the CTA and logo (and all other visual elements) unobstructed. 

-While the ad copy clearly emphasizes your value prop, ad copy should be active rather than passive to compel the reader and invite action. For these ads, for example, you can try something like: “Discover how DvF drives 19.4% ecommerce revenue via triggered email.” 

In addition to my feedback, I've also attached our Ad Creatives 101 deck, which includes more on best practices and tons of valuable information.

Hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any questions!

@Vruta Patel Hi! Can you please cross-post here?