Ad Creative Review to Boost ROI (February 2024)

Hi @Justine Eads ,

I'd be more than happy to help here.

For AB Testing, we typically recommend no more than 2-3 distinct ad groups per campaign. So having 5 different questions for each industry/campaign has the potential to spread the impression totals thin, making it hard to reach 50k impressions per ad group (our critical mass # for determining winning and losing creatives).

To AB test effectively, I would suggest launching 2-3 ad groups with your favorite question copy options and then beginning from there. Once you've reached 50k impressions and you've determined a clear winner, I would then reccomend testing the winning copy with a more salient visual element like a person within the ad creative.

My creative feedback is as follows:

• Adhere to the visual hierarchy of importance to emphasize the most important creative elements. As a general rule of thumb, follow this compositional structure: *Largest element: Heading copy/value prop  *Medium elements: Logo and CTA (roughly size aligned)  *Smallest element: Subheading copy, if you have it 
• For the 320X50 ad size, our designers recommend using 12 pt if possible. 10-11 is doable but very tough to read.

That is the gist of my feedback. If you have any follow-up questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me directly at barclay.idsal@6sense.com

I'm also attaching our Ad Creative Best Practices deck which covers everything from AB testing to creative best practices.

Hello @Dave L ,

I'd be happy to provide some feedback on these Sphere/SEI ads.

First off, I recommend that they regularly use all of our top-performing ad sizes (300X250, 300X600, 320X50, and 728X90) when launching banner ad campaigns on 6sense. If it's for retargeting purposes, they can also add the 160X600 ad size although it's typically an underperformer in standard display ad use cases.

In terms of creative feedback,

Copy:

• Make your copy actionable, clear, and concise (under 15 words)

The current message isn't completely clear to me, as "Defend Cybersecurity" seems somewhat repetitive. Furthermore, the copy is lengthy and I can't identify a clear subject/verb agreement. I would also recommend keeping the entire word count under 15 words total. As it stands with the current layout, I see 18 words and that's not including the brand names or URL.

• Always include a CTA on MedRec ad sizes

For 300X250 and 300X600 ad sizes, always include a clearly defined CTA button. At the very least, AB test the current layout with the URL vs. a traditional CTA button. You can consider omitting CTAs for leaderboards as the limited amount of real estate can often lend itself better to larger copy in its place.

• Avoid repeating the brand

The logo should be the most prominent presence of your brand in any given ad. As such, avoid repeating the brand name or logo if it's already included elsewhere within the creative.

Visuals:

• AB test a visual of a person

Banner ads that utilize images of relaxed people whose eyes are visible tend to outperform graphic approaches on the whole. Consider AB testing this approach vs. the current graphic layout with circles.

• Adhere to the visual hierarchy of importance

Use sizing to emphasize the most important elements of the ad. In general, follow this structure: *Heading copy (largest size) *Logo & CTA (medium size) *Subheading copy (smallest size). In this instance, the logo in the upper left hand corner is too small.

That's it!

I'm also attaching our ad creative best practices deck for their reference. Please don't hesitate to reach out with any follow-up questions.

All the best,

Barclay

Hello @Elena Westendorf ,

Here is my feedback for the following ads:

First off, these are a lot of different creative versions for what appears to be 1 campaign. Is that correct?

If so, these are a lot of different ad versions to AB test efficiently. If it were me, I would reccomend keeping the creative approaches to 2-3 different versions max, while varying single creative elements (copy, visual, CTA) to see what works best. Ultimately, we like to have 50k impressions per ad group before we determine winners/losers of an AB test via 6sense display.

However, these ads do mostly adhere to our best practices with a few notable exceptions I'll include here via the bullets below.

• Cap your word count

Don't exceed 10 words max for heading copy or 15 words max for heading + subheading copy combined. Cut any text that isn’t absolutely essential.

• Omit 160X600 ad size unless it's for retargeting campaigns

On the whole, 160X600 tends to be our lowest-performing ad size and as such, we recommend removing it from your regular ad groups moving forward. Instead focus on the top-performing ad sizes (300X250, 300X600, 320X50, 728X90).

• AB test leaderboard ads without CTAs

The following ads are pushing the text too close to the border, consider removing the CTA button on leaderboard ad sizes (320X50, 720X90) to make room for the main heading copy text.

• Keep CTAs to 2-3 words max

Effective CTAs for banner ads are typically 3 words or less and feature active, inviting language. For this example, try: "Get Started."

In the future, I would recommend they try a visual approach that employs a human being whose eyes are visible. Our research shows that a relaxed person tends to outperform graphic approaches on the whole. Avoid overly stocky images when looking for human subjects.

Please let me know if they have any follow up questions. Attaching our best practices deck here for their reference.

Hi @Daniel Nguyen ,

Happy to provide some feedback here.

Feedback:

• Adhere to the visual hierarchy of importance

Use sizing to emphasize the most important elements of the ad. In general, follow this structure: *Heading copy (largest size) *Logo & CTA (medium size) *Subheading copy (smallest size)

• AB Test

When launching this ad campaign, break each unique creative approach into its own ad group. Once each ad group has reached 50k impressions, turn off the underperforming ad group and divert spend to the winning ad group. From there you can also parlay any creative learnings into a new iteration that tests an isolated creative element such as a new copy version.

• Cap your word count

Don't exceed 10 words max for heading copy or 15 words max for heading + subheading copy combined. Cut any text that isn’t essential. In particular, the profile ads (people) include smaller copy that could be hard to read, especially in a leaderboard instance (728X90). I may consider flipping the job title copy for the subheading copy "Cybersecurity is everyone's…" and see how that looks.

Conclusion:

Overall, I'd be very interested to see which of these approaches works best via AB testing. In addition to the following feedback, I'm also attaching our Ad Creative Best Practices deck for your reference. Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

All the best,

Barclay