When creating an ad for the communities we partner with, we test and measure all the elements that make up what you see online. From the high-quality photo to the informative copy, every detail counts when you’re trying to stand out in the crowded digital space.
Since we measure success in how our ads perform through clicks (click thru rate, or CTR, and cost per click, or CPC) the language you use to encourage those clicks matters. This is where our Best Performance Ad Copy strategy comes in.
Best Performers are the result of our dynamic creative ads, which we run on all SK ad accounts. To get these results, we test variations of text and then use the best performing ad text to create standalone ads. To further test what types of copy perform well — and what types don’t — we segment out ad text categories into five themes: Branded, Location, Tours, Floorplans and Amenities.
Over the years, we’ve been able to collect effective data through this testing process that gives us insight into what prospects respond to online. Here are a few of the key takeaways:
We generally see higher CTR and lower CPC for ad copy themes that allow for more actionable value. Floorplans and Tours themed ads allow for prospects to engage with the property (Learn about the property, contact the property, take action on meaningful specials, etc.)
Amenities themed ads are our lowest performing ad types among Best Performers. Even though these types of ads may be the best performing ad theme for their respective account, these ads show higher than average CPC and CTR in comparison to Best Performer averages. This trend reflects similar trends found in our Image Analysis report, which showed low performance for amenity images.
Overall, we see the best ad performance when best performing copy and best performing imagery are paired in a single ad, regardless of the content of either element (in other words, sometimes an ad will receive high performance even if the content of the photo and copy do not match).
Promotional ads are a category all their own, with their own segmentation based on the types of ads we typically receive from Content Request Forms and other client requests: Free Rent, Save Money, Waived Fees, Holiday, Look & Lease and Misc.
In using these distinct segments, we also learned a few things about how promotion-specific ads perform with prospects. These are the most noteworthy insights to help us — and you — market your specials in the digital ad space:
More generic specials, such as Look & Lease & Misc. themed ads perform poorly in CTR and CPC since there is limited information available in these types of ads given ad space limitations, or they do not have actionable incentives for potential customers to act upon. Usually, Look & Lease themed promotions have ad copy like, “contact us today to learn about our Look & Lease special” and Misc. themed promotions involve gift cards or receiving gifts upon move-in or taking a tour.
To help drive more intent for these types of ads, it helps to shift the ad copy to include actionable items and detailed specials (or include the offers within the Look & Lease special), similar to what we do for the Free Rent, Location, Tours, Waived Fees & Floorplan themed ads. This gives the prospect information to act upon when seeing the ad and increases their likelihood to engage.
Free Rent & Save Money tend to have lower CPC and higher CTR rates for promotional ads. This gives us insight into what prospects are looking for in promotional: clear promotion details and calls-to-action for the prospects to act upon related to the promotion.
As we move into the new year — and as the digital landscape continues to evolve — we continue to strive for even better performance to maximize our partners’ ads budgets and deliver the right message in the right place with every piece of content we create.
Looking to add a paid digital ads campaign to your marketing efforts for 2023? Connect with our team to learn more about our proven strategies and partner with us today!