Creating An Ad Testing Framework By Brad Geddes

Brad Geddes Founder, Certified Knowledge Founder, AdAlysis Author, Advanced Google AdWords

@bgTheory

Creating an Ad Testing Framework SMX East

@bgTheory COPYRIGHT CERTIFIED KNOWLEDGE 2014

Creating an Ad Testing Framework

The Brainstorm


@bgTheory COPYRIGHT CERTIFIED KNOWLEDGE 2014 3

Research Your Initial Ad Ideas

Ad Ideas Inspirations •  Social mentions •  Customer support inquiries •  Your forums •  Company reviews •  Competitive research •  Brainstorming •  Previous Marketing Efforts •  Customer onboarding interview •  Search query data •  Etc…

•  Are consumers price sensitive? (discounts, prices in ads)

•  Does Location matter? (use geographies in ads)

•  Does shipping matter? (Free or Rush shipping)

•  Is selection important? (large, exclusive, variety, etc)

•  How much does quality matter? (cheap, luxury)

•  What’s your best CTA? (Call, Shop, Find, Discover, etc)

•  Should your display URL be products, geo, CTAs, or something else?

•  Do we need to pre-qualify clicks? (b2b vs b2c)

•  etc…

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Ask The Big Questions First


(Optional) Put This Data Into A Spreadsheet


Do a Keyword Density Analysis Note: This can be used for discovering new keywords

•  Your brand

•  3rd party brands

•  Products

•  Informational

•  Long tail

•  By buying cycle entrance

•  Etc…


Determine How You Want to Segment Ad Tests


If on Mobile: Segment Ideas by Device

Mobile CTR Desktop CTR

Call Us 11.2% (includes calls) 5.2%

Contact Us 4.1% 6.9%

Example.com/Things 4.2% 5.3%

M.example.com/things (or example.com/mobile)

8.2% N/A

Find the Nearest Store 7.6% 4.5%

Shop Now 2.1% 5.8%


Start With Multi-Ad Group Testing


•  Examples:  GEO vs Non-GEO headlines  Call us vs Learn More CTAs  Brand vs Non-Brand Headlines


List Out Your Ad Tests

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Multi-Ad Group Testing Setup Ad Group D2

1 Shop Now!

1 Free Shipping!

1 Price $

2 Shop Now!

2 Free Shipping!

2 Price $

3 Shop Now!

3 Free Shipping!

3 Price $

Etc… Etc…

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(Optional) Label Ads for Easy Filtering


Use Pivot Tables or Software to Analyze the Data

• Don’t use brand names in non-branded ad groups

• GEOs increase CPI; break out campaigns by GEO

• Call Us works best on a mobile device

• Learn more works best on a desktop device

• Etc…


You Now Have Answers to Big Questions

• If you have more big questions to answer; do more rounds of multi-ad group testing

• If not; then move to A/B testing  Easiest to start with your top ad groups (by impressions)


Next Steps


Ad Rotation & Minimum Data



Minimum Viable Data

Data after 97 impressions

Ad Impressions Clicks CTR Z-Score Confidence

Control 40 1 2.5% N/A

Ad 2 33 5 15.15% 1.88 97.03%

Ad 3 24 0 0% -1.01 15.57%

Data after 3163 impressions

Ad Impressions Clicks CTR Z-Score Confidence

Control 1023 23 2.25 N/A

Ad 2 993 29 2.92% 0.95 82.9%

Ad 3 1147 56 4.88% 3.35 99.96%


Always Use Rotate for Testing


What You Expect To See


If Optimize for Conversions is On – Which Ad Should Show the Most?


Examples Weren’t Easy To Find: But There Were Many More Examples Than I Expected to Find


Choosing Winning Metrics


• CTR (click through rate)

• Conversion rate

• CPA (cost per action)

• CPI (conversion per impression)

• ROAS (return on ad spend)

You don’t have to only use one metric!


Ad Testing Metrics

• I want the most leads regardless of incremental costs  B2B long sales cycles  Telephone staff

• I want the most leads under a specific average CPA  Ecommerce with large variations in revenue by sale

• I want the most leads possible, but no lead should be over $Y  Affiliates  Lead gen with tight revenue focus

• I want Y leads a month at the cheapest CPA  Local business that can only handle a certain amount of leads a month


Lead Gen Types

• The Top CPI as is Always the Winner


I want the most leads regardless of incremental costs

1.  Eliminate ads above target CPA

2.  Pick the highest CPI ad


I want the most leads under a specific average CPA

• For Each Keyword: 1.  Eliminate ads above target CPA 2.  Pick the highest CPI ad


I want the most leads possible, but no lead should be over $Y


I want Y leads a month at the cheapest CPA 1.  Extrapolate data as if each ad received 100% of the

impressions

2.  Find ad with lowest CPA that can reach Y leads/month

• Start with a big brainstorm / research session to gather ad ideas

• Determine your ad testing segments

• Ask the ‘big questions’ first through multi-ad group testing

• Use that data to create rules around ad creation

• Move to A/B testing on your top ad groups

• Determine how you are going to pick winning ads

• Repeat forever


Recap


• S

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Creating An Ad Testing Framework By Brad Geddes

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