We're back with another set of tests—and what you're all here for—the results!! 

LinkedIn Social Ads for Template

What we did: After launching a new content mapping template, we ran social ads on LinkedIn to promote it. We decided to test the creative to see which would perform better. 

Version A: Template ad featuring illustrated template

Version B: Template ad featuring screenshot of template

Why we did it: We typically use illustrations to represent things like emails and templates. But we wondered whether an illustration was too abstract for people to convert. Maybe actually seeing the template in the ad would inspire more people to fill out the form.

Results: To our surprise, the illustration performed much better than the screenshot of the actual template. Version A produced 5x as many leads and had a 0.81% CTR, whereas Version B (using the screenshot) had only a 0.41% CTR. The illustrated version was the clear winner.

Learnings: It's important to point out that these results are a little skewed as LinkedIn (like many ad platforms) will show the version that's performing better more often. But it was still a surprise to us that the illustrated version would perform better. In my eyes, it's more professional and more in line with our overall branding.

Account-Based Display Ad Messaging

What we did: For our one-to-few account-based marketing program, we've been targeting accounts within the Fintech industry with display ads leading back to a content destination with personalized content. Both versions of our ad feature the account name but the remaining copy is different. 

Version A: Digital experience messaging

Version B: Engaging customers messaging

Why we did it: We wanted to test which messaging resonated better with our audience and would produce the best click-through rate. 

Results: The results differed based on ad size but across the board the digital experience messaging (Version A) produced slightly better results. Where we saw the biggest gains was in the billboard size where our CTR was 0.22% for these targeted ads vs 0.12% for the alternative messaging.

Learnings: Always test messaging especially for more segmented industry-based campaigns. You may know what works for your audience more generally or standard best practices but when it comes to specific industries, testing will produce better results. 

And there you have it. Another round of tests for the books. Have you been inspired to run some tests of your own? Or is there anything you're particularly curious about that you think we should try? Reply to this month's newsletter and let me know!