Walk outside your home, and you’re bound to see ads everywhere. On billboards, posters, buses, and even subway platforms. You’ve probably bought something after seeing these ads (as have millions of other people).
The reason? These ads are effective. They tug at your heartstrings, make you miss something you never had, or convince you that your life will be better once you sign up for that gym membership.
But how do brands know these ads will work? By testing them on various groups of people! In other words: ad testing.
What is ad testing?
Ad testing is a process where different versions of the same ad are tested on a group of target consumers to see which one performs (and resonates) better. Based on the target group’s feedback, the ad is tweaked to maximize impact and conversions.
You can run tests on an entire ad or only on certain components of it. For instance, you could test ads with different versions of one of the following components (keeping the rest of the ad constant):
- Call-to-action (CTA)
- Headline
- Description
- Visuals
- Colors
How does ad testing benefit brands?
Here’s a fun fact: most companies spend around 10% of their entire revenue on marketing, with around 10-20% of that budget allocated for ad testing. This gives us a clue about how important ad testing is for businesses. Here’s how creative testing benefits brands like yours:
- It lets you measure the impact of your ad by understanding how your target consumers react to it.
- It allows you the opportunity to tweak certain elements of your ad that aren’t being received well by customers before releasing it to the public. This makes the ad more effective, thereby maximizing its ROI.
- It gives you cold, hard data to help with the decision of choosing which version of the ad to run with.
- It lets you segment your consumers into different groups (such as millennials, Gen Z, boomers) and see how their reactions differ. This way, you could run different versions of the ad, with each version targeting a certain group.
- It drives real customer conversions even before the ad is officially launched!
In short, it saves you a lot of time and money by ensuring that the ad you launch is the best possible version to drive results.
The basics of common ad testing methods
You can test an ad before, during, and after the launch to analyze its performance. Let’s explore some of the most common methods of testing ads.
Surveys
Surveys are a versatile ad testing method, and can be conducted at any stage in the ad development process. Select a diverse group of respondents from your target audience, show them the ad visuals, and send them questions regarding the ad(s) you want to test.
Here are some of the most common questions used in ad testing surveys:
- Which element of the ad stands out to you the most?
- What message do you think this ad is trying to convey?
- On a scale of 1 to 10, how likely are you to buy the product after seeing this ad?
- What would you change about this ad?
- How does this ad influence your opinion of [brand]?
- How easy was this ad to understand?
- Do you feel like the claims made by this ad are credible?
You can choose certain elements of your ad, a single complete ad, or multiple ads to see which one resonates better.
Here’s a not-so-secret tip: you can even pop some of your competitors’ ads and ask the respondents which one they like better.
Adbeat lets you see how your competitors’ ads are performing, which is an essential part of ad testing. [Sign up now]
A/B testing
This is usually a type of post-launch ad testing where you segment your audience into two equal groups–group 1 and group 2–and launch two versions of the same ad. Ad A is shown only to group 1 and ad B is shown only to group 2. Then, you measure the engagement, click-through-rate, or conversions for both ads to see which one is better at converting customers.
Eye tracking studies
This is a cool (and scientific) way of picking out the most attractive elements from ads. When we look at an ad (or anything, for that matter), our gaze typically tends to focus on the most visually appealing elements first. Eye tracking, basically, uses technology to track the movement of people’s eyes over the ad to see which parts are attracting the most attention.
Ad recall testing
This type of ad testing measures an ad’s memorability and comes into play once you’ve launched your ads. After all, an ad that sticks in your mind is always a success, right? Here, you’ll be asking respondents (who have already seen the ad) questions about how much they remember. These questions could range from asking customers to recall specific components of the ad (such as messaging, visuals) or simply asking them which elements from it have stuck with them.
Social listening
This refers to listening in on conversations happening about your brand on social media. This is a great, often-overlooked way of testing out the effectiveness of your ads post-launch. Some ways in which you can listen socially is by following brand- or ad-related hashtags, checking out the comments under your ad on YouTube, Instagram, or Twitter, or monitoring specific keywords/ tag lines from your ads.
How to run an ad testing campaign like a pro
Now that you know just how much power ad testing holds, it’s time for a simple 5-step guide on how you can run an ad test.
1. Pick the ad(s) you want to test
Once your creative team has come up with an ad concept and design, create different versions of it to test on consumers. For instance, you might be torn between two different headlines, trying to decide which colors work best, or debating on the tone of voice. This is the perfect time to test this out and see which ones resonate better!
However, keep in mind that your messaging and brand need to stay consistent across the different creatives.
2. Select your audience
Next up is deciding who to test your ads on. They need to be people who would benefit from your product or service. In other words: potential buyers. For example, if you’re launching a new series of running shoes, then your target audience is people who run or work out a lot. However, your target consumers are very diverse and may consist of people of all ages and genders. So, how do you ensure your sample audience is inclusive?
Simple: by ensuring the audience you select is diverse. For this, you would need a significant number of respondents. This will help you understand how different types of people react to your ad. With this feedback, you could either tailor your ads to be appealing to everybody, or run different versions of it, with each version targeting a separate sub-group.
3. List out the metrics you want to measure
Which will depend on what you want to get out of your ad. Is it brand awareness, sales, traffic increase, newsletter sign-ups, or lead generation? Once you have your goal down pat, you can choose which ad metrics translate to success for you.
Here are some common ad metrics for you to choose from:
- Initial reaction to the ad
- Clarity of message
- Believability
- Relevance
- Level of appeal
- Level of purchase intent
- Uniqueness
- Brand fit
- Total impressions
- Bounce rate
If your goal is to drive sales, you could use level of purchase intent, message clarity, and relevance as your metrics. One thing to remember is that, even if you test the ad on various sub-groups of people, or run it across different advertising channels, your metrics should stay the same.
For pre-launch ad testing, you can use market research software such as Quantilope or Meltwater. For testing the effectiveness of your ad campaigns post-launch, Adbeat is your go-to!
4. Launch the test
Now, it’s finally time to take the leap and launch the test! Pick an ad testing method that you feel best suits your ads and wait for enough people to send in their feedback.
But, before you launch the test, make sure your questions contain a mix of the following styles:
- A 5-point Likert scale with options like strongly agree/ somewhat agree/ neutral/ somewhat disagree/ strongly disagree.
- Questions to collect demographic information. Here’s an example for age group options: under 18/ 18-25/ 26-40/ 41-55/ 56+.
- Open answer fields where respondents have to type their answers.
- Yes/ No questions.
- Drop-down questions.
5. Analyze the results and tweak your ads
Once you’ve got enough responses from your test, analyze overall as well as ad-specific results and see which ad elements come out on top. You can use these findings to select the ad you want to run with, or tweak the existing ads to come up with the best possible version.
Congrats! You’re ready to bring your ads to the public at large with confidence.
Want to beat your competitors by creating better, more visually appealing ads? Get data from Adbeat about your rivals’ ad strategies and hit your campaign out of the park. [Sign up now]