By Nev Grove
Marketers have long used incentives to get their target audience to take action. With print ads, that may be some give away to get the reader into a store. With direct mail, perhaps fr-ee shipping to get the recipient to pick up the phone and place an order.
For e-marketing campaigns, white papers are an excellent and frequently used vehicle to get a web site visitor to fill out a form. E-mail marketers often use the promise of a topically focused white paper to incent the reader to click through to their web site where their offering - and white paper - can be presented more fully.
A Question of Real Estate
But can a white paper be effectively used in a Google AdWords paid search (often called “pay-per-click”) campaign ad? Can it drive click-throughs when ad messaging real estate is so tight; 25 characters for a title plus two 35 character lines of text, to be exact? We decided to put this question to the test in 2005 for one of our clients.
The Test
Here’s the test setup. For an AdWords campaign promoting wireless hardware and software technology, we added ads which differed from the originals in but a single way, the inclusion of “Whitepapers.” at the end of the ad. In some cases, the inclusion replaced an existing word or two of ad text, in others, it was additive.
A modified ad was run simultaneously against both its non-modified base ad as well as other ads currently running in each of five Google ad groups. Unlike Yahoo’s paid search program, Google’s AdWords conveniently offers automatic ad rotation within an ad group. This makes it a snap to test and tune ads to improve click-through performance.
The test ran for the bulk of 2005 in a campaign that was generating over half a million ad impressions and more than 2,000 clicks (visitors) per month. The results were enlightening and ran the gamut from exceptional to “think again”.
The Results
In one of the ad groups, the white paper modified ad moved quickly to the bottom of the heap and was soon removed. In another, the modified ad performed middling well for a number of months, but was eventually phased out in favor of better performers. In the third ad group, the ad performed well enough to remain in the mix throughout 2005, alternating with other ads for first or second place.
In the remaining two ad groups, the ad shot convincingly to the head of the pack. In one of those groups, for over a three-month period the white paper inclusive ad outperformed the second best by more than a two to one ratio! This ad remained in the mix for nine months, although it eventually faded in performance and was phased out. In the other ad group, while not doubling the performance of the second best, it jumped to and held the top spot for the entire year.
Conclusions and Advice
So what did we learn?
First, including white papers in an ad does not mean you’ll boost performance in all cases. It very much depends upon the keywords that make up the ad group and other ads that are being run. In our test, the white paper inclusive ads seemed to perform best in ad groups that contained the most technically focused keywords. Perhaps the searchers hoped to be enlightened about the underlying technologies as well as the products themselves?
Second, you can’t test, set and forget. Performance can be fleeting over time. Even without the entry of new ad contenders, a winner can lose its luster, whether or not the reasons for that are clear.
Last, but certainly not least, conducting a white paper ad test should be a must for every paid search campaign where a white paper is available as an incentive!
About the author: Nev Grove is a longtime marketing practitioner and founder of 1-for-All Marketing, a 10 year old consulting firm in San Diego, CA. For more information about 1-for-All’s paid search marketing services, please visit http://www.1-for-all.com/ppc-search-engine-marketing.asp?1En101.
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