i think this says more about testing than about ads.
update: i'm trying (and apparently failing) to imply that this article makes me question the idea of "test everything" rather than bolster the idea (the article's conclusion).
Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
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Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#12Good lesson on the value of in-market testing. That said, would love to see some theory and analysis about why the MS Paint ad outperformed the standard ad. My hunch is that the first ad -- while it obviously looks a lot more professional -- looks like every other banner ad on the internet. It reeks of ad-ness, and it may set off some psychological barrier to receptivity amongst viewers precisely because their brains…
Yep, it's the same as when Google came out with their text ads. They were different, so people clicked them.
People click on the ads more now than they did.
Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#13i think this says more about testing than about ads. update: i'm trying (and apparently failing) to imply that this article makes me question the idea of "test everything" rather than bolster the idea (the article's conclusion).
Which is conclusion of the article/post.
Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#14There's a perfectly good explanation for this. Eye tracking tests show that people ignore images and read around them (unless there's a human face in it). That's why text ads work better, in most circumstances anyway. The color of the second ad is lighter, and probably matches the background of the page better, making it less of a block and lowering the barrier to crossover and read the text.
Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#15I question _conversion_ though. Sure, the first ad had a lower CTR, but if you click on it, you almost certainly know what you're getting.
With the second it's very much "Haha, I wonder what this stupid ad goes to?" and then you just abandon it.
CTR means nothing without a conversion of some sort on the other side.
Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#16That first one has some serious hierarchy problems, and the type is really hard to read.
Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#17Actually advertisers have known this since a long time. Ugly wins more attention. More attention = higher conversion. The first job of ads is winning attention. You have to fight against all the clutter and stand out. You can do so by a variety of tactics. Use human faces. Use cute looking models. Use ugly fonts or clipart. Use mouse pointers. Use fluorescent colors. Use dashed coupon type borders. You need to know h…
The most over-the-top-ugly banner ad I've seen was a "Would you like to go back to school on a grant?" ad targeting women. It had a cartoon woman in a superhero costume with a blinking siren pasted (seemingly) randomly on her head.
Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#18That first one has some serious hierarchy problems, and the type is really hard to read.
I agree, the second is clearly better, the type is much clearer and better-designed, and the guidelines are clean and straight.
Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#19Re: Throw Out Everything You Know About Ads
#20there's a difference between high CTR and high conversion..