Online Advertising

Online Advertising is a quick and relatively cheap way to test the appeal of a value proposition. Ad-platforms from Google, LinkedIn, etc. make it possible to select a specific target audience and analyze the performance of the ad according to click-through-rates and conversions.

Online advertising platforms have made it easy to advertise your offering to a large and/or specific customer segment. This inorganic way of attracting people online comes at a cost: you usually have to pay to be positioned on the screen of your targeted audience and for every click they make to interact with your offering. For this cost however, you will gain insights into customer preference, the appeal of your value proposition and offering, and a very detailed overview of potential early adopters.In order to make use of this test format, you will need an online presence, either a (Blog) Post or a Landing Page, which interested people can click on to get further information and leave feedback on.

Helpful Tips

Find the right words (I): When choosing a title and description to use for online advertising, choose your words wisely, think about how your potential customers would look for your offering when starting an online search and use the appropriate jargon.

Find the right words (II): Online ads are shown according to a combination of keywords and quality of your ad. Decide which keywords fit your offering and use the same words in your advertising to improve the quality of the ad.

Be specific: Keep in mind that the price of a keyword relates to how many times it is typed in by customers, so be very specific to get your right audience and not overpay. Also consider using negative keywords – words that you do not want to be associated with. The same applies when you have to choose a target audience (e.g. for Facebook ads). Rather than going for a broad audience, try to be as specific as possible.

Combine with other test formats: Online advertising needs to be used together with an online presence, which could either be a Blog or a Landing Page with a call to action.

Timothy Ferris, author of “the 4-hour work week”, tested different book titles and abstracts through a Google AdWords campaign and chose the version with the highest click-through rate.

How to Guide

Before starting your campaign, you need to have a landing page in place. Discuss the channel(s) you want to use and why, decide upon the keywords you want to use, the budget you will allocate, as well as the metrics you want to achieve.

Measure the conversion rates, use goal tracking to track sign-ups and focus on overall conversion percentage from the landing page to sign up, the click-through rate of your ads on different keywords, and the bounce rate for different keywords.

Analyze and discuss the results. Try to learn from the data and tweak the aspects of your offering you have tested (e.g. value proposition, pricing strategy). Compare the results to your metrics and decide on next steps