10 Ridiculous Hacks to 5X Click-Through Rates
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The document summarizes a presentation by Larry Kim and Steve Rayson on maximizing click-through rates (CTR) in digital marketing. It covers strategies for improving quality scores in Google Ads, the importance of emotional triggers in ad copy, and the use of specific audiences for higher conversions. Additionally, it highlights the structure and elements of viral headlines that resonate across social media platforms.
10 Ridiculous Hacks to 5X Click-Through Rates
- 4. Three Random Facts About Me
- 6. 1. Originally from Winnipeg, Canada
- 7. I Live in Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA
- 8. WordStream’s Global Headquarters in Boston 2008 2016 @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 9. 2. Holds Record for Writing Buzzsumo Reviews @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 10. 3. Have a 1-Year Old Kid (#ppckid)
- 11. @larrykim #CTRHacks Larry’s 4 Ridiculous Hacks for Insanely High CTR!
- 12. Why Should Marketers Care About Click Through Rate? @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 14. How Does Google Search Decide Which Ad is Shown Where? Ad Rank Quality Score Max CPC Bid Amount x = @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 16. Quality Score Impacts Ad Impression Share +/- 1 Point in QS Results in +/- 9% Ad Impression Share @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 17. Impression Share 2x More Competitive on Mobile @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 18. Quality Score Impacts Cost Per Conversion +/- 1 Point in QS Results in +/- 16% in CPA @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 19. #slcsem @larrykim Brought to you by: www.wordstream.com/learn So Get a High Quality Score! (Duh. Awesome.)
- 20. How is Quality Score in Google AdWords ACTUALLY Calculated?
- 21. This is The Expected Click Through Rate Curve @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 22. Just Beat The Expected Click Through Rate! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 24. High QS (Great!) • High Ad Impression Share • Low Cost Per Click • Low Cost Per Conversion Low QS (Terrible!) • Low Ad Impression Share • High Cost Per Click • High Cost Per Conversion Get a High Quality Score! (Duh) Above Average CTR = High Quality Scores. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 25. Just Say No To Low CTR
- 27. Gmail Ads Use Quality Score! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 29. Google Display Network Uses Quality Score @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 31. HIGHER POST ENGAGEMENT Higher Relevance Score HIGHER RELEVANCE SCORE More Impression Share and Lower Cost Per Engagement “Relevancy Score” in Facebook = = @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 32. “Quality Adjusted Bid” in Twitter HIGHER Relevance, Resonance, Recency = HIGHER Quality Adjusted Bid = MORE Ad Impressions at Lower Cost RESONANCE: Are consumers engaging your Tweet? Do they retweet, favorite, or reply? RELEVANCE: Is your Tweet related to things a user is interested in? RECENCY: Is your Tweet fresh? Fresher Tweets get higher priority. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 33. Higher Engagement Rate = (Much) Lower Cost Per Engagement Engagement Rate Cost per engagement $.005 $.02 $.03 $.08 68% 7% 21% 37% $3.00 1% @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 34. 1% Increase in Post Engagement 5% Reduction in Cost Per Engagement! “Quality Adjusted Bid” in Twitter = @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 35. Quality Score & Ad Impression Share A TYPICAL TWITTER CAMPAIGN FEWER AND FEWER AD IMPRESSIONS AS THE CAMPAIGN AGES! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 37. Past & Future SEO Ranking Signals Old Google 1. Links 2. Keywords 3. Social Metrics? 4. … Future Google 1. CTR 2. Task Completion 3. Links 4. … @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 38. @larrykim #CTRHacks NO QUALITY SCORE DISCOUNT FOR YOU! LinkedIn Ads
- 40. You’re A CTR Hacker … and a Traitor! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 41. Hacking Ad CTRs With ‘Unicorn Ads’ Larry’s #4 AdWords Hack @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 42. What if I Told You Your 2% CTR Is That Great
- 43. What if I Told You Your 2% CTR Is That GreatForest vs. Trees
- 44. Here’s a Map of The Forest @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 45. Vs. Percentile Vs. Average CTR Designation Bottom 50% n/a DONKEYS Top 15% 2x Top 5% 3x Top 1% 6x UNICORNS @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 47. What About Dynamic Keyword Insertion (DKI)? @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 48. DKI Produces “Above Average” not “Unicorns” @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 49. Unicorn Ads Don’t Rely on DKI @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 50. What About Ad Extensions? @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 51. Ad Extension Help a Little (8-10%) not +5x @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 52. Ad Extensions Won’t Turn Non- Unicorn Ads into Unicorns @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 53. How to Write Unicorn Ads? (The Top 1% of Ads Based on CTR)
- 54. I’ve Built a Unicorn Detector!
- 55. Focus on Keywords with HIGH Commercial Intent @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 56. Most Ads Suck (+95%) @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 57. The Hack: Use EMOTIONAL Triggers in Ad Copy! Write Ads From the Perspective of One of These 4 Personas. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 58. This Ad Gets 6x Above Average CTR The Villain: Husband/Mistress The Hero: Divorce Attorney Emotion: Anger. Revenge. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 59. Note: Everyone Else Sucks! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 60. And Everyone Else Sucks! One Does Not Simply Use The Same Ad as Everyone Else.
- 61. Leverage Emotional Triggers in Ads
- 62. Be a Unicorn in a Sea of Donkeys!
- 63. Another Unicorn Example: @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 64. Lets Try “Bearer of Bad News” Angle: @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 65. The New Ad: Emotion: Fear. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 66. 125% Increase in Appointments Booked 4 9 0 2 4 6 8 10 Positive Twist Negative Twist @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 67. 170% Increase in Call Volumes 10 27 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Positive Twist Negative Twist @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 68. FYI: Calls Worth More Than Clicks Contact rates significantly drop off after 5 minutes. Why? Declining interest, alternate solutions, etc. CONTACT RATE 100x decrease from 5 min to 30 min QUALIFICATION RATE 21x decrease from 5 min to 30 min CONTACTRATE TIME Source: MIT @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 69. Unicorns Usually Have BOTH higher CTR & Conversions Rates!
- 70. Repeat after me: I will Leverage Emotional Triggers in Ads
- 71. Larry’s #3 AdWords Hack Eliminate Your Crappy Keywords and Ads
- 72. There’s a Secret Account- Wide Quality Score. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 73. • Add Branded Terms With Insanely high CTR to Raise Average Quality Scores in Account. • Delete The Bottom Third of your Worst Account and Move to Remarketing (or Facebook, etc.) Crazy Hack to Increase Quality Scores Delete Your Junk Ads / Double Down On Your Best Stuff. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 74. Example Average Account A mix of above and below-average keywords. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 75. Average Account = Crap Quality Score Note: No High Quality Score Keywords at All. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 76. Example Unicorn Account Note: Most Keywords in Account are ABOVE Average CTR @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 77. Unicorn Account Has Amazing Quality Score Note: ALL keywords in this account are QS 10 or 7. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 78. What’s a Good Quality Score These Days? Average QS is around 6/10. @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 79. If Your Quality Score is: •1 to 3: Delete Immediately. •4-6: Try to Fix •7-10: Don’t Mess With Success / Increase Budget The Crazy Hack to Increase Quality Scores @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 80. Larry’s #2 AdWords Hack: Go After Specific Audiences Using Remarketing, RLSA and Custom Audiences
- 81. Behold The Awesome Power of Combining Keyword Search + Audiences Audiences: They’re Qualified To Buy Your Stuff Keyword Targeting: They’re Looking For Your Stuff Target a Narrow Audience That Meets BOTH CRITERIA!! Yields Higher Conversion Rates at Lower Costs!! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 82. Target search ads only to people who recently visited your site! REMARKETING LISTS FOR SEARCH ADS (RLSA) Users visit your site, get added to your remarketing list Show them customized ads when they search on Google! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 83. Customer Match Lets You Target Search, YouTube and Gmail Ads to Specific Email Addresses!
- 84. Just Upload Email Addresses into Google AdWords @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 85. The Power of Remarketing (RLSA, Customer Match) Instant Unicorns!! Click Through Rates Conversion Rates! 2X ½ 2X Cost Per Click @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 86. 59% higher ROI than generically targeted Campaign & 41% higher than RLSA! Ridiculous ROAS for Customer Match Targeting! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 87. Email Audience Targeting 3x Conversion Rate vs. Generic Campaign! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 88. Email Audience Targeting = 10X CTR vs. Generically Targeted Keywords @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 89. New Purchasers Non-Purchase Users Active Purchasers Customers with Expired Warranty Abandoned Shopping Cart Users Frequent Purchasers High Price Item Purchasers Recent Purchasers Ecommerce Audience Email Segmentations @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 90. Clone Your Audience List Using Similar Audiences! @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 91. Gmail Ads Will Get You Top of Inbox @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 92. Behold The Power of Similar Audiences @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 93. Great Keywords/Ads + Audiences: We’ve Found The Unicorns
- 94. Larry’s #1 CTR Boosting Hack: Turn Top Content Headlines into Ads
- 95. Great Ads Should Be Like Click-Bait Headlines @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 96. The SAME Emotions Make People Click on BOTH Content and Ads @larrykim #CTRHacks
- 98. Thank You! And Now to Steve of Buzzsumo…
- 99. Headlines: Lessons for marketers from the most shared headlines www.buzzsumo.com
- 100. Is there a format or structure to viral headlines that make them resonate? Are there words and phrases that work particularly well? How well do headlines travel across social networks? What can we learn from most shared headlines that we can apply to ads?
- 101. Many tips on headline writing Unique Ultra-Specific Urgency Useful Something different, fun, personality Be clear what it is about Are you losing sales? Benefits promise @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 102. But what does the data show?
- 103. 1. Structure of Viral Headlines Common elements Emotional Element Content Element Topic Element Format Element Promise Element Amusing Surprising Heart Warming Beautiful Inspiring Warning Shocking Images Facts Charts Quotes Video Interaction Trending topic (e.g. Zombies, Donald Trump) Health Cats & Dogs Babies Long Life Love List Post Quiz Story Curated Research eBook How to .. ‘Complete Guide To’ Practical Tips Improve Your
- 104. Structure of Viral Headlines Format List post, quiz, Infographic Emotional Hook Emotional word or superlative Content Type Images, quotes, pictures, facts Topic Love, cats, dogs, fitness, health, Donald 10 Amazing Facts About Donald Trump
- 105. Entertain Warning Helpful @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 106. Webinar Headline Structure 2,500 sign ups Emotion Topic 10 Ridiculous Hacks To 5x Click-Through Rates Promise Format Content Type
- 107. Entertain Warning Helpful What are the most shared Trigrams (3 word phrases) in headlines? 2. Words & Phrases @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 108. Research Note Research Trigrams Monitor 1. Extracted trigrams and bigrams from the headlines of 1 million random articles from top publishers 2. Looked at trigrams that are present in at least 150 of the article headlines 1. Sorted them by shares across social networks to identify the top performing trigrams in terms of social shares
- 109. Facebook Top trigrams in most shared content headlines Research Trigrams MonitorTrigram Average FB likes & shares No articles X pictures that 19,646 162 X signs you're 12,741 206 make you laugh 11,029 169 how well do 10,111 411 X photos that 9,714 250 can we guess 9,085 202 you should never 8,669 222 X things only 7,940 307 are the best 7,106 164 X things to 6,676 626
- 110. Are the top trigrams and headlines the same across networks? Or do we need different headlines & ad copy for different networks? How much overlap of top trigrams is there between Facebook and Twitter?
- 111. Entertain Warning Helpful Trigram Average FB likes & shares No articles Trigram Average Twitter shares No articles X pictures that 19,646 162 the science of 542 175 X signs you're 12,741 206 the case for 364 248 make you laugh 11,029 169 you can now 321 208 how well do 10,111 411 Donald Trump is 313 239 X photos that 9,714 250 history of the 307 321 can we guess 9,085 202 the art of 276 264 you should never 8,669 222 the rise of 268 258 X things only 7,940 307 first time in 262 237 are the best 7,106 164 the future of 259 778 X things to 6,676 626 the age of 258 180 @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 112. Entertain Warning Helpful Review of specific words and phrases that were highlighted by our research. Analyzed minimum of 10,000 posts for each of these across all sites, not just larger publishers. 3. Differences by Social Network @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 113. Entertain Warning Helpful Superlative Words FB Twitter LinkedIn Amazing 15,600 538 14 Inspiring 7,340 125 6 Surprising 2,700 87 38 Successful 1,067 137 135 It appears “Amazing” in a title works far better on Facebook and Twitter than on LinkedIn. By contrast “successful’ in a title outperforms on LinkedIn. @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 114. Entertain Warning Helpful Analysis Words/Phrases FB Twitter LinkedIn History of 1,795 58 12 Trends 1,780 311 171 Truth about 1,681 71 15 Future of 1,078 137 135 Rise of 719 60 35 Secret to 755 33 26 Insights 189 70 89 @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 115. Ad or headline on LinkedIn might be better using Trends rather than Insights “10 Economic Trends You Need To Know From New IAB Report” Or alternatively use “The future of ..” @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 116. Entertain Warning Helpful Content Type FB Twitter LinkedIn Pictures 11,452 196 19 Quotes 6,276 180 16 Facts 7,889 285 19 Tips 8,267 424 107 Habits 1,646 139 162 Mistakes 1,946 145 105 @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 117. Entertain Warning Helpful Trigram Average FB likes & shares No articles Trigram Average Twitter shares No articles X pictures that 19,646 162 the science of 542 175 X signs you're 12,741 206 the case for 364 248 make you laugh 11,029 169 you can now 321 208 how well do 10,111 411 Donald Trump is 313 239 X photos that 9,714 250 history of the 307 321 can we guess 9,085 202 the art of 276 264 you should never 8,669 222 the rise of 268 258 X things only 7,940 307 first time in 262 237 are the best 7,106 164 the future of 259 778 X things to 6,676 626 the age of 258 180 @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 118. Entertain Warning Helpful Content Format FB Twitter LinkedIn List: 10 45,063 1,052 134 How to 17,533 1,040 133 Quiz 8,306 105 10 Guide 5,294 244 46 @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 119. For LinkedIn use “How to” to promote the guide e.g. “How to successfully recruit software engineers” “How to run a killer software recruitment campaign” Alternatively use a list post headline across multiple social networks “10 proven ways to recruit software engineers” @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 121. Entertain Warning Helpful Topic FB Twitter LinkedIn Donald Trump 18,061 514 21 Dog 14,412 286 11 Love 5,587 124 60 Performance 7,533 279 49 Sales 2,856 260 208 @steverayson #CTRHacks
- 123. Takeaways
- 124. Viral headlines have common elements and structures Research Trigrams MonitorUse the core elements in your headline and ad copy 10 Surprising Tips To Improve Your Headlines
- 125. The words and phrases that resonate varies a lot by network Research Trigrams MonitorResearch the words/phrases that work in your area & network Draft different copy for posts and ads on different social networks Trigram Average FB likes & shares No articles Trigram Average Twitter shares No articles X pictures that 19,646 162 the science of 542 175 X signs you're 12,741 206 the case for 364 248 make you laugh 11,029 169 you can now 321 208
- 126. What are the top Trigrams in your area? Run a BuzzSumo most shared search for your topic Export the results to a csv or Excel, sort by shares by network eg total shares or FB Copy say top 500 or 1,000 headlines and paste into text analyzer http://www.online- utility.org/text/analyzer.jsp Review top trigrams and bigrams
- 127. Research what works in your area Research Trigrams Monitor Specifically: Superlatives eg Amazing on FB, Successful on LInkedIn Content type eg Pictures on FB, Habits on LinkedIn Words eg trends, insights, tips, facts, future
- 128. Create Better Content Research, Amplification and Monitoring.