The Insight

No one knows your brand like you — right? After years of developing a product or service, it's tempting to base creative decisions on common-sense assumptions. This is where testing becomes essential, and the results may very well surprise you.

The Data

Many of our streaming clients kick off video assets with a logo card for greater brand awareness. However, when we ran a test with one streaming client comparing the tried-and-true logo card with a quick scene lead-in, the scene drove 43% more sign-ups at 30% lower CPS. This approach aligns with decreasing attention spans across social, giving viewers instant entertainment value instead of expecting them to wait for a payoff.

In another case, our team was asked to change call-to-action messaging from "Watch Now" to "Start Your Free Trial" across hundreds of assets over numerous campaigns. While the client expected a significant change, we found the switch made no impact on CPS and the 14% increase in button clicks was attributable to a simultaneous spend increase. We concluded that testing both messages in a single sample campaign would lead to a more definitively actionable result, with the added benefit of saving hours of production and trafficking time.

For one of our location-based attraction clients, we tested static banners that included multiple images vs. creative focusing on a single image. Although the multi-image creative provided more context for the product, the single image creative was a markedly better performer:

The Takeaway

We recommend a tiered approach to testing where we work with our clients to determine the most pressing question to answer before we branch off into more granular tests. Common tests include CTA messaging variations, animated or video vs. static imagery, and general vs. targeted taglines, but tests will of course differ by client, vertical, and market.

In a world where each second (and dollar) counts, everything from copy to colors can and should be tested in order to best optimize your advertising spend and potentially save on production costs down the road. Audience behaviors evolve at a rapid pace, so don't be afraid to question assumptions — you never know what surprises are in store!