Correctly segmenting your pay-per-click (ppc) ads, whether it’s through keywords or the content network, can lead to higher click through rates (CTR), higher revenue, and higher ROI.
Split testing ads is an essential tactic in improving your ads performance in Google Adwords. Split testing means altering the headline, offer, call to action of one ad and running it against another ad to determine which has the higer CTR, and better performance.
Recently I split test two ads targeting general search terms related to our client’s service. One ad had a 50% higher price point in the ad with an additional service offered.
Ad Group 1:
| Ad | Click through rate | Difference in pricing |
| Ad 1 | 0.65% | 50% higher than ad 2 |
| Ad 2 | 1.13% | Std offer |
While the test wasn’t perfectly controlled, we had enough data to indicate price sensitivity and that the higher price point lead to a significant drop in CTR–in this case it was a 40% drop in click through rate (ad 1).
What was interesting, however, was that the same two ads in a different ad group with a completely different set of keywords produced results of CTR that were not too different from each other. The keywords in Ad Group 2 would only be used by women in a specific age group at a very specific milestone in life.
Ad Group 2 targeting female demographic:
| Ad | Click through rate | Difference in pricing |
| Ad 1 | 3.09% | 50% higher than ad 2 |
| Ad 2 | 3.17% | Std offer |
As we can see, Ad 1 had a slightly lower CTR, not enough to declare it a loser by any means. However, with a 50% higher price point I will gladly take the slight drop in CTR for the increased price point and revenue.
The bottom line is, segmenting your ad groups and understanding who is clicking on the ads can make a big difference in pricing of your product or service. In this case, Ad Group 2 was targeting women who were much less price sensitive than the general Ad Group 1.
Have you had similar experiences in your ppc campaigns?
