{"id":5495,"date":"2017-09-19T18:34:44","date_gmt":"2017-09-19T13:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/?p=5495"},"modified":"2017-09-20T10:41:52","modified_gmt":"2017-09-20T05:11:52","slug":"transcript-importance-ad-testing-brad-geddes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.karooya.com\/blog\/transcript-importance-ad-testing-brad-geddes\/","title":{"rendered":"[Transcript] SEM Insider Insight – The Importance of Ad Testing With Brad Geddes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last month, Brad Geddes<\/a>,\u00a0Co-founder, AdAlysis led a discussion with host Frances Donegan-Ryan<\/a> during the podcast series presented by Bing Ads. The topic of discussion was understanding the importance of ad testing. To listen to the podcast click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Here is the transcript of the podcast:<\/p>\n

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Introduction:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Frances<\/strong>: Welcome everybody to the Bing Ads SEM Insider Insights Podcast Series<\/strong>. We are delighted that you\u2019ve joined us. I\u2019m even more excited to have Brad Geddes join us. I\u2019m sure most of you already know Brad. He has been such a strong influencer and pillar of our SEM community for many years. For those of you that don\u2019t know, he is the founder of Certified Knowledge, which helps agencies and individuals and brands really enhance their Paid Search campaigns. He is also the Co-founder of Adalysis which is a tool that you should all be using to help test your ads and the effectiveness of them.<\/p>\n

And he is also the author of Advanced Google AdWords which, I think, is probably something that every search engine marketing pro has on their book shelf. And today, we\u2019re going to be talking about the importance of Ad Testing<\/strong>, and how important it is as part of your job. We\u2019re going to come at it from a slightly different angle than you might have heard before and really want to help those of you who are already professionals in Paid Search, or those of you that are working hard to get there as professionals. So Brad, welcome, and say \u2018hi\u2019 to our audience.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Oh, welcome, and thank you for having me, Frances.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Of course. So let\u2019s jump right into it. I really want to get your insight and opinion on how important testing is, do you think that a lot of people are already testing, or more people need to stand up and start testing more, and just the overall value of it.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Sure. So yeah, ad testing is incredibly important. And of course, everything in paid search is, you can say, is incredibly important. But when we think about ads, ads are the only parts of the account a user actually see. So it\u2019s the reason it\u2019s called Bing Ads, and Ad Groups. And so, you\u2019re really testing to see what message resonates with people, you know, searching for your products and services. And so if you\u2019re not testing, you\u2019re not really understanding, (a) – How do we influence the user, and (b) Pulling insights out of your data to really help you understand<\/strong>, \u201cOh, this is what people really care about. We should think about this in our messaging,\u201d which can of course go well beyond ads to, you know, e-mails or landing pages as well.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah. Do you think sometimes those of us, you know, who have a ton of experience and call ourselves, you know, Paid Search professional, I think sometimes we might get too focused on the data and too into the mechanics and the features of the platforms that we\u2019re using and sometimes forget, you know, who is the shopper, who is the person seeing our ad, how do they think, what words do they use, and the context of the search that they\u2019re doing and\u2026 Sometimes I\u2019ve to take a step back and be like, \u201cBut what ad would I click on if I was really looking to, you know, book my next vacation?\u201d<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Exactly, right? It\u2019s so easy to look at an impression and think it\u2019s an impression. But if you said, \u201cOne person clicked our ad out of 300 people who saw it,\u201d that makes you think about the data if only just by re-positioning, you know, basic metrics to be, you know, user-centric as opposed to being an Excel-centric.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah, yeah. And that\u2019s an advice that, you know, I\u2019ve given in presentations, and Purna has given in presentations, that starting your ad copy [raising [03:57] should not be started in Excel. Like, take it out of that, be super-creative, you know, do it on a white board, do it handwritten on paper, and then go back and edit, you know, obviously because there are restrictions, but don\u2019t limit yourself in your first writing.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Exactly, exactly. It\u2019s a good advice regarding this, right? Creative side, it\u2019s free-flow brain storming. It\u2019s not math.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yes, exactly. And I just mentioned Purna\u2026 That\u2019s Purna Virji, who works for us as well on the Academy and Training team. So Brad, I want to jump into, if we\u2019re testing and, you know, we\u2019re here to encourage everybody to start testing, what are some of those resources that you can really use to help you start testing from more of that creative side than, you know, may be just looking at your data and metrics?<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Sure. I mean, you know, obviously, brainstorming is a great way of doing things \u2013 taking a look at search queries, serving your customers and so forth are great places. If you\u2019re looking for that high-level insight or…you need a starting place, because a lot of people are more math-centric than they\u2019re creative-centric. The Bing Ads Research has just fantastic resources which look at an industry and say, \u201cThis is the change, the expenditure in the industry.\u201d That gives you an idea of what your growth is going to be. This is what people in the industry are looking for; this is how they\u2019re looking for that information.<\/p>\n

And even, in some cases, put together heatmaps and say, \u201cThese are what THE most common words are, that exist in ads.\u201d And so, I would encourage anyone who\u2019s really trying to think through how consumers interact to start by taking a look at the Bing Ads Research and finding the white papers for your industry that, you know, have already been written and ideas already exist there, just sitting for you to use.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah, we love sharing research. You know, we actually have multiple teams on the Bing Ads team who\u2026their whole job is looking at insights, doing research, trying to uncover those\u2026 you know, those gems amidst all of the number data, and be able to get that out to our customers. We, you know, definitely, I would say our philosophy is share, share, share that data and be really open and transparent with it because if, you know, if you, as our users and our customers, aren\u2019t successful, then there\u2019s no way we can be successful. So the more we can share\u2026 And, you know, if you\u2019re jumping into that data or that research in the white papers, if you want to see a different industry, if you want a different angle of the data, you know, we\u2019re all ears.<\/p>\n

So letting us know those things helps us understand how to create more\u2026 And I will just say really quickly that if you\u2019re looking for this research, one of the best places to start is bingads.com\/audience that will show audience data based on \u2018Industry\u2019, and then once you click down into the \u2018Industries\u2019 and \u2018Sub-industries\u2019, you\u2019ll find the white papers and other research and power-points and presentations. So, jumping back into, sort of, why the research is super powerful, what are some of the things you\u2019ve leant when you\u2019ve taken research and heatmaps and some of your data obviously, but come at it from the more creative side rather than the math side, like you mentioned earlier.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Sure. So, I\u2019m one who looks at this and says, \u201cAlright, this is industry-based research,\u201d which means it\u2019s averages of a lot of people. And some people are better than average, some are worse than average, right? So it\u2019s not, \u201cYou should do this.\u201d You should read this as, \u201cThese are things to try.\u201d So I usually\u2026 You know, I take a look at this, and I look for actually 3 things, right? Number one, I look for what is just so overused and so boring that nobody cares?<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: [Laughter]<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: I mean, a cheap flight\u2026 You know what every freaking ad says, \u201cCheap flights to [insert city name].\u201d You know what? That\u2019s the word we shouldn\u2019t use, right? So number one is, like, axing our current ads because they\u2019re just that boring, compare the boring that exists, right?<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: And I think that\u2019s an important one, right? We keep a list of them \u2013 Black List Adjectives. Just, you can\u2019t use that, sorry. And then, number two is what is not working well for most people, right? So that\u2019s again saying, \u201cHey, do we have a promotion that exists right now that\u2019s failing for most people? Because if we\u2019re running this and we don\u2019t have data, \u2018Yes\u2019 or \u2018No\u2019 yet, and it\u2019s trending downwards,\u201d and you look, we probably, \u201cI don\u2019t want to skip this.\u201d right? And so, in many ways, you\u2019ve got all these ideas and those first two help eliminate some of your ideas to help you focus then on the third bucket, the good one \u2013 what\u2019s working really well for people? And this is the part, then, that you\u2019ve gotten down to\u2026 May be there 50 ideas\u2026 Now you\u2019re at, like, 8, right? This is\u2026 Eight\u2019s a manageable number.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: And so, now, we are going to think about, \u201cHere\u2019s our 8 ideas.\u201d The biggest problems with most ads is they try to stuff too much into it<\/strong>, right? Focus. What\u2019s the main USP, what\u2019s that main benefit you really want to drive to a user? So now we\u2019re down to, you know, 6 to 8 ideas, and that are the basis for what the ad should communicate at the end. And that\u2019s how I kind of, use this research, and then, you know, beyond that, right, we look to see, \u201cIs the trend going up or down? Are there certain months that are much better or worse,\u201d right? \u201dSo how does the budget get allocated? When is the deadline that we need to have these ideas in by because that\u2019s when the uptake happens, like, get it done, you know, 2 to 4 weeks before the uptake happens, and things like that. But it\u2019s, you know, it\u2019s used from an elimination and a focus. And I think that\u2019s a very important point when it comes to ads is, you know, focus \u2013 both on ideas and then the final message.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah, that\u2019s great. I think people listening can\u2026That\u2019s going to challenge them to sit down, particularly, the one, the tip that I loved the most, that you just mentioned was \u201cboring.\u201d You know, why \u201cIs boring\u201d? I think, you know, so many of us in the PPC world… our industry changes weekly, the tools that we need to use, the features that, you know, people like us, and Google, and Facebook, are constantly updating\u2026 You can get a little bit wrapped up in all of that work, and it\u2019s, you know, frankly, it\u2019s hard to keep up with the times, and if you\u2019re not keeping up, then you\u2019re going to get into real trouble. But I love this idea of stepping back and saying, \u201cOh, my God, what is just really boring, and never going to entice?\u201d you know. It\u2019s not just enough to throw an ad campaign up there. If no one\u2026if it\u2019s just boring as hell, then you\u2018re wasting your time. [Laughter]<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: And it\u2019s not as fun, right? I mean, ultimately, right, you get into this industry because it\u2019s new and different; you stay in it because you realize how challenging and exciting it is. And I\u2019ve been doing this for\u2026 This is my 19th year, which is crazy to think about. And I still love it, right? And it\u2019s because you don\u2019t work on the boring, right? You work on what\u2019s fun, and by finding the fun ideas, all of a sudden, like, it keeps you sort of inspired to say, \u201cWhat can we do next, while still really enjoying this?\u201d<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah. I love that. And so, once you have, you know, all of this research that you\u2019ve done, you\u2019ve used all the resources available to you from us, you\u2019ve figured out what\u2019s boring, what\u2019s not working, you\u2019ve focused down, are there steps after that that you want to share with the listeners on\u2026? Okay, you\u2019ve done all of that work, now what\u2019s next?<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Sure. So the next is thinking about scale<\/strong>. So are you really doing this research for, you know, 10 ad groups or for 10,000 ad groups, right? The next is really scale. So if you\u2019re doing it for a few, great. Go to the ad groups, write them out. Not a problem. If you\u2019re doing this for a hundreds or thousands, then you think scale. And so, while you can be personal to a user at scale with in-time efficiencies, if you think about, \u201cAlright, our Headline is our keyword basis and our Description lines are going to be focused around this message,\u201d but because it applies to a lot of different ads in different ad groups, we can test this across ad groups, so one is, right, to achieve scale of testing.<\/p>\n

And so that way, you know, if you\u2019re in flight [inaudible 13:00], you know, Destination versus a percentage off\u2026 If you are, you know, in…I don\u2019t know, Shoes, right? Is it that they\u2019re a luxury, is it that they\u2019re cheap, are they comfortable, are they, you know, what not\u2026<\/p>\n

And you\u2019re testing on those focused ideas which, you know, is, for me, is Excel plus the Editor. And I can…you know, you eventually get back into Excel, you create your ad to scale with Excel, use the Editor in there, and that way you can, you know, mass import, you know, thousands of ads at once while still achieving a focused message ad scale.<\/p>\n

And I think that\u2019s a good run from ads, is you think it takes a few minutes to write each one, and if you\u2019re writing 2000\u2026 Well, that\u2019s just several weeks of work, right? No, no, no, you can still write, you can still do them formulaically if you\u2019ve thought about the messaging first, and how that messaging and customizers have scales, right? The [params] is great across everything.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah. Is there one pitfall or, kind of, warning you want to share when you\u2019re doing this work<\/strong>?<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Yeah. So, a) \u2013 do all of your spell-checking<\/strong> with Excel. Spell-check is terrible, right? Excel doesn\u2019t have a Spell-check. Put into Microsoft Word, hit F7, double check your grammar, your character links. I use the Link function as well on Excel to really double check. And then make sure amount…to make a thousand ads to get rejected and, you know, we\u2019re full of rejection notices, right?<\/p>\n

Number two is consistency in naming conventions<\/strong>. I can\u2019t count the times I\u2019ve seen someone make a brand new account and\u2026 where campaign name is called, \u2018A Campaign\u2019 and their ads are called \u2018Campaigns\u2019 and that single letter difference means, \u201cAlright, these ad groups have ads and these other ad groups have keywords, and nothing\u2019s actually active.\u201d<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Right.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: That consistency\u2026 And it\u2019s taking that extra 5 or 10 minutes, right, to just to make sure everything\u2019s lined out, you\u2019re within character limits, you didn\u2019t fat finger and move a decimal point to make something $10,000 instead of a $1000, right? Something important\u2026 especially when it gets to bids\u2026<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Really important distinction there, right? And that extra 5 or 10 minutes, while it seems annoying at the time, can save hours and hours of fixing it actually. It saves you more time than it wastes in totality.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah, that\u2019s great. So I think we\u2019ve thrown a lot of information out here to our listeners. I want to wrap up. I\u2019m going to repeat what I think were your top points, then you let me know if I hit that or add anything you want to. So, I think the number one things I\u2019ve learned from you are: Start from the creative angle because you\u2019re speaking to real people who are making, you know, regular life decisions. So really start from that creative angle rather than, you know, like you mentioned the math side.<\/p>\n

But then, you know, don\u2019t forget that we are in an industry where scale is incredibly important and most of us are working on, you know, huge accounts, and so then, don\u2019t forget to use the tools that you have there \u2013 Excel, Editor \u2013 to really enhance and grow and scale those campaigns once you\u2019ve done the creative work.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: I think that was a amazing, amazingly good sum-up. Perfect.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: And then, I think the last thing I mentioned that I know you love, because you asked me for them all the time, are really use the data and resources that Bing is sharing \u2013 whether it\u2019s the whitepapers or the deep dives in the industry or the heatmaps that sort of [inaudible16:50] and check your work.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: That is true. And the [radar 16:55], Frances is telling the absolute truth. I\u2019ve been doing this a long time, 90% of my e-mails to Frances are actually about industry data, 5% are probably about the API and 5% are about the next change in digital, right? That\u2019s about all we talk about, those 3 things, that industry research is by far my number one.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Yeah. And like I mentioned, you know, reach out to us. Brad, I\u2019m going to share your Twitter handle, hope you don\u2019t mind.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Go for it.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: So Brad is #bgtheory, I\u2019m #francesdr, you can always reach out to @bingads of course, and we\u2019re here, we\u2019re listening, I want to thank Brad so much for jumping on this podcast with us and look forward to people, you know, shooting us texts about how amazingly helpful this was.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Excellent. Thank you, Frances.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Thanks. And just a quick note out to our listeners \u2013 make sure that you check in for our new podcasts and give us some feedback. And you should go ahead and download our latest e-book. This e-book is called \u201cMaking the case for Bing Ads: SEM Pros embrace a new world of Audience and Opportunity.\u201d We\u2019ve worked really closely with leaders in the Paid Search community to put together this e-book for you that\u2019s going to give you the latest tips and tricks, things that you should and shouldn\u2019t be doing and just to generate new ideas on how you can greatly improve your Paid Search campaigns, whether they\u2019re on Bing or Google or Facebook, and also give some really great insights on the difference between the audience that comes from Microsoft and Bing. And you won\u2019t want to miss that. Make sure you go ahead and download that on bingads.com. Thanks everyone, thanks again Brad.<\/p>\n

Brad<\/strong>: Thank you.<\/p>\n

Frances<\/strong>: Until next time.<\/p>\n

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Related Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n