List Building with Pop-up Ads: Ultimate Footer Ad Experiment 1
Hi folks. So I’ve been testing out Ultimate Footer Ad for the past couple of weeks. Ultimate Footer Ad is a fairly new pop-up ad software application that shows a ...
The Importance of Split Testing
Hi folks.
So I’ve been testing out Ultimate Footer Ad for the past couple of weeks.
Ultimate Footer Ad is a fairly new pop-up ad software application that shows a pop-up at at the bottom of your site.
It has various controls that make it a compelling piece of software:
- You can specify a time lag before the ad pops up
- You can specify how often a particular ad should appear for any given user
- It comes with several graphical templates; or you can load your own in
- You can include an opt-in form right in the pop-up ad
- You can set a count-down timer to have the ad disappear after X seconds.
- You can do split-testing: It will randomly rotate the ads in a group for you (very valuable!)
So – I’ve been split-testing 6 different offers at once, over the past 2 weeks.
With 2-3 variations of each ad in rotation.
Ultimate Footer Ad - Experiment #1 - Rat-Race-Escape-Artists.com
The results are shown in the graphic to the right – click to enlarge.
Isn’t it amazing, that small tweaks in design, or ad copy, can result in such HUGE differences in click-through rates?
So by doing periodic split-testing like this, I can get rid of the ad copy (or ad designs) that isn’t working well…
And then try brand new variations of the ad copy / ad designs that are working.
The Benefits Don’t Stop There:
I realized in my quest to build my list rapidly, that I’m constantly having to write ad copy for my offers.
- I’m writing ad copy for JV Giveaways
- I’m writing ad copy for email advertisements (Safelists and AdSwaps)
- I’m writing ad copy for traditional advertising sources
- I”m writing ad copy to improve my squeeze page’s conversion
What I’ve been able to do is take the copy from my highest-click-through rate ads on Ultimate Footer Ad… and leverage those at all these other locations. WOO-HOOO!
Now who doesn’t love leverage.
Okay. Help Me Analyze My Top 5 Pop-Up Ads.
1: Rumpelstiltskin: Fun Setting Goals - Views: 179. Clicks: 10. CTR: 5.59%
2: Rumpelstiltskin: Straw to Gold - Views: 203. Clicks: 9. CTR: 4.43%
3: Sick & Tired: Get Your Gears Turning - Views: 206. Clicks: 9. CTR: 4.37%
4: List Building with Alex: BluePrint - 145. Clicks: 2. CTR: 1.38%
5: Sick & Tired: Sick of Routine- Views: 241. Clicks: 3. CTR: 1.24%
Questions & Actions:
- What’s been your experience with pop-up ads – as a consumer/reader, and as a web site publisher?
- What’s been your experience with split testing
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Bolaji O, known as "The Nocrastinator", is an expert in goal getting for digital entrepreneurs.
5 Responses to this article
HI Bolaji,
Perhaps is due to my current situation.
My choice will be the last No. 5 The Sick & Tired Manifesto.
I had not tried any pop up ads yet. But was thinking of a Footer Pop Up
you said here. Feel it is less intruding.
Cheers
Jason Ser
Thanks, Steve!
Yes – there are a number of free, and low-cost pop-up ad offerings out there. One that’s popular now is called Pop Up Domination. It has an effect called LIGHTBOX, that darkens the rest of the screen when the pop up shows up.
It’s worth testing various approaches, to find out what works.
You never really know how your audience will react to particular copy, designs, features, or frequency, until you test.
Thanks for your comment, Jason!
Bolaji@Rat Race Escape Artists´s last [type] ..Aug 2- Rat Race Escape Artists Sitemap
I saw this post few days ago about how different color button improves your conversion rate.
If you scroll down to the statistics, you can probably build your banner off those statistics and get good result. Worth a shot.
http://www.pitstopmedia.com/sem/checkout-buttons-design
Bolaji,
My choice would also be #5. The words “routine” and “politics” target two specific work irritants that most people can identify with and would like to get rid of.
Personally, I greatly prefer pop-up footers compared to pop-over boxes…the footers still catch my attention, but without being annoying like the pop-overs. I think it’s impossible to time pop-overs correctly…they’ll either come in too late, or they’ll come in before I’m finished reading and I’ll just close it to get it out of the way!
Good work,
Scott
Hey Scott,
Yeah, I generally prefer pop-up footers to pop-over boxes.
Funny observation about the timing of pop-overs… (either too early, or too late. LOL!)
It would be interesting to see what the relative results are, in order to be able to quantify that “annoyance factor”.
Maybe in addition to comparing relative clickthrough rates, one could also compare bounce rates via Google Analytics.
As in – do people who see the pop-overs, generally get annoyed and LEAVE?
About the actual 5 ads from my site – thanks for sharing which one appeals to you the most.
I wonder though – its click through rate (1.24%) is almost 80% less than the click through rate of the best performing banner (5.59%)!
Could it be the banner color (RED vs BLACK), or just that many more people being attracted to the offer in the #1 banner, vs the #5 one (despite the current opinions here)?
Another possibility? The sample set is still too small.
Thanks for commenting.
Bolaji O´s last [type] ..My 2010 Book List – What Are You Feeding Your Brain