Banner variations (4)
Hello everyone,
When you're running a campaign and you find a winning banner, the first thing you do is create variations of that winning banner, right?
When you create variations, how do you do it? OR what's the best way to do it?
Do you make 5 banners identical to that banner and just change the images, or do you change the titles, or CTA's or do you test new banner designs with same title/copy as the winning banner?
What the best way to create variations of a winning banner?
Say this is my winning banner 
How would you create variations of it?
Here's how I think it should be done, but I don't think I'm right so I'm looking for others input on this.
1st I would duplicate the banner and just change the image
2nd I would change the title/image but keep the overall design.
3rd I would change the design but keep the same title/copy/CTA and change image.
4th I would test out another different design with new title/copy/CTA.
Is that a good way of creating variations of a winning banner? If not, can you give me examples of how it should be properly done.
Look forward to any replies.
Thanks.
- Victor S
What you need to do, is basically figure out what makes this particular banner a winner. Is it the girl, the color, the headline ...
The best would be to make series of changes, always just one at a time and re-test them all. So lets say 3 new banners with just a different girl, 3 new banners with different background color only, 3 new banners with a new headline ... always change just one element and keep the rest as is.
This could become time consuming tho, and testing so many banners isnt cheap either, so you need to find your own ways to speed up the process.
This looks like a dating banner, so let me tell you how I approach it in case of promoting dating offers :
- first thing I test is the main image, I already have a nice storage of images that I know work in dating
- next is the headline and small changes in the general copy
- then the color of the banner and sometimes the CTA too
Image usually has the biggest impact, so most of my testing is about finding the proper images for the banners. The adcopy is also very important, keep it short and clear. Color can have significant impact too, but if you stick to "normal" colors and dont use some shiny pink, it usually doesnt matter much. The other factors usually dont have that much influence, but it can give you a small edge too and when you multiple the effect of several small changes, the results can be very different.
There is a lot of stuff to test, but stick to the 2 main factors for now, so the image and the headline/copy. Now lets say your tests show you, that the winning factor was the image. What you wanna do, is maximize the potential and limit the exposure at the same time so the banners dont burn out too soon.
So let's start to make those variations, I do these changes :
- move picture from left to the right part of the ad
- changing background color
- several styles of the CTA button
- I play with the font size
- adding border
You can do more, but again, there is no need to have 50 variations of the same banner, I rarely go over 10. Once you have them, retest 
After some time, the banners will start to die, no matter what you do. But there is a small bonus connected with this type of testing - if I know that the girl was the main success factor, its usually possible to re-use the photo and just come up with a different style of the ad. I was banking on one dating campaign for about 8 months straight, using just 2 photos of the same woman. All I was doing was changing the layout of the banner, but always using the same 2 photos. That girl literaly paid for my new car
Hi Victor!
Is great you found the winner banner and since it's about time to take it to the next level
check out on the article bellow some amazing ideas for powerful banners:
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/facebook-linkedin-twitter-banner-ads-examples
Good luck!
ilana
Appreciate your feedback, @Matuloo!
I'll start testing 1 variable at a time from now on.
Found my winning banner and I've now began testing variations of it. I'm starting with the images first like you suggested. Then I'll move on to the title/copy. Hopefully things go well.
Thanks for your help.
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@affiliaxeilana - Thanks for that article, Ilana, was a good read.
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