Demystifying ad creative: Tips to optimize it for the best ROAS

For many ecommerce brands, a significant amount of time is spent on figuring out what to say, and not nearly enough on how to produce strong visual assets that support that message. This handy guide makes sure businesses don’t miss a trick in the ad creative playbook.

A survey conducted by market research firm Dynata, found that 85% of shoppers are more likely to choose a brand with high-quality ads. The same holds true for branding consistency as 74% of consumers will more likely be loyal to a company with consistent and well-design content.

"The golden rule is that ads need to invite consumers to interact with your brand. Make sure you are giving people something to do like get more information, access an exclusive benefit, download something, etc. Try different calls to action but make sure that it’s clear for your audience."

Agna Poznanska - CMO at DRVE

Drill down with data

Collecting data around the actions customers take with your ads is very powerful but it only reveals one part of their journey.

Look at your ad performance and gather insights, compile them and use them to understand consumer behavior beyond engagement: don’t look at just how many people view your ads, but how they behave and interact with them. Looking at behavioural cues will help you understand how customers make decisions.

When devising the concept behind a campaign, it would be wise to source data outside your ads to contextualize your approach: turn to Google Trends or similar tools to understand how consumers perceive certain products and make decisions.

“For instance, you may think your potential customers value a concept (i.e: cheap or affordable) but the trend may show that they are looking for something else (i.e: best, sustainable). This can be very valuable to steer the course of your campaign”, points out Agna Poznanska, CMO at DRVE.

Leverage external content

Constant testing and iteration require high volume content production, as your team will need to produce a wide selection of ads with multiple creative assets and copy adjustments.

To meet the demand around volume and high-quality ads, brands can work with external creators like influencers. Content creators will create brand assets at scale and optimize the process.

Moreover, some brands prefer driving their content production with user-generated content (UGC). Some brands will even mimic the visual approach of UGC and produce more “authentic” content that is easy to amplify.

Lastly, some platforms are more suitable than others for this approach. For instance, TikTok offers Spark Ads that allows brands to partner up with an established creator to produce authentic content that doesn’t feel too pushy or transactional.

Lifestyle brand Hip tried different visuals to highlight one main feature in different lights: a close-up of the product’s technology vs. the straw in context.

Think for each platform and stage

“One note on testing on different channels is to be aware that, depending on the social media platform, audiences either are fed content by an algorithm or choose it. This impacts the behavior and predisposition of consumers and should be taken into account when running multiple tests”, points out Agna.

If you are using a platform like TikTok, video ads will be your go-to content and you want to be wary of length and get your key message out early. You will need to think of the specificity of the platform and analyze the best practices, like shooting vertical footage, including sound, enabling captions, and more.

It is paramount to think for each platform but also for each stage of the funnel. “Companies that use data to produce specific creatives in retargeting campaigns tend to see positive results”, claims Agna.

Test, test, test

Should your brand ride on the latest trends? Is a campaign graphic performing well in one channel but poorly in another one? Do you have an outstanding ad but don’t want to put off your audience with repetitive content?

The answer is simple: you need to test different graphics, messages, formats and setups to find your winners that complement your brand identity. Here are some ideas on how to iterate your creatives:

Try a lightly animated version of a still ad
Test video content vs. still creatives
30-second vs. 15-second videos
Professional content vs. self-recorded content
Copy changes coupled with the same creative
Color palette
Test location
Call to action (CTA)
Seasonality
Showing or not showing your brand logo
Type of content: try showcasing a best-selling product vs. promoting your brand via a testimonial by an influencer
Add sound, text overlays, effects, or stickers
If you use video, experiment with different transition styles and perspectives

For Agna, not all iterations involve major changes in copy or creative assets. “For instance, build a new campaign that includes your top-performing creatives but make small tweaks to it. With minor adjustments, you can potentially unlock new pockets of traffic. Many times changing color palettes or testing a new headline will do.”, she says.

Go beyond the graphics and copy, and test multiple creative concepts by choosing several objectives for each campaign and see which one outperforms the others. Then continuously test on different iterations of each concept and let data show which are your winners.

“The golden rule is that ads need to invite consumers to interact with your brand. Make sure you are giving people something to do like get more information, access an exclusive benefit, download something, etc. Try different calls to action but make sure that it’s clear for your audience.”, says Agna.

By exploring different visuals, copy and narratives you can learn what is the most effective way to communicate with your audience. The goal should always be to produce creative output that tells your brand story in a way that informs, inspires, and engages your audience.