onlineforlife.org

How a Tailored, Remarketing Headline

Affects Clickthrough Rate on a Facebook Ad

Experiment ID: #7348

Remarketing Headlines

Background:• Client: Hillsdale College• Launched remarketing

Facebook audiences, targeting individuals who viewed their course signup pages

Control

Remarketing HeadlinesTreatment

Treatment Changes:• Tailored the ad to those who

had previously viewed their course signup pages by changing the headline from “Activate your free course now” to “Begin your first class now.”

Remarketing HeadlinesControl Treatment

72.0% decreasein traffic

Remarketing Headlines

Treatment Name Click Rate Relative Diff Stat Confidence

C: Control 3.5%

T1: Treatment 1 0.98% -72.0% 100.0%Key Learning:

Hillsdale College found that the treatment version of this Facebook ad actually decreased clickthrough rate by 72%. It’s possible that the remarketing audience did not find the headline call-to-action as persuasive or relevant as the control version. “Begin your first class now»” may have increased anxiety in the viewer, who felt they didn’t have the time to take the first class then and there. Second, this remarketing audience already left the signup page for a reason, without signing up. It is possible that they have a lower motivation to clickthrough on an offer they have already been exposed to.

✓

72.0% decrease in traffic