Running an ad is all well and good but you need actionable data. Running a minimum of two ad variations allows for testing between the response of the ad copy, or a basic A/B test.

1. What does A/B Testing look like?
2. How has this been impacted by the move to RSA?
3. What are you hoping to learn?

“Garbage in, garbage out.” You cannot derive good results from a bad plan. A/B testing isn’t only about having multiple ads for the sake of having multiple ads. You must be intentional about your messaging. If one ad is using a hope-based message of, “finding the right solution for you” or “learn why other businesses have chosen us” you’ll need a different approach to determine if one is more effective than the other. 

For instance, a fear-based motivation, “You can join 100s of businesses who streamlined their operations and saved $$$” or “Are you ready for the coming industry changes? we can help” By evoking a sense of “missing out” you can test whether a helping message or an ignorance message is having a greater impact. There are no business-minded individuals who enjoy feeling like they missed an opportunity.

The art of testing multiple copy has seemingly been removed by the move away from Expanded Text Ads in favor of Responsive Search Ads. In my own experience, these new RSA have led to dramatically higher CTR but are often accompanied by lower Conv. rates and thus higher Cost/conv. This increase in traffic for the sake of no additional gain has been frustrating, but what if you didn’t have to lose your ETA? Testing different messages but also RSA composition you can have 3 headline 2 description ads vs 10 headline 4 description ads. 

There is that sweet spot between “good” ad score and “excellent” which is found to be separated by a 10 headline minimum and 13 headlines, providing you’re hitting all of the other required boxes for keywords and headline uniqueness. By testing different lengths so to speak you can gauge which is most impactful by your own KPI but using the same message. This would allow for clean data so you don’t mix and match data variables. 

The goal of all of this is to learn what works best for your target audience. Do they need you to get straight to the point or offer up a variety of persuasion for why you are the right choice for them. Are they motivated best by fear, hope, not feeling left out, saving money, saving time or simply making their business operations that much simpler by removing a part of the process that is sticky. 

You know your business but there is always more to learn from the audience that desires that business. By being curious about what more you can learn, you may discover a new avenue for growth you didn’t know existed. I think that’s pretty exciting and worth testing for.