A few weeks ago I did a post on a split-test I was running on POF ads that revealed some interesting results.  Every split-test that I ran using an image of sensuous lips continually out-performed any other image with a higher click-thru rate (CTR) on the ad.

Thanks for all your feedback and the most common question I received was whether this affected the conversion rate.  This test was for a diet related offer.  One would assume that since the image was not related to the content of the ad, it would have a poor conversion rate compared to the others.

I ended up taking the two most popular images (highest CTRs) and comparing their conversion rates.

Here were the results.

Sensuous Lips – 1,583 clicks and 5 conversions = 0.31585% conversion rate
Fast Food Image – 1,271 clicks and 1 conversion = 0.078% conversion rate

Now, one might argue that these number are not statistically valid because there were not enough sales.

Who really cares?

When I am spending money on paid traffic, I will stick with the sensuous lips after that many clicks.

If you start seeing a bunch of banners running online with different sensuous lips, you will know who is running them. 😉

Tweet, Like or comment if you thought this was cool.

Cheers

Gauher Chaudhry

Last May, I held a media buying workshop here in Toronto and had top media buying experts present the content.  One of the speakers was a good friend and ninja marketer Greg Davis.  I gave him the task of presenting on the importance of your advertising banners when doing any type of media buying.

One of the surprising tactics that he revealed was using images of sensual lips in your ads to increase the click-thru rate (CTR) rate.  He said that in his tests, it worked almost every time and it didn’t matter if the audience was men or women.

I have to admit that I was skeptical, so I put his recommendation to the test on Plenty of Fish ads.  I created a campaign for a weight loss related offer and included an image of sensual lips in one of the ads.

The results were surprising.

I ran multiple ads with the only change in the ad being the image.  These ads were only targeted at women who were between the ages of 40 and 45.  Test after test, the ad with the sensual lips maintained the highest click-thru rate confirming Greg’s own tests.

If you click on the image on the left, it will open up to a full size graphic and you will be able to see the exact click-thru rate of each ad.  The lips ad had the highest CTR rate of 0.058%.  In some cases, this ad beat out other ads 2-to-1.  The closest ad (fast food image) only came in at 0.05%.

If you think about it, it doesn’t make logical sense because lips really don’t have anything to do with weight loss.  I think it is because the image of lips is eye-catching, which leads the prospect to read the ad.

Have you ever had weird results like this in your split tests?  Let me know in the comments section.

Also, I have reopened my Media Buying Sumo course, so if you haven’t had a chance to join you can by clicking here.  You will get access to the entire Media Buying workshop and the video presentations of all the speakers.

Best wishes,

Gauher Chaudhry