Amazing! You’ve found a few headlines that will draw people in and engage with your site! Now let’s make these official ads. We’re going to move away from all the stuff we said about making them look bad, and start to test an ad that looks good. Better yet, we’re going to A/B test a few variations to see what combinations of images and headlines work the best.
Unlike the earlier headline tests, these image ads are meant to look polished and professional. They should reflect the visual quality you’d expect from your brand.
As usual, you’re looking for a CPC (All) under $0.50 and a CTR (All) over 1%. The best case is that the image ad will outperform your headlines on their own. If not, you might want to consider running the test with either different images or a different layout. This is the first real step in building a high-performing funnel, so optimization is not a waste—it’ll give you a huge advantage later.
A Couple Things To Note:
Make sure you’re using the same high-performing headline copy in each image variation. The visual should be the only new variable you’re testing.
Which image (regardless of headline) did the best to engage the audience?
Was there a trend in how the image was structured that worked better than the others?
Was there a trend in the style of image used that worked better than others?
Don’t be afraid to test different styles, including aspirational photos, product imagery, or even an image with a red circle or arrow to draw attention to a specific feature. This simple visual cue can boost curiosity and engagement.
Creating Image Tests
If we use our Electric Trailer Conversion Company as an example, let’s pretend the top headlines are:
- Tow The Trailer You Want With The Truck You Have With This Amazing New Product
- Get Back To Camping With Your Family, And Stop Worrying About The Cost Of Fuel
We’ll use these combined with 6 different images to create our first test. We want to find images that you feel will represent your brand. They can be tied to aspirational sentiments, suggest something about your product, or focus on something complimentary to your brand.
For example, if our aspirational qualities are: spending time with family, we might try images like:
For interests like environment:
Because we’re focused on Travel Trailers:
Because people often have fond memories of roasting marshmallows while camping:
Because we talk about traveling anywhere:
And lastly, a sketch that we’re going to modify to make it look like it’s suggesting something interesting. We’ll add a bright red arrow to this one to show that there’s something different, or if your product is apparent you can show it here.
If you have a software solution, you can also have an image of your app running on a phone or desktop.
Optional: Test Branding Variations
You can also test versions of your ads with and without branding elements—like your logo or color schemes—to see what resonates best. If you haven’t finalized your branding yet, this can even help inform your design direction.
Next, we take the 6 we think will do the best and create a variation of each headline with each image and make them look good.
Eventually, you’ll wind up with something like this:
Run the test with the same set up as your headline test. Use the same audience and keep the same rules of turning the ads off when they’re over 400 impressions or over $6 spent.
The difference with this test is that our goal is to get better CPC and CTR with our best-performing image ad than our best-performing colour block headline test.
Track Post-Click Engagement
Remember, it’s not just about the clicks. Use tools like Google Analytics or Microsoft Clarity to monitor what visitors do once they land on your page. Are they sticking around? Are they exploring your site? This feedback will help you refine both your ad strategy and landing page design.
👉 Need Help Setting up your Data Collection? Check out our tutorial here
