choose your words carefully: financial services edition
TRANSCRIPT
Choose your words carefully: Financial services edition
How word choice can make or break pay-per-click search ads
Somewhere in here there are winning word combos for financial services search ads. (There are also losers.)
Acc
ou
nt
Ban
kin
g
Best
Bra
nd
Call T
o A
ctio
n
DK
I
Fees
Fin
an
cial
Fin
an
cial
Co
op
era
tive
Inte
rest
Rate
Inte
rest
Rate
s
Lo
an
s
Lo
cati
on
Mo
rtg
ag
e
Off
icia
l
On
lin
e
Savin
gs
Secu
re
Serv
ices
Su
perl
ati
ve
Yie
ld
No
Var
Account
Banking
Best
Brand
Call To Action
DKI
Fees
Financial
Financial Cooperative
Interest Rate
Interest Rates
Loans
Location
Mortgage
Official
Online
Savings
Secure
Services
Superlative
Yield
NoVar
The researchers at Bing Ads recently tackled a couple of big questions about performance for PPC Financial Services ads.
What combinations of words in the title and description get the highest Ad Quality ranking?*
*Ad Quality is a calculation which factors in both the clickability (the likelihood of an ad being clicked, agnostic of position) of the ad and other indicators of ad quality. Ads with better ad quality not only have a better CTR, they get rewarded with better ad ranking and lower CPCs than other ads with lower ad quality.
Does this change depending on what device the audience is using?
Microsoft Confidential
We analyzed
55,000 ads running on the Yahoo Bing Network.
These ads generated 180 million impressions.
1 ad on the Yahoo Bing Network reaches
163 million searchers
5.6 billion monthly searches on Yahoo Bing Network
We limited our study to
January 2014.
Then we broke the financial services vertical into 5 categories.
Financial Institutions
Insurance
Loans and Lending
Credit Cards
Credit Reporting
The phrases and/or words we analyzed had to appear in ads from at least 10 advertisers.
We analyzed more than 20 of the most commonly used words/phrases.
We analyzed word choice and clickability across devices: PC, mobileand tablet.
Some words of caution…
What works really well for one category may perform poorly for another.
There is no prescriptive set of ad copy that will generate the same results across devices. People use different devices for different things – they don’t look for the same info on their PC as they do on their phone.
Across the board, in every category, you’ll
get a significant lift in clicks if you add Sitelinks to your ad.
Here’s how to read a heatmapA
d T
itle
Great Bad Insufficient DataGood Ad Description
Acc
ou
nt
Ban
kin
g
Best
Bra
nd
Call T
o A
ctio
n
DK
I
Fees
Fin
an
cial
Fin
an
cial
Co
op
era
tive
Inte
rest
Rate
Inte
rest
Rate
s
Lo
an
s
Lo
cati
on
Mo
rtg
ag
e
Off
icia
l
On
lin
e
Savin
gs
Secu
re
Serv
ices
Su
perl
ati
ve
Yie
ld
No
Var
Account
Banking
Best
Brand
Call To Action
DKI
Fees
Financial
Financial Cooperative
Interest Rate
Interest Rates
Loans
Location
Mortgage
Official
Online
Savings
Secure
Services
Superlative
Yield
NoVar
Our study results show that a Financial Institutions ad with “Banking” in the title and “Official” in the description has high Ad Quality.
Personal Banking
usbank.com
Official site
Ad
title
Ad description
Insufficient dataGreat Good Poor
Acc
ou
nt
Ban
kin
g
Best
Bra
nd
Call T
o A
ctio
n
DK
I
Fees
Fin
an
cial
Fin
an
cial
Co
op
era
tive
Inte
rest
Rate
Inte
rest
Rate
s
Lo
an
s
Lo
cati
on
Mo
rtg
ag
e
Off
icia
l
On
lin
e
Savin
gs
Secu
re
Serv
ices
Su
perl
ati
ve
Yie
ld
No
Var
Account
Banking
Best
Brand
Call To Action
DKI
Fees
Financial
Financial Cooperative
Interest Rate
Interest Rates
Loans
Location
Mortgage
Official
Online
Savings
Secure
Services
Superlative
Yield
NoVar
Financial Institutions ad performance heatmap ̶ All devices
Financial Institutions: Top word combos
Mobile
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Online Location
Official Fees
Online Fees
DKI Location
NoVar Superlative
Tablet
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Official Loans
Official Online
Online Loans
Banking Official
Official Fees
PC
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Account Secure
Official Loans
Official Online
Online Loans
Account Official
Ads with “official” in
the title do well on all
devices.
Insights by device
PC users click on ads
with heavyweight
financial services
involved including
“accounts” and “loans”,
which matches the
desktop mindset.
Mobile users are,
predictably, looking for
location. They’re also
clicking on ads with
“fees” in the
description, which
might suggest
showrooming.
Tablet users respond
to the same words that
are important to PC
users AND mobile
users, demonstrating
the adaptability of the
device and intention.
Ad
title
Ad description
Insufficient dataGreat Good Poor
Bra
nd
Call T
o A
ctio
n
Car/
Au
to
Ch
eap
/
Aff
ord
ab
le
DK
I
Fin
an
cial
Co
op
era
tive
Fre
e
Insu
ran
ce
Insu
ran
ce P
lan
Inte
rest
Rate
s
Lo
cati
on
Off
icia
l
On
lin
e
Para
m
Qu
ote
s
Su
perl
ati
ve
No
Var
Brand
Call To Action
Car/Auto
Cheap/Affordable
DKI
Financial Cooperative
Free
Insurance
Insurance Plan
Interest Rates
Location
Official
Online
Param
Quotes
Superlative
NoVar
Insurance ad performance heatmap ̶ All devices
Insurance: Top word combos
Mobile
TITLE DESCRIPTION
NoVar NoVar
Superlative Online
Car/Auto NoVar
Insurance Plan NoVar
Cheap/affordable Superlative
Tablet
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Official Online
Official Car/Auto
Official Location
Official Cheap/affordable
Official Call to Action
PC
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Official Online
Official Free
Official Quotes
Official Cheap/affordable
Car/Auto NoVar
When it comes to
Insurance, ads with
“Official” in the title
draw a lot of attention
with both PC and
Tablet users, but not
with Mobile users at all.
Insights by device
PC users are willing to
click on ads with
“quote” in the
description, suggesting
that the desktop
environment is more
conducive to a more
time-consuming
engagement.
Mobile users are hard
to pin down in the
Insurance category,
responding to a wide
range of relevant
words.
Tablet users look for
“Official” in the title,
then drill into specifics
with the description.
%
Ap
pro
ved
/
Ap
pro
val
Bad
Cre
dit
Ban
kin
g
Bra
nd
Call T
o
Act
ion
Fin
an
cial
Co
op
era
tive
Fin
an
cin
g
Inte
rest
Rate
s
Len
der
Len
din
gs
Lo
an
Typ
es
Lo
an
s
(Gen
era
l)
Mo
rtg
ag
e
On
lin
e
Para
m
Paym
en
t
Secu
re
Su
perl
ati
ve
No
Var
%
Approved/Approval
Bad Credit
Banking
Brand
Call To Action
DKI
Financial
Cooperative
Financing
Interest Rates
Lender
Lendings
Loan Types
Loans (General)
Mortgage
Online
Param
Payment
Secure
Superlative
NoVar Ad
tit
leAd description
Insufficient dataGreat Good Poor
Loans and Lending ad performance heatmap ̶ All devices
Loans and Lending: Top word combos
Mobile
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Superlative NoVar
% Loan types
Secure Interest rates
Financing Secure
Loan types NoVar
Tablet
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Loans
(general)
Param
Loan types Param
NoVar Loans (general)
Superlative NoVar
Financing Secure
PC
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Secure Approved/approval
Secure Financing
NoVar Loans (general)
Financial
cooperative
Banking
Secure Secure
Across all devices,
“secure” carries
significance, likely
owing to the fact that
loan applications
conducted online
require a great deal of
personal information.
Insights by device
PC users are looking
for home refinancing
options via HARP
(“Financial
cooperative”).
Mobile users are
responsive to ads with
specific loan types in
either the title or
description.
Tablet users go
straight to the heart of
things, responding to
both general and
specific loan types in
the ad title.
Ad
title
Ad description
Insufficient dataGreat Good Poor
%
Bad
Cre
dit
Best
Bra
nd
Call T
o A
ctio
n
Inte
rest
Rate
Off
ers
/Deals
On
lin
e
Rew
ard
s
Serv
ices
Su
perl
ati
ve
No
Var
%
Bad Credit
Brand
Call To Action
Interest Rate
Offers/Deals
Official
Online
Rewards
Services
Superlative
NoVar
Credit Cards ad performance heatmap ̶ All devices
Credit Cards: Top word combos
Mobile
TITLE DESCRIPTION
NoVar Superlative
Brand Bad Credit
% %
Call to Action Rewards
Brand Offers/Deals
Tablet
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Rewards Brand
Services Best
NoVar Superlative
Rewards Superlative
Brand Best
PC
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Offers/Deals Best
Offers/Deals Interest Rate
NoVar Superlative
Brand Best
Online Online
The only term that gets
high response on all
devices, in both title
and description is the
brand name of the
credit card issuer.
Insights by device
PC users are
comparing and looking
for the best credit card
situation, responding
to words like
“offers/deals”, “best”
and “interest rate.”
Mobile users respond
to a variety of words
across a range of
intent, including “bad
credit”, “%”, “rewards”
and “offers/deals”.
Tablet users appear
open to possibility and
non-specific in their
intent, responsive to a
range of superlatives
like “best”, and “top”.
Ad
title
Ad description
Insufficient dataGreat Good Poor
Bra
nd
Bu
reau
Call T
o A
ctio
n
Cre
dit
Sco
re
Off
ers
/Deals
Off
icia
l
On
lin
e
Para
m
Rep
ort
Secu
re
Tria
l
No
Var
Brand
Bureau
Call To Action
Credit Score
Now
Offers/Deals
Official
Online
Param
Report
Secure
Services
NoVar
Credit Reporting ad performance heatmap ̶ All devices
Credit Reporting: Top word combos
Mobile
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Call to Action Param
Param Call to Action
Param Credit Score
Param Param
Report Param
Tablet
TITLE DESCRIPTION
NoVar Offers/Deals
Report Trial
Services Call to Action
Call to Action Trial
Param Call to Action
PC
TITLE DESCRIPTION
Call to Action NoVar
Report Trial
Param Call to Action
Param Credit Score
Param Report
Across the board, on
PC, Mobile and Tablet,
the end result of a
search for credit
reporting is the same,
so similar terms are
effective for every
device.
Insights by device
PC users respond to
the [PARAM] insertion,
and this likely works so
well in this category
because the range of
relevant terms is so
narrow.
Mobile users respond
most significantly to a
call to action in the
title, which matches the
immediacy of the
mobile environment.
Tablet users are
unique in responding
to “offers/deals” in the
description of credit
reporting ads.
Microsoft Confidential
Before you pour this awesome info into your search ads, consider
three important things:
ONE Test. Then test again. Test some more.
Testing is critical to understanding your ad copy performance across devices, categories and time periods.
Microsoft Confidential
TWO Use ad extensions like location and call.
Understand the value of Sitelink lift and the impact it could have on an entire account. Implement and spread to all your ads.
Microsoft Confidential
THREE Scale your execution to all your ads.
Develop a framework for understanding the clickability of your ads and executing top performers on a large scale.
Microsoft Confidential
Details on word choice
Due to the large number of ads analyzed and the significant number of words/phrases surfaced, phrases and words analyzed were sometimes bucketed.
“Superlative” includes words such as “best” and “top”.
“Services” includes words such as “ATM”, “checking”, and “merchant
services”.
Others could be synonyms or same intent, e.g. “brand” includes all
major brands in the sub-vertical
Most buckets mirror the variation of the phrase itself, e.g. plurals,
different tense, etc.
