Do you go about your ad creation blindly? Honestly, I used to just make groups of ads, disregarding a control variable and causing myself to not only lose money, but leave plenty of money on the table as well.

I have recently spent A LOT of time and money investigating different variables that may influence ad click-through-rate, specifically using Facebook Ads. What I found has helped turn losing campaigns into winners, and has made me more money as a result.

I compared ad title length to click-through-rate using Facebook Ads.

Facebook Ad Title Length in Comparison to Click-Through-Rate

Since you are limited to a 25 character title, I compared 1 line vs. 2 line titles.

The title does change and may include more information as a result of increasing the length, but on certain campaigns that isn’t always the case. Regardless, I feel like this was a successful study.

The Overall Numbers

For the purposes of this case study, each campaign was a different niche, different demographic, and different offer.

Campaigns: 4
Ads: 8
1 Line Ads: 4
2 Line Ads: 4
Average 1 Line Ad CTR: .162
Average 2 Line Ad CTR: .206
Total Impressions: 40,000,000

I will break it down even further, to a campaign level, and explain why I believe I had the results I did.

Campaign 1

Campaign 1 contained 2 ads – One ad with a 1 line title, and one ad with a 2 line title.

1 Line Title
Impressions: 1.4M
CTR: .31%

2 Line Title
Impressions: 1.3M
CTR: .35%

This specific campaign was a younger demographic, and relatively targeted. While the 2 line title did not blow the 1 line title ad out of the water, .04% of 1.3M impressions is an extra 500+ clicks, at the same cost (bidding CPM).

The other reason why the 2 line title might have performed better, is because I engaged the users a little more with the 2 line title.

Campaign 2

Campaign 2 contained 2 ads – One ad with a 1 line title, and one ad with a 2 line title.

1 Line Title
Impressions: 3.2M
CTR: .17%

2 Line Title
Impressions: 1.5M
CTR: .14%

This campaign was widely targeted (all ages) but used keywords as well. This was the only campaign in this case study where the 1 line ad outperformed the 2 line ad.

I think this happened because the 2 line ad was engaging, yes, but not as eye catching as the 1 line ad. I used special characters in the 1 line ad which probably caused the higher CTR.

Campaign 3

Campaign 3 contained 2 ads – One ad with a 1 line title, and one ad with a 2 line title.

1 Line Title
Impressions: 7.5M
CTR: .16%

2 Line Title
Impressions: 6.0M
CTR: .21%

This was another keyword targeted campaign, but it was to a younger audience (under 35).

Similar to the first campaign, I was engaging the viewers with the 2 line title instead of simply telling them what they were about to click on. In the end, it definitely paid off

Campaign 4

Campaign 4 contained 2 ads – One ad with a 1 line title, and one ad with a 2 line title.

1 Line Title
Impressions: 12.3M
CTR: .17%

2 Line Title
Impressions: 6.7M
CTR: .33%

This campaign produced the strongest results. Notice the lesser impressions on the 2 line ad, but the CTR on both ads was pretty steady throughout. This campaign was an older demographic, with no keyword targeting.

The most interesting point about this campaign was that both the 1 line and 2 line ads were engaging to the users. This was the main campaign that brought up the idea of comparing ad title length related to CTR, and I believe this case study was a success.

To take it a step further, I also noticed higher CTR and conversions (more money in your pocket) using the following tactics on Facebook Ads.

Extremely Short Ad Titles

Using very short titles like this will do the following:

- Make the picture stand out more
- Make you more money if you do have it targeted well
- Will induce more curiosity clicks
- Force more creativity in the ad body
- Lose you money if you do not have it targeted well

One of the largest volume, and most profitable ads I ran on Facebook used this tactic. If you have any experience with Facebook Ads though, you realize that it might take 5, 10, or 500 submissions of the exact same ad to make it profitable. Be persistent, but be smart. Give it a try!

Another great tactic I have used (to some success) is what I call the ‘stacked’ title.

Stacked Ad Titles

This tactic does the following:

- Gives your ad more total ‘real estate’
- Can drastically increase CTR
- Allow for a short ad body
- Creates a visual trail for viewers
- Takes practice to be effective

As was the nature of this case study, I definitely believe in 2 line ad titles and think they can be very effective when trying to increase click-through-rates. Another thing I noticed using this tactic, is that you can engage your users an incredible amount up front if you include enough information about the offer and/or the solution to their problem. If you simply slap a few long words together and think you will make profit though, you will be very long. Finding the right combination using this tactic does take time, but in the long run, will make you more money.

Concluding Remarks

If you have been doing Internet marketing for any amount of time, you have heard this more times than you can count, but that also means you appreciate the importance of the following statement:

Test EVERYTHING