When you are attracting digital customers, your eCommerce brand needs to use the most effective digital marketing and advertising strategies that you have in your ante. In 2021, display advertising is projected to grow at a rate of 18.5%, boosting the advertising effectiveness for ecommerce brands using them. Your display ads should present the most lucrative value propositions and entice customers to make a purchase instantaneously.
Contrary to popular belief, aside from the products that are displayed in the ads, aspects such as aesthetics and logical placement of the ad elements can sometimes make your advertisements more impactful. What’s more, even the most seasoned digital marketers have to face the brunt of ineffective advertisements, which is why you should avoid the following mistakes at all costs:
#1 Not using brand colors for advertisements
We can’t stress enough, the importance of using the right colors and aesthetics for your advertisements and the role they play in eliciting favorable responses from potential customers. If you are an independent ecommerce brand, trying to establish brand awareness while increasing your sales performance, using your brand colors within your ads should be at the top of your checklist. Your brand color and aesthetic form a strong part of your brand’s visual identity and help your customers distinguish your brands from others.
Using your brand colors to be in perfect contrast with your background can also bring your brand identity to the forefront. Take a look at this highly effective example:
#2 Ignoring the size requirement of various elements of the ad
One of the worst things that you can do to mar the effectiveness of an otherwise perfect display ad, is place mismatching elements on it. You can have the perfect copy and graphic for your ad, but if the CTA buttons are improperly sized, and your logo dominates the copy of the ad, let’s face it - your customers are probably not going to click on it.
Just take a look at this simple yet effective display ad by Apple. The key to a successful banner ad is to make your copy and design the hero of your advertisement, and then place a simple CTA button that accompanies your brand logo placed in a way that is visible but not too dominating.
#3 Creating a complicated design or copy
The popular KISS (Keep it Simple, Stupid) principle applies across verticals and applies to advertising, just as much as anything else. Your team can be full of smart and highly intelligent people waiting to show it in your advertisements, but that is a flawed approach. Firstly, your target audience will not relate to your content or design if it is too complicated, and secondly, well, nobody likes to feel dumb.
Keep your display ads as simple and straightforward as possible, so that potential customers immediately recognize the product, its benefit, and the prompt, which is, after all, the whole point of the advertisement.
#4 Improper Positioning of the ad elements
Many elements come together to form a unified and perfect-looking advertisement. While some elements might be more prominent than others, the positioning of each element matters in making your advertisement perfect for the goals you want to achieve with it. Improperly positioning the elements in your advertisements can be one of the gravest errors that you can make after working hard on creating the perfect design and copy for it.
Always keep your product/service at the forefront of your display ads, and a relevant copy that adds to the promotional aspect, not distract from it. Moreover, your CTA buttons should be right under your copy so that you can encourage users to take immediate action. The same rules that you follow when you create infographics will apply to the positioning of elements in your display ads - information first, logo after.
#5 Inserting too much text
Being wordy and using a lot of text does not translate to higher brand confidence, take our word for it. In fact, less is always more when you are creating display advertisements. Did you know that only 9% of display ads are viewed for more than a second? Moreover, only 4% of ads received 2 seconds of attention or engagement.
As an ecommerce brand, you know that your customers are likely to come across your ads mostly on their phones, where the attention spans are bound to be even lower. Hence, adding too much text in the advertisements will not make much of a difference in making it more impactful. Rather use short yet highly impactful copy that prompts users to take action on the advertisements.
Closing Thoughts
Display ads are some of the most effective means for ecommerce brands to get their customers’ attention. Remember that by working on the creativity of your display ads, you will optimizing the conversion rate and saving a ton of money which you can invest in other aspects like eCommerce fulfilment, procurement analysis, demand and supply research, customer support tools, etc.
They have a proven ability to convert potential leads into customers if properly designed and targeted. Moreover, by avoiding some of these common mistakes, and by using high-quality designs and copy, brands can create lasting impressions and awareness among their target audience.