Pre-launch: split-testing your thumbnail
Posted: Sat Apr 05, 2014 1:38 pm
Reading some of the other threads here, I thought I would share some ideas for finding your best thumbnail and intro text, particularly if you're starting a larger project.
If you're only aiming on raising very little money, say, under $1000, this may not be worth it. But if you're raising larger amounts, consider doing this:
Before you start your project, say a week or two before, head to Facebook.
I'm assuming that you have either a Facebook page, or a website, that you can promote before the actual project. Just create a basic page/post on either, that tells the basic stuff about your future project, it's not super important.
Then set up an ad campaign on Facebook. It's pretty easy and straight forward, and even with no ad experience, you should be able to figure it out in an hour or two at most, I'd say. Set it up to pay per click, if possible, not ppm (paying per 1000 views).
When setting it up, be sure to create a target group that you think, roughly, equals that of people on Kickstarter. For instance, you can target people that have liked Kickstarter, Indigogo, crowdfunding, and so forth.
Now, on this campaign, you can test our several different texts and images. Create, say, 5 or 10 different thumbnails that you would otherwise use for your Kickstarter campaign, and instead use each one for the same ad in Facebook. You might also want to create different text snippits, but if you do, remember that you need to test out each text snippit for each thumbnail - otherwise, you won't know if a certain ad is doing better because of the text, or because of the image, or because of the combination of both.
Set your max bid very low - as low as you can get away with, and still get views on your ads, and then just let it run for a week. It shouldn't cost you more than $50-$100.
After that, you now have wonderful statistics provided by Facebook, that will show the average CTR (click-though-ratio) on each ad. Aka, if 1000 people see it, how many of those people are going to click it.
If you're planning a larger project, this could potentially be great knowledge for you! And that's all
If you're only aiming on raising very little money, say, under $1000, this may not be worth it. But if you're raising larger amounts, consider doing this:
Before you start your project, say a week or two before, head to Facebook.
I'm assuming that you have either a Facebook page, or a website, that you can promote before the actual project. Just create a basic page/post on either, that tells the basic stuff about your future project, it's not super important.
Then set up an ad campaign on Facebook. It's pretty easy and straight forward, and even with no ad experience, you should be able to figure it out in an hour or two at most, I'd say. Set it up to pay per click, if possible, not ppm (paying per 1000 views).
When setting it up, be sure to create a target group that you think, roughly, equals that of people on Kickstarter. For instance, you can target people that have liked Kickstarter, Indigogo, crowdfunding, and so forth.
Now, on this campaign, you can test our several different texts and images. Create, say, 5 or 10 different thumbnails that you would otherwise use for your Kickstarter campaign, and instead use each one for the same ad in Facebook. You might also want to create different text snippits, but if you do, remember that you need to test out each text snippit for each thumbnail - otherwise, you won't know if a certain ad is doing better because of the text, or because of the image, or because of the combination of both.
Set your max bid very low - as low as you can get away with, and still get views on your ads, and then just let it run for a week. It shouldn't cost you more than $50-$100.
After that, you now have wonderful statistics provided by Facebook, that will show the average CTR (click-though-ratio) on each ad. Aka, if 1000 people see it, how many of those people are going to click it.
If you're planning a larger project, this could potentially be great knowledge for you! And that's all