Which Ad Pulled Best?
August 12th, 2009 by Bob Bly
A bank was offering home equity loans through direct response newspaper ads.
They tested 2 ads with different themes:
A — “Fix up your dream home at a competitive rate.”
B — “Fix things around the house that are bugging you.”
One ad generated 41% more loan business than the other.
Which do you think was the winning ad — A or B? And why?
Source: “PitchPerfect Message Strategy” by Barry Callen (McGraw-Hill, 2009).
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August 12th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
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August 12th, 2009 at 4:52 pm
I’m going with B, Bob. It addresses the pain.
August 12th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
I too select B. I see the benefit in it.
August 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I say B.
My full-time job is selling credit card machines and processing services to local merchants. I tell you, you’d think “RATES” alone would be enough to sell someone. That’s not the case with most people.
A only addresses rates, but usually the hassle of switching over to another version of an existing product/service strips the benefit of cheaper rates.
August 12th, 2009 at 8:06 pm
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August 12th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
B. Real language, real emotion, real people. Proven formula.
August 12th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
B. No question. “Fix up your dream home”?! Why would I want to take out a loan to improve someone else’s already expensive house? I am tired of that leaky toilet and jacked-up screen door, though, and more tired of the wife nagging about them.
August 12th, 2009 at 11:11 pm
Another vote for B. Suggests something that I might really want to do.
A is telling me right up front to borrow money. So that’s a turn off. And “competitive rate” is a meaningless claim. Except that it makes clear they’re not offering the lowest or best rate. I guess it does have meaning after all!
August 12th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Why do I think this is a trick question? Honestly, though, neither headline sounds all that appealing. (But I’m not in the copywriting business, so what do I know?)
The first one’s “fix up your dream home” sounds like an oxymoron. If it’s my dream home, then why would I need to fix it up? And that “competitive rate” part might as well be replaced by “blah blah blah” because it’s not talking to me.
With the second headline, just because something around the house is “bugging me” doesn’t mean I’m willing to take out a loan to spruce it up. Heck, if I lived this long with the problem, then it’s probably something I can live with until I have the repair money saved.
August 13th, 2009 at 1:59 am
I go with A. This adresses people that are ready to fix the things but need the last trigger. If the headline used something more sexy than “competetive rate” it would probably have done even more better.
I am no native english speaker but i think things that just “bug” you, are small issues. If so, they are not a money-issue but a “get your but out of the seat”-issue. So, that ad does not pull for loans.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:36 am
I’d have to say B. It promises to relieve the annoyances that are bothering you.
August 13th, 2009 at 2:49 am
I really don’t know.
But A. almost doesn’t make sense to me. Wouldn’t your dream home already be fixed up? Wouldn’t that be the usual circumstance for a dream home you’re about to buy?
Yet… fixing things around a house which you already own seems more widely applicable and thus may create more response.
August 13th, 2009 at 3:07 am
@Bamboo A says: You once bought a house and it was your dream home then. Now there was progress. The bathroom design is outdated, your kitchen-surface has scraches, the carpeting .. you name it. The function might be ok still but your home looks not like your dream anymore, doesn’t it? Why not take $20K and make it your dream again?
August 13th, 2009 at 3:48 am
For me goes B. It’s full of solution and I like it.
August 13th, 2009 at 7:10 am
At first sight ‘B’. But it is too obvious, isn’t it?
August 13th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Good job, guys: it was B.