Improve the click-through rate for your PPC advertising copy by following the recommendaitons in this blog post from www.marketingwhiteboard.com

1. 12/21/2014 PrintFriendly.com: Print web pages, create PDFs
http://www.printfriendly.com/print/?source=site&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marketingwhiteboard.com%2F2014%2F12%2F17%2Fhave­the­right­focus­and­fit… 1/2
Have the Right “Focus” and “Fit” in Your PPC Advertising
Copy If You Want to Achieve Higher Click Through Rates
marketingwhiteboard.com/2014/12/17/have­the­right­focus­and­fit­in­your­ppc­advertising­copy­if­you­want­to­
achieve­higher­click­through­rates/
A recent article published in the Journal of Consumer Marketing* offers an interesting advertising idea for your PPC
campaigns. The article reported the results of an experiment involving Google Adwords and 4540 consumers. The
research examined the impact of consumers’ regulatory focus on click through rates. Regulatory focus refers to the
nature of a consumer’s goal when purchasing a product. Consumers are “promotion” focused when they purchase
products that enable them to improve their current situation (e.g., educational products) while consumers are
“prevention” focused when they purchase products in order to protect their current situation (e.g., insurance
products) .
The research classified consumers’ keywords as focusing on promotion (e.g., “fix” and “improve”) or prevention (e.g.,
“stop” and “prevent”) and found that the click through rate was higher for PPC advertisements when there was a
better fit between the regulatory focus of the keywords used by consumers and the regulatory focus of PPC
advertising copy.
Here are some implications of the research for PPC adervertising:
1) Take into consideration the regulatory focus of your target market when creating PPC advertising copy.
Does your target market use keywords more indicative of trying to improve their current situation or secure their
present situation? Knowing the regulatory focus associated with the keywords consumers use when searching for
your product will help you better understand the regulatory focus that you should emphasize when creating PPC
advertising copy for the product.
2) Incorporate regulatory focus into your PPC strategy.
Your target market for a product may consist of both promotion and prevention focused consumers. For example,
some consumers may buy a video camera to preserve family memories (i.e., prevention focus) while other
consumers may buy it to grow their business (i.e., promotion focus). You need to ensure that your PPC strategy
takes into account differences in the regulatory focus of your target market and presents them with advertising copy
that fits their purchasing goals.
3) Consider the regulatory focus of the product if you’re launching a new product.
If you’re advertising a new product and don’t have a history of keywords to analyze in determining the regulatory
focus for your advertising copy, study the nature of your product because it can help you anticipate the regulatory
focus of your target market. Some products are more strongly associated with a prevention focus on safety and
security like fire alarms while other products are more strongly associated with promoting the achievement of
consumers’ hopes and aspirations like a luxury watch. Use this knowledge to create advertising copy but refine the
copy as you start to build a history of actual keyword usage by your target market.
PS: Interested in knowing your own regulatory focus? If so, take the questionnaire located at the website operated
by E. Tory Huggins at Columbia University. Professor Huggins has been instrumental in the development
of regulatory focus theory. You can find the questionnaire and scoring instructions at the following website,
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/psychology/higgins/measures.html#rfq

2. 12/21/2014 PrintFriendly.com: Print web pages, create PDFs
http://www.printfriendly.com/print/?source=site&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marketingwhiteboard.com%2F2014%2F12%2F17%2Fhave­the­right­focus­and­fit… 2/2
Please share this article with a friend or colleague who may find it helpful!
*Mowle, Elyse N., Emily J. Georgia, Emily J., Briand D. Doss, and John Updegraff (2014), “Application of Regulatory
Focus Theory to Search Advertising,” Journal of Consumer Marketing, 31(6/7), 494­502.
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Google+