Free word-list search ad: CTR 1.1% to 5.8%, but cost per trial rose
Commentary byLiftArchiveOur analysis, not theirsA tiny search ad offering free Dolch sight word lists got about five times the click-through rate of the standard product ad (5.8% vs 1.1%), but each trial download cost more (about 43 cents vs 32 cents).
Patrick McKenzie ran this AdWords test for Bingo Card Creator and wrote it up on the Kalzumeus (patio11) blog.
We mark it as lost because the goal was cheap trials, though the author was happy with the result for a new ad.
- Click-through rate: about 1.1% to about 5.8%. The free offer drew far more clicks from the same keywords.
- Conversion to trial download: 22% to 14%. Many people who clicked wanted the free lists, not the software.
- Cost per trial: about 32 cents to about 43 cents. Negative on the metric that mattered most, so we mark it lost.
- Total spend to learn all this was under $5 over about a week, so the numbers are very small.
Control
A standard ad pitching the bingo software as a time saver for teachers, sent to a bingo landing page. It had been tuned for about a month and ran at about 1.1% CTR, 22% conversion and roughly 32 cents per trial.
Variant
A very short ad that just offered free Dolch sight word lists, sent to a simple resource page with the lists. That page then invited teachers to try playing bingo with them.
Why it likely lost
Our reading of the result, not the practitioner's claim.
- A free, useful resource is a stronger hook than a product pitch, and a short ad stands out next to ads that use every character.
- The ad attracted people looking for the free resource, so fewer of them wanted the paid product.
- The landing page was a quick resource page with a soft pitch, not a page built to convert.
Caveats: Tiny sample: about one week and under $5 in total spend, in 2006. The variant also used a different landing page, and Bingo Card Creator was downloadable desktop software at the time, not SaaS.
Who ran it
Patrick McKenzie ran this test and published the results (Kalzumeus (patio11) blog). The numbers are theirs; the summary and commentary on this page are ours.
Read the original case study on Patrick McKenzie →
How to run this test on your site
- Hypothesis
- If we offer a free resource our audience already searches for in a search ad, then click-through rate will rise enough to lower cost per trial because more of the same searchers will click.
- Primary metric
- Cost per trial sign-up
- Guardrails
- Trial-to-paid conversion
- Landing page conversion rate
- Total ad spend
- Who should test it
- SaaS and lead-gen businesses whose buyers search for free templates, lists or tools tied to the product. It probably won't pay off if the free resource attracts people who will never need the paid product.
Questions
Do free-resource ads lower cost per lead?
Not always. In this test the free offer raised click-through rate about fivefold, but fewer clickers converted, so each trial cost more.
Is a higher click-through rate always better in search ads?
No. Judge ads on cost per trial or sale, not clicks.
Extra clicks from people who don't want the product can raise your costs.
What should the landing page do after a free-resource ad?
Deliver the resource right away, then show clearly how the product helps people use it.
A weak follow-up pitch was likely part of why conversion dropped here.