12 Click Worthy Ad Copy Examples
Ed Jones
21 February 2022
20min
read
Want to know the easiest way to transform your paid advertising campaign into a conversion-making beast? Impactful ad copy.
While it might seem a little too simple, a couple of words could mean all the difference between your ad becoming the click-crazy machine it deserves to be or one that gets ignored by everyone entirely.
By taking the time to meticulously craft persuasive, enticing, and meaningful ad copy, you’ll be rewarded with a paid advertising campaign that will drive more conversions than ever before.
Ready to learn how to get more clicks on ads? Great! Let’s start with the basics first.
What is ad copy?
Ad copy is the written portion of any advertisement you see online or in real life including the headline, body text, and call to action. When combined together, this forms the foundation of your advertisement.
While other elements such as graphics, sound, and even the platform you choose to place your ads are essential for success, effective ad copy can often be the main trigger that causes your target audience to click again and again.
How to write ad copy that gets more clicks
1. Define your target audience
Before we even begin writing up your ad copy, we need to first outline the target audience of your product or service. Nothing is worse than spending hours building an ad, only for the wrong people to click through that will never convert.
If you’re already thinking about creating ads for your business, then this process should be fairly straightforward. Regardless, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- How old are your target customers?
- Where do they generally live?
- What kind of interests and hobbies do they have?
- What kind of jobs do they have?
- What pain points do they have that your product or service can solve?
2. Identify your unique selling point (USP)
What makes your product or service stand out amongst the crowd? That’s your unique selling point.
You don’t want to be “just another company selling x”, so once you figure out your company’s USP, display it loud and proud on your ad copy. Every second counts, and with your USP placed front and center, prospective customers can immediately tell what makes you stand apart and can be the difference between your ad being clicked through first over your competitor.
3. Create an impactful headline
First impressions matter, and an eye-catching headline can make or break your advertisement. Every second counts, and with attention spans growing shorter and shorter, you need to write a headline that can immediately hook potential customers in.
Push your USP, connect with the potential customer through emotional triggers (more on this in a moment), highlight the benefits of your product or service, these can all draw in the interest of your target audience! Pair your strong headline with similarly constructed body text, and you’ll have an ad that gets clicks and drives conversion in no time.
4. Incorporate emotional triggers
Emotions can often become a major factor in the decision-making process for most people. Whether it’s a negative emotion such as guilt, anger, and fear or feelings such as exclusivity, anticipation, and belonging, these can become powerful motivators when deciding which product or service to choose first.
With that in mind, why not use those emotions for your own benefit?
When a potential customer reads your ad and has an emotional response, they will more than likely click-thru to your landing page. While a great statistic can help bolster trust, emotional triggers can help give people that final push that gets them onto your business website or store.
5. Drum up a little FOMO
You’ve probably seen this a couple of times online, on print or in-person, but it’s a tried and true strategy that always brings in the results.
The fear of missing out is a powerful tool that plays on the idea that if the customer doesn’t buy now, this limited-time offer will go away and may never come back. “Ends Today”, “Only Two Left in Stock”, “Limited availability” these phrases, naturally, play on the consumer’s mind. Curiosity often wins, and the person will click to see what the limited time offer is all about. Success!
6. Keep track of your keywords
When working on a pay per click platform such as Google Ads, it’s essential to keep track of the keywords that you include in your advertising copy. Search platforms like Google often rely on the keywords you provide in the copy to show the most relevant ads to their users. As such, incorporating a keyword of a search term often typed in by users can lead to fantastic results.
But beware! You can’t just stuff in as many keywords into your ad as possible and hope for the best. This is because of a little thing called Quality Score.
In essence, this is a metric used by Google that determines the relevance and quality of your ad. The lower the Quality Score, the lower your chances of the advertisement being seen by a potential customer and how long it takes for your Adwords campaign to show results. As you might suspect keyword stuffing is something that Google punishes you for, so write in keywords, but do so with plenty of care.
7. Finish up with a powerful call to action
For a call to action, it’s important here to keep it simple with a clear and concise message that encourages them to learn more about your business’ product or service. Not everyone will read the body content of your ad copy, those who do read the headline will generally also look at your CTA. A simple “Buy” or “Shop” might seem to do the trick, good ad copy takes this one step further by describing what you want the readers to do.
Are they signing up for a newsletter? “Sign Up For Free” could do the trick. Is there a free trial involved? “Grab Your Free Trial” might be what you need. For more help and examples, be sure to check out our guide on click-worthy call to actions.
Ad copy examples and lessons
Now that you’ve read up on the key steps for writing ad copy in an effective way, let’s dive into some examples highlighting previously mentioned techniques as well as new strategies.
Search (Google Ads)
Building a successful ad on search platforms such as Google or Bing almost entirely relies on compelling ad copy. With no imagery available (not including Google Shopping), good ad copy is all that stands between you and a conversion. So, let’s see some ad copy examples on search and how each business pulls potential customers in!
Ad Copy Example 1: Tokyo Accommodation
First and foremost, the search ad listed here leads with one major keyword in their headline – “Accommodation in Tokyo”. As you might also spot, this is additionally reinforced in the body text of the ad. This helps outline to the potential customer the services they’ll receive upon going into their website, further reinforced with their USP of “Search, Compare & Save”.
Trivago also has the benefit of multiple Google Ad extensions, with sitelinks that help call out to customers looking for specific types of accommodation such as 4-Star Hotels or Apartments. It even has a smaller sitelink for Luxury Hotels that targets people searching for value with a mention that every listing on their landing page is only up to $200 per day in cost.
With a clear definition of their USP and their offering as well as additional options for specific audiences, this ad can reach and gain the widest net of potential customers possible.
Ad Copy Example 2: Car Insurance
Forgive the pun, but let’s compare the pair of examples. Both ads start off with their target keyword “Compare Car Insurance”, but the similarities stop there.
Budget Direct is centerd almost entirely around the emotional trigger of trust, and that’s clearly shown throughout the ad copy. The headline mentions how their brand is “Insurer of the Year 2021”. The body text then reinforces this by listing every year it’s won that same award – five years in a row! To cap it all off, the final sitelink also repeats the same term again.
The main takeaway from this ad copy? This company is the undisputed best car insurer there is. It definitely worked on me!
Compare the Market plays on the emotional trigger of anger as well as the pain point of feeling cheated by their current insurer. “Renewal Shock” and “Find a Better Deal” are simple phrases that immediately connect to customers that feel deceived by their insurance company and are searching for more affordable alternatives. It then outlines the benefits and value of using their services by mentioning how much they can save.
As opposed to focusing on trust, Compare the Market’s ad copy is all about how their brand can secure you major cost savings.
Display
While Google Ads relies entirely on clear copy, display marketing has the benefit of additional visual elements that can help your brand stand out on the screen. But while an aesthetic design and a beautifully designed product can go a long way, the ad copy itself is often the deciding factor that encourages your target audience to visit your sales page. Let’s dive in and find out how display advertising uses a couple of impactful words to drive conversions.
Ad Copy Example 3: Voly
Less is more, and Voly uses this mantra to create ad copy with a message that goes straight to the point: Want this specific product whenever you need it? Then use Voly.
By mentioning “in mins”, the company subtly highlights a key benefit of their service: speed of delivery. Furthermore, with a call to action of “Get the app”, the copy tells the customer that the only way to receive this product quickly is through their service.
Ad Copy Example 4: Youi
While Voly uses one message to convey one clear message, Youi uses their ad copy to tell a short-but-effective story about Marilena – their targeted audience. The first part defines their target market – people who work at home. It then tells the reader how much Marilena saved using their service. Finishing up, the ad copy then encourages the reader to find out their own potential savings alongside a call to action to “Start a quote”.
The ad copy works as it takes the time to outline both who their target market is and a benefit of choosing Youi – massive savings. What’s more, by ending the ad copy with “find out how much you could save”, it motivates the user to click the ad and discover how much they themselves could save with the brand.
Ad Copy Example 5: Skyscanner
Three powerful words might be all the ad copy needs to elicit an emotional response, and Skyscanner uses theirs to great effect.
“Where to next?” paired with an image of an aeroplane wing immediately creates inspiration for the reader to hop on a flight and travel the globe. Stuck on where to go? Skyscanner offers the solution in the very ad itself, with four listings of potential flight destinations alongside the lowest price.
By playing on the customer’s need for adventure and providing them with a selection of places to go, the customer can’t help but click through and find out if there’s a flight at the specified price for them!
Social media advertising can be an extremely powerful tool when used effectively, and the ad copy is an essential component that can mean the difference between a high or low conversion rate.
Whether you’re offering free trials, discounts on your service, or just want people to subscribe, it’s vital to have a solid understanding of how to write effective ad copy to avoid situations where the copy attracts the wrong type of people to your website. So, let’s see some ad copy examples to create the best Facebook ads that generate plenty of conversion grabbing clicks.
Ad Copy Example 6: The Guardian
The beauty of this ad is how it masterfully guides your eye from one point to the next.
Firstly, the main headline uses your sense of belonging that encourages you to subscribe. The ad then guides you down past an image of their website to their major selling point of the ad which is 50% off for three months.
Rather than using sell words, the ad copy in the caption and in the CTA below instead use words such as “support” and “protect” to play on feelings of compassion which then feed into their USP of “open access journalism”.
Ad Copy Example 7: Dharma Bums
The ad copy here is the perfect blend of FOMO (the fear of missing out) as well as product features and benefits. Not only does the reader clearly see how much they could save on a purchase, but they also gain a clear understanding of what the product is all about.
Comfortable to wear, great for the environment, and very affordable, the ad copy in a couple of sentences has built a social media marketing ad that is perfectly geared to sell products.
Ad Copy Example 8: My Muscle Chef
The ad copy written by My Muscle Chef goes straight into their product benefits, using words that appeal to their target audience. “Fresh”, “high-protein”, and “chef-created” are all keywords that directly resonate with customers who desire high-quality, ready-made meals.
What’s more, they build brand trust by outlining in their headline that they’re “Australia’s #1 Food Delivery Service”. Note that despite the company selling products, they instead focus on their delivery service, further highlighted by the underlining of the word. This subtly indicates to the user that this isn’t just a one-time purchase, it’s a delivery service that you’ll be using many times in the long term.
As an extra incentive, the ad copy then ends with a discount code. Rather than use a strong call to action like buy now or shop now, they instead opt for a softer “See Menu”, similar to one a restaurant might use. Using this CTA further reinforces the notion that they’re a food delivery service similar to Uber Eats or Deliveroo, not just a set of products.
While similar to Facebook marketing, Instagram ads tend to have a focus on having a stronger visual and audio impact. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that you can get lazy with the ad copy, as it still provides plenty of benefits – such as in the caption – to encourage clicks. So, let’s check out some ad copy examples below!
Ad Copy Example 9: Woolworths
This ad copy is all about highlighting pain points, in particular, the time you lose writing and preparing your grocery shopping list every week. Woolworths then smartly focuses on how their solution simplifies the process by providing you with the ability to plan your weekly shop based on what’s available to purchase and what’s on special.
Simple and straight to the point, this ad in moments (which is often all you have) tells the potential user what to expect and what they’ll gain by clicking on the ad.
Ad Copy Example 10: Domain
Domain’s ad copy aims to target your sense of exclusivity – the feeling of being in a club. Mentions of “members”, “off-market”, “before”, and of course “exclusive” tell the reader that this business has an offering better than any of the competitors.
The soft CTA of “Learn More” rather than tell you what to do or fill out a form, motivates you to click on the ad to discover more benefits and how to join this unique club.
As the social media platform built for the workplace, LinkedIn advertising has a distinct focus on furthering the readers’ career, whether it’s through useful insights or job openings. Let’s take a look at a few ad copy examples that highlight both types of ads.
Ad Copy Example 11: Shopify
Shopify employs the always effective emotion of urgency to push the reader to click on the LinkedIn ad. By immediately starting the caption with “every brand needs to read ” you force the reader to consider the information included in this e-book is essential for their own brand to succeed.
That bold statement is then bolstered by what the report features such as “expert advice” and “tips from big brands” which help build credibility. Plus, with the image copy mentioning that this annual report has “what’s trending in global commerce”, readers can’t help but “Learn more”!
Ad Copy Example 12: Intel
Rather than listing out some job requirements, the ad copy focuses entirely on the great things Intel employees get up to. Access to “new technology”, connecting with “the smartest people in the business”, creating “cutting-edge solutions”, these phrases inspire potential applicants to seriously consider Intel as the place their career can flourish. Plus, using collective words such as “we” and “us” help build on your sense of belonging.
Craft compelling ad copy that rakes in the conversions
At the end of the day, you know your customers best, so write ad copy that you know can connect with your target audience. While these ad copy examples can help build the foundations for your conversion-grabbing ads, it’s important to trust your gut when it feels right! Otherwise, you might end up with the same run-of-the-mill digital marketing ads just like everyone else.
Don’t forget that the work doesn’t stop once your ads go live. You’ll need to keep track of how your ad copy is fairing, and whether it’s encouraging readers to click-thru. Be sure to test like crazy, and soon you’ll have compelling copy that drives sales on all the platforms from Google Ads to Facebook and Instagram.
If you’re ever in need of additional assistance writing copy or with anything related to digital marketing for your product or service, we’re only a couple clicks or a phone call away.
