Demand Curve - The Growth Newsletter #184

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The Growth Newsletter #184

Use the AIDA and 1,3,5+ Frameworks to optimize ads

Ads are an incredible way to burn money quickly.

Or they're the best and most scalable acquisition channel.

Let's dive into two frameworks to increase the chances it's the latter.

– Neal

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Use the AIDA and 1,3,5+ Frameworks to create and optimize ads

Insight from Bell Curve.

My favorite metric: Thumb stop rate.

A measure of how effectively your ads grab people’s attention (by getting their thumb to stop scrolling). But your ad needs to do far more than just get attention. It needs to build and convert intention.

To make sure our ads do that, let’s use two frameworks to create & optimize them:

1,3,5+ Framework

People have zero attention span on social media. You have to get your point across within seconds:

• 1-second mark: Stop the thumb with something visually striking.
  • Note: ~70% of users don’t have sound on. Ensure the visuals are all you need, but add audio to delight the 30%.
• 3-second mark: Get the point across and intrigue them to keep watching. They should know what the product does (and/or the problem it solves).
• 5-second mark: Assume they’re gone by now, so leave them with a clear understanding of the product and be motivated to take action.
• Beyond: Build upon the benefits, features, and social proof.

These principles apply to text and images as well. Hook with an interesting visual and opener. Get the point across quickly. Assume people are gone within seconds.

AIDA Framework

Next, let’s use the classic copywriting framework, AIDA, to create great ads:

#1. Attention: Does your ad grab people’s attention?

Use the thumb stop rate in Meta Ads to tell you if your ad’s hook was enticing enough to get users to stop scrolling.

You need to enable this custom metric. Use a percentage format and calculate this as 3-second video plays divided by impressions.

Aim for at least 10%; the higher, the better. If <10%, improve the hook.

#2. Interest: Does your ad sustain people’s attention?

Again, this is most applicable to video and carousel ads because there are no good metrics for evaluating static image ads. Gauge people’s interest by looking at video average play time or carousel engagement.

Also, look at your video ads’ drop-off data to find out at what point users stop watching your video ad and adjust the video where the drop-off is steepest:

#3. Desire: Does your ad make users want to learn more?

Look at link clicks (or unique link clicks), Meta’s version of clickthrough rate (CTR). If the clicks are low, change the CTA or focus more on building purchase intent.

Note: Meta offers several different link types, which include clicks to your FB page and clicks on something other than your CTA. We recommend looking at link clicks specifically because it looks only at clicks on your CTA button.

#4. Action: Do users convert after seeing your ad?

The cost per result metric, Meta’s version of CPA, measures the amount spent per whatever conversion chosen for your ad objective. Examples include sign-up, purchase, or app installation.

Of course, you want this to be lower than the amount made from the conversion. It probably won’t be at first while you and Meta are learning what resonates, but the goal is to optimize it down to around ⅓ of the lifetime value (LTV) of a customer.

Some recommendations:

• If the CPA is too high, it could be the landing page, the targeting, or the ad.
• Continue the same message and “feel” from the ad onto the landing page.
• Craft the landing page to speak to the people you’re targeting in the ad.
• Tailor the conversion goal to the audience's warmth and your product's price.
  • If it’s inexpensive or a warm audience, go straight for sale.
  • If it’s expensive or a cold audience, try a lead magnet & nurture on email.
• Reduce friction by removing extra form fields and steps to convert.

Next steps

Obviously, there’s a lot to the process of spending money to get people to buy things they weren’t intending to buy today. These two frameworks help but there’s tons of nuance and expertise within it. Here are some resources:

• Check out 54 other ad tactics we’ve shared in this newsletter.
• Browse our Ad Vault for inspiration with 164 Meta Ads from top startups.
• Work with us, we’ll run the ads for you :)
• Read our 5-part TikTok Ads Guide.
• Read our popular Growth Guide to learn the full funnel.

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Something fun

Always shoot for inherently interesting:

How we can help you grow

• Read our free playbooks, articles, growth guide, and teardowns—we break down the strategies & tactics used by fast-growing startups.
• Enroll in the Growth Program, our marketing course that has helped 1,000+ founders get traction and scale revenue.
• Become UNIGNORABLE. Join the waitlist for the next cohort of our popular audience building course.
• Need help running ads? We’ve built the ads agency for startups.

• Looking for a growth freelancer or agency? We’ll match you with a vetted partner for free.

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Thanks, everyone! You're cool for reading this far down.

Neal O'Grady

Justin Setzer