Understanding The Emotional Science Behind PPC Advertisements

Chad Faith
Chad Faith

Director of Content

Understanding The Emotional Science Behind PPC Advertisements

Have you just created a brand new website and taking the initial steps to establishing your online presence? Well, now that you have a website up and running, you are highly recommended to start finding ways to market your business. From SEO to social media marketing to internet marketing, one of the powerful options you can consider is creating and running PPC advertisements. PPC simply stands for pay-per-click and it is a well-known model of internet marketing that involves advertisers paying a fee each time one of their ads is clicked.

Already knew what PPC is? Alright, you are ready to take the next step, and that is to prevent it your ads from becoming ineffective. Yes, you must! While you are focused on the numbers – bounce rates, conversions, bids, impressions, you must not forget to tap on the right side of our brains. You should also leverage on subjectivity, emotion and intuition. This is because when you use emotional ads, you can significantly improve your PPC campaigns.

PPC Advertisement Emotion #1: Fear

Let’s imagine that you specialize in screening services for a certain medical condition. An ad like: X Condition Screening | Early Detection Can Save One’s Life. | Find Your Nearest Screening Centre Today | [Insert website link here] is simply not compelling because certain parts have been repeated elsewhere so many times. Some viewers may still take action, but you do not want your message to become too much of a cliché. What you can do is to mention that only a small percentage of individuals could live an additional X amount of years with late detection. So the reader should take action NOW. It’s just an example so, well you get the point.

PPC Advertisement Emotion #2: Affirmation

The persona you are recommended to take on here is like the feel-good friend. You may want to have three ads running simultaneously. The first one could be something generic (as long as it has a good click-through rate, you do not have to play around with it too much), another ad focused on flattering the user, and finally one more that hits users with a one-two punch of promotional details and flattery. The goal here is to make your viewers feel good about themselves and let them know that there is a sale happening at the same time (if you are selling, say clothing).

PPC Advertisement Emotion #3: Disgust

The emotion of this particular ad copy should convey the emotion of disgust. But take heart that it’s possible to take on the persona of the comedian. Let’s say you are doing an PPC ad for weight loss solutions. You can create something that is funny, but also somewhat controversial. For example, an image of someone’s potbelly on one side and the accompaniment of a message that says, “Size Does Matter” on the other side. This type of ad has been observed to resonate well among men. You need to avoid creating ads that are boring, generic and not eye-catching. The ad must command attention!

PPC Advertisement Emotion #4: Anger

Ads that convey the emotion of anger often capitalize on the searcher’s feelings. This is important especially if you want to increase the click-through rates (CTR) of your advertisements. One of the most common types of professionals to ride on such ads include divorce lawyers and disability claims lawyers. They tend to use a sort of language that is along the lines of saying, “Hey that money is mine, and I want it now!” They do that through a process of asking who/what does the searcher love and/or who they hate. These ads awaken the hidden anger within searchers to have the desire to take action.

Of course, the emotions you can tap on are not restricted only to these four mentioned in this post. Try to focus on your products and services, and then think of the emotion you should readily target. That way, you will be making the most of emotional science for your PPC advertisements.