Defining Creative Testing Once and For All

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Since writing a lot more about creative testing, I have seen some opposition towards creative testing. I reached out to those people to go deeper on their perspective. What I realized is that the definitions are all over the place as well as standards.

This was a huge aha moment for me to see that we need to define what we are even talking about... or arguing about if we want fruitful conversations.

So this is my stab at defining creative testing and then going into what is a good test versus a wasted test.

Four stages of creative testing

When it comes to testing there are levels to testing. I will start at the top and move down to granular stages.

First stage is product

You can't have an ad without product.

A new product is a test for your brand.

This could be a whole new SKU all together or it could be a limited drop of something.

Either way, you are validating if this new product is good for the business.

Second stage is ad angle

You are testing out a new idea completely for a product.

The product does not have to be new, it can be for the product you have already validated.

You are trying to see if an angle or ad idea can sell this product.

For example, let's say your brand has never done founder ads but then you want to do founder ads. This is testing this ad angle - Do founder angle videos work with this audience?

Another example is if you have a food product and you want to do blind taste testing as an ad. You are trying to validate if doing blind taste testing videos will help sell product more than your other ads currently.

The third stage is ad section

Typically you see people testing the hook also known as the first three seconds of a video. You might change out the three seconds but have the same ad after. You are trying to see what hook section is best with the rest of the ad unit to find the winning ad.

You could also think about adding in a section to an ad like a testimonials section at the end of an ad to extend it.

The goal is not to change the idea or angle, but to enhance or optimize this ad angle.

The fourth stage is ad details

This would be changing nothing in an ad except some design aspect.

For example, you could test the captions being blue instead of white. You would be comparing if white captions are better than blue captions.

What stage of tests should you do?

When I talk about creative strategy, I think many people think I am talking about the last stage which is ad detail, but I am exclusively talking about stage 2 and 3 which is ad angle and ad sections. I think most ad creative people are talking about section 2 and 3 but others from outside have not understood this because nothing has no been defined until now.

I have talked about how merchandising can supercharge your ad account and your business. Stage 1 is huge, you should be test products and SKUs.

My work is not in product development, so I can't speak to it, but I will recognize this as the first stage of creative testing in your ad account. This test doesn't happen frequently unless you have scaled to high 8 or 9 figures where product development is a strategy. For most brands, this test is not easy to do.

Stage 2 is where everyone can play and I think should focus on. You always want to find new, fresh ways to talk about your product and ultimately sell your product.

I think many people will agree to test angles - what I don't understand from people is what happens after.

You do an ad angle. Let's say it kind of works, but not great - do you just toss the whole idea out? Some say yes.

I think that is too soon to make a decision.

This is where stage 3 comes in.

You should dissect the ad with data - if you don't know how to do that, you can read my guide here. By looking at the data, you could identify a few iterations of this ad angle to see if you make those changes, will the ad improve and ultimately validate the test in stage 2, the ad angle.

I have seen many times an ad angle be great after a few tweaks on copy and format. If I just took it based of the first pass and never entered stage 3, I would have tossed a good idea out. Stage 2 and 3 testing can work together to help you validate the tests.

Now, what I will say is that if you are iterating 10 times off an ad, that angle just might not be working and you have to decide on moving to a new stage 2 test versus trying to get this ad angle to work. You can't do infinite testing and iterating - you have to be able to make changes, see results, or move on.

Personally, we don't iterate more than a few times before we call it quits on an ad angle. There are times when you can iterate more on something but usually it becomes a new idea at that point so I would consider that a new stage 2 test versus stage 3 test.

Once you have a winning product, ad angle, and ad sections, I guess you can test details like color differences. Personally, I believe these test are futile and not worth it. Many people are doing stage 4 tests instead of stage 2 and 3 tests which is the issue.

If your ad creative person is telling you that the ad didn't work because of the color of captions - run.

Psychology and copywriting are the foundation of why an ad works.

You could try to optimize for best performance by doing a stage 4 test, but the gains are minimal. I would rather keep that ad angle running with the best ad sections in place, and then just go on to a new ad angle to try and beat it. Brands have to be taking bigger swings, not focused on color type of captions.

Benchmarks for your ad account

The thing is that you can be testing many different stage 2 ad angles at the same time. You should always be doing some net new ideas and optimizing ads each month.

I believe you should test on the ad angle stage more, but this requires more resources and time which is why I think many shy away from doing it. It is easier to do the 30th version of a static than a new video, but the brands succeeding are the ones who are willing to be bold and test new ideas monthly.

Before you go and make new ads, let’s diagnose your account.

Look at all of the ads from the last 6 months.

• How many were for new products or SKUs?

• How many were new angles versus level 3 iterations?

• Did you have level 4 iterations?

I would love to see:

Level 1 ~ 10%
Level 2 ~ 50%
Level 3 ~ 35%
Level 4 ~ 5%

The size and industry of your brand will affect new SKUs but these numbers are good general benchmarks to start with and review your account.

You can start to see where you might want to adjust. My assumption is that most have not done enough new ideas in level 2.

If you need help understanding data I wrote a whole newsletter on this you can read here.

If you need help with new ideas, I suggest going back to studying your customer. I have an article to walk you through our process on customer research and ideation here.

I am genuinely so excited that we are defining creative strategy more for the modern age of advertising.

Great conversations are happening but without definitions, miscommunication can happen or even confusion.

This newsletter is my attempt to help us understand creative testing a little better.

Was this helpful? Let me know by replying!

I will see you next week.

Until then, keep creating!

Matthew Gattozzi

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