Smart campaigns: Creating effective ads

Tips on making the content of your smart campaign's ads more eye-catching and enticing to potential customers.
Note

Not everyone has this feature yet. If you don't, don't worry—it's coming soon!

When you create a smart campaign, our AI will write an ad for you consisting of four pieces of text: two parts of an ad title, a description, and a website URL.

You should feel free to make changes to this text however you see fit. Here are some tips for making your ad stand out from all the others:

Do this:

  • Describe what sets your product apart. This is Advertising 101. Why do customers buy your product? Does it solve a problem? Does it help save time or money? Or, does it have unique features or qualities? For example, if your product is available in many more colors than the competition can offer, you might mention color choices in your ad.
  • Keep your ads relevant. Make sure you use your customers' most popular search phrases in your ad titles and text.
  • Use your customers' language. Think about the age group and gender of your typical audience, and then use that insight to write your ads. Use words and a writing tone that are likely to attract your typical customer.
  • Address your customers directly. Use the words "you" or "your" in your ads so that you are speaking directly to them. You know what we're talking about.
  • Pre-qualify your visitors. Use words in your ads that help attract true potential customers. For example, if you offer only high-end products, stay away from words like "discount", "bargain", and "cheap". Be clear in your ad who your products are for. This can save you money by eliminating clicks that are not likely to convert to sales.
  • Be specific. The clearer and more specific your offering, the better. For example, rather than "big discounts," specify an exact percentage, such as "50% off."
  • Include a call to action. Give customers a reason to click your ad right now. Offer a specific action they can take, such as requesting a brochure or consultation, downloading a free e-book, subscribing to a newsletter, or taking advantage of a limited-time discount.
  • List the price of your product or service. If your product or service is competitively priced, consider featuring the price in your ad. To help ensure that your ad gets approved, make sure that the ad links to a landing page that includes both the product (or service) and the price.

Don't do this:

  • Random capitalization. For example, "Find GREAT deals on sWiMsUiTs."
  • Excessive punctuation. For example, "Great deals on swimsuits!!!! 50% off all styles!!!"
  • Gimmicky spelling and jargon. For example, "Tell your friends to git their swimsuitz here."
  • Misleading customers in your ad or landing page. For example, "All items 20% off" when only some of the items on the landing page URL you're linking to are 20% off.

See what works and then adapt your ads

After you've created one or more ads, let them run for a few weeks and then check how your campaign is performing. At this point, you might try adjusting your ad text to see how that affects your performance. Experiment until you find that sweet spot!

Automated text ads for search

Automated text ads are ads that we create for you using Microsoft artificial intelligence (AI) to help optimize your search advertising campaigns to target the customers you want. Microsoft AI will build text ads for your campaigns using:

  • Your business information
  • Your website
  • Text ads that you create

We'll run both automated text ads and the text ads that you've created. If some of the ads consistently perform better, those ads will run more often over time.

Note

You cannot edit automated text ads in a smart campaign.

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