Six plays for driving website conversions on Twitter

In recent months, we’ve worked to bring direct response advertisers new tools for success with Twitter Ads. We launched objective based campaigns, with workflows, ad formats, analytics and pricing tailored to the needs of advertisers with specific objectives, such as driving conversions on their website. We also made enhancements to our measurement capabilities, and we’re partnering with DoubleClick to offer richer reporting on campaign performance.

Here are six plays we’ve learned from advertisers like eBay and Hostgator, both of which have used these new tools to successfully drive website traffic and conversions with Twitter Ads.

1. Use the website clicks or conversions objective
When you create a new campaign, you can now choose among several goals. By choosing the website clicks or conversions objective, you’ll build an ad creative best suited for driving high-converting traffic to your site. You’ll pay on a cost per link click (CPLC) basis, so you only get charged when users click to visit your website. And you’ll only see the reporting that matters most to you in your analytics dashboard, such as link click metrics, conversion rates and spend.

2. Place website tags on your site to track conversions
Without a clear conversion signal, you’re optimizing in the dark. Conversion tracking for web lets you measure the number of users who convert on your website after viewing or engaging with your Promoted Tweets. It’s simple to get started: first generate one or more website tags in your Twitter Ads account, then place the tags in pages of your website. You can set custom attribution windows, view the revenue your campaigns are driving, auto-optimize toward a goal conversion, and more.

#ProTip: Your website tags don’t just report on conversions – they also help you remarket to recent website visitors through tailored audiences campaigns. Learn how @Betabrand reduced their CPA by 63% with tailored audiences.

3. Test mobile and desktop and separate campaigns
Nearly 80% of users access Twitter on mobile. Mobile use is characterized by frequent quick sessions and spur-of-the-moment spikes in purchase intent. That means conversion rates may differ on mobile versus desktop.

With that in mind, we recommend running separate campaigns on mobile and desktop. This will help you test and learn the nuanced behaviors of your audience on each medium, with full ability to make campaign changes specific to each medium, such as creative or bid changes. Mobile vs. desktop should be your first split in all of your split tests. And don’t forget: a mobile-optimized landing page is a must.

#ProTip: You can use the same rich in-Tweet imagery on both mobile and desktop. Learn how @NespressoUSA drove 3x the conversions from Twitter-sourced leads while running separate campaigns on mobile and desktop, while including compelling rich media and Vines.

4. Test both image+link and Website Card creatives

For campaigns with the website clicks or conversions objective, we offer two options for your ad creatives.

• Image+link. Catch the user’s eye with an in-Tweet image, and prompt them to click a URL in the Tweet copy.
• Website Card. Use our purpose-built layout to show a compact image with a call-to-action button.

Among the thousands of advertisers we’ve worked with, some find the eye-catching imagery of image+link performs best for them, while others find that the Website Card’s clear call to action is most effective. Discover which works best for you by testing both creative types.

#ProTip: No matter which creative strategy you choose, your Tweet copy and imagery is extremely important to get right. Learn how @Pingometer found the best Tweet copy through systematic experimentation, and drove a 22% conversion rate via Twitter versus other marketing channels.

5. Test both interest and keyword targeting
Twitter users declare their interests through the accounts they follow and the things they Tweet. You can target based on both these
signals.

• Use interest targeting (@username targeting in particular) to reach users similar to the followers of the Twitter accounts you specify
• Use keyword targeting to reach users based on keywords in their recent Tweets, Tweets they recently engaged with, and their searches

Interest targeting may bring you the highest campaign volume, while keyword targeting may maximize your precision, or be best suited to your campaigns around real-time events. Many Twitter advertisers use both, so consider testing both targeting types to learn which best suits your brand and your different campaigns.

6. Target website visitors and lookalikes of website converters

To complement your interest-targeted and keyword-targeted campaigns, create audiences of Twitter users who have visited and converted on your website. Place website tags in pages of your site that correspond to visits and conversions. Allow a few days for tailored audiences of website visitors and converters to be created.

Then when you create a new campaign and select a tailored audience, you can choose to expand its reach to target similar users. For your audience of website converters, you can choose to exclude that same tailored audience, after having expanded it. That way, you’ll target only users similar to your website converters, without re-messaging your website converters.

We’d love to hear about your experiences as you use these six plays. Tweet us @TwitterAds and share the ways you’re using Twitter to bring users to your site!

For more detailed insights and best practices, download our Website Conversions Playbook now.