Within just 3 days of an ad campaign’s launch, the average consumer starts to experience ad fatigue. In other words, it only takes 3 days for someone to get sick of the ad you spent weeks or even months perfecting.
Are you concerned about how ad fatigue is affecting your audience? Are you unsure of how to detect audience fatigue or how to combat it?
If so, keep reading. This guide will teach you everything you need to know about spotting and reducing audience ad fatigue.
What Is Audience Ad Fatigue?
Put simply, ad fatigue occurs when a user gets used to an ad. If they see an ad too frequently, they will start to get sick of it and stop paying attention.
When this happens, the ad is rendered ineffective and irrelevant. Over time, your audience may start to feel resentful toward your ads and your company, too.
Think about it. Have you ever rolled your eyes or felt annoyed by a business because you keep seeing the same ad over and over again? Did this make you more or less likely to buy from the company in the future?
Warning Signs of Audience Fatigue
If you’re new to the concept of audience ad fatigue, you’re likely also unsure of how to detect it. The following are some of the most well-known warning signs of audience fatigue:
Low Click-Through Rates
In the context of advertising, the term “click-through rate” refers to the ratio of users who click on a link compared to the total number of users who view the ad. In general, the higher the click-through rate, the more successful your ad campaign is considered to be.
If you notice that your click-through rates are decreasing, this is a sign that your audience is not interacting with your ads as frequently as they once did — possibly because they’re experiencing ad fatigue.
Decreased Impressions
Social networking algorithms are designed to show people relevant content. The same thing happens with online ads.
If people are consistently not interacting with your brand’s ads, they’re not going to be exposed to them as often in the future.
This might be a positive for them, but it’s a bad sign for you and your business. Not only will you see a decrease in your click-through rate, but you’ll also see a decrease in the number of impressions your online ads get all together.
Decreased Conversions
Low click-through rates and fewer impressions mean one thing: decreased conversions. If people aren’t seeing and clicking on your ads, they’re not going to be inclined to buy your products, are they?
In the short term, this might not lead to a major decrease in sales. Over time, though, you’ll likely see a pretty significant drop-off that impacts your bottom line.
How to Avoid Audience Ad Fatigue
As you can see, audience ad fatigue is a pretty serious problem. The good news, though, is that there are lots of steps you can take to prevent it from happening.
The following are some of the most effective strategies you can implement today to keep your ads fresh and your audience engaged:
Rotate Ads
A good ad rotation plan can go a long way when it comes to reducing audience ad fatigue. This helps to break up the monotony your audience experiences and prevents them from constantly being bombarded by the same ads.
Consider creating an ad calendar so you can avoid showing the same ad too many times in a row. This will make it easy for you and your team to keep track of which ads have been shown so far.
Update Ad Design Regularly
Make sure your creative team updates the design of your ads frequently. This way, they will continue looking new to your audience and they will be less likely to contribute to audience fatigue.
From changing the photos used in the ad to switching up fonts and other types of media, simple updates can go a long way toward keeping your ads fresh and your audience engaged.
Update Various Ad Elements
In addition to updating ad creative, make sure you’re regularly updating other elements of your ads, too. This includes links, ad copy, and calls to action.
Similar to the point made above about ad creative, updating these elements of your ads also helps to keep them fresh. It also reduces audience fatigue and promotes better engagement and click-through rates.
Use A/B Testing
A/B testing involves sharing two different versions of the same ad to your audience and then measuring each ad’s impact. This type of testing helps you to get a better sense of what ad style resonates most with your audience.
Once you’ve conducted A/B tests and figured out which kinds of ads work best, you’ll have an easier time improving their design moving forward.
Remember that it’s best to run A/B tests over 30 days (or longer). This helps you get more accurate data and more detailed insights.
Monitor Ad Analytics
In addition to monitoring the results of your A/B testing, pay attention to all of your ad analytics.
Keep track of who’s engaging with your ads most often, which platforms they spend the most time on, where they’re located, how old they are, etc. The more data you have, the easier it is to create more targeted ad content in the future and keep your audience engaged.
Use Dynamic Ads and Retargeting
Speaking of targeted ad content, make sure your ads are as personalized and targeted as possible. Platforms like Facebook and Google Ads allow you to target ads based on a wide range of factors, so it’s easier than ever to get them in front of a specific audience.
Be sure to segment your audience, too. That way, you can recapture those who have shown an interest in your brand in the past and keep previous customers interested with fresh new ads.
Set Frequency Caps
When you’re planning your ads, be sure to set a frequency cap on the number of times someone can be shown the same ad. Platforms like Facebook allow you to set a limit so that people only see an ad once every 7 days (or whatever frequency works best for your audience) and are less likely to become fatigued.
Combine Ads with Content
To reduce fatigue and warm up cold audiences, consider combining ads with other types of content, like blog posts or videos. This provides more insight into your business and helps you share more value with your target audience before asking them to make a purchase.
Change Products and Services Offered
Make sure you’re not always advertising the same product or service.
Even if it means taking a break from promoting your most popular product or service, you need to mix it up and advertise other things every once in a while. Mix these ads into your rotation so people have a chance to see what else your company offers.
Use Holiday Themes
Consider creating holiday-themed ads, especially around holidays like Christmas that are associated with gift-giving.
Holiday themes are a great way to catch your audience’s attention, encourage them to engage with your ad, and convince them to eventually make a purchase. These themes also naturally keep your ads feeling fresh and relevant since they have a built-in timeframe associated with them.
Just make sure your ads don’t run past a specific holiday. Otherwise, your company will look a little stale or out of touch.
Exclude Those Who Have Already Engaged
When you’re creating targeted ads, be sure to exclude those who have already clicked on and engaged with the ad from being exposed again. This helps to prevent fatigue and ensures that you’re continuously bringing in new leads, rather than continuing to target the same people over and over again.
Why Be Proactive About Ad Fatigue?
Don’t wait until your audience is fed up with your ads to make changes. If you’re proactive about preventing and reducing ad fatigue, you and your team will enjoy a variety of benefits, including the following:
- Achieve and maintain high click-through rates
- Increase engagement rates (and keep them high)
- Avoid decreases in ad impressions
Remember, if click-through rates drop, that means engagement will decrease and impressions will decline. All of this, in turn, means you’re running an ineffective campaign and are more likely to have a fatigued audience on your hands.
Audience ad fatigue doesn’t just make your ad ineffective and your audience annoyed. It also eats into your profits. Long-term audience fatigue will reduce conversions and cause you to see less of a return on your investments.
Start Fighting Audience Fatigue Today
Have you noticed signs of ad fatigue among your audience? If so, it’s time to take action.
Implement the guidelines discussed above so you can prevent audience fatigue and keep your valued customers interested in your brand.
Do you need more online marketing guidance? Contact us at Socialistics today. We’ll provide a free social media analysis and help you make a plan for the future.
Image source: Unsplash
