Free Advice
It never hurts to retest what “everyone knows works” to be sure that (a) it still works and (b) it ever worked in the first place, as opposed to being merely the stuff of assumption-spawned legend.
For instance, even though “everyone knows” that the word FREE sells, MasteringLandingPages.com decided to put it to the test with a pair of Italian-language Adwords ads. One headline used the word Template. The other used Gratis, Italian for Free, in its place. Otherwise, the ads were identical.
Results? According to the invaluable (as in, you should subscribe to it) e-letter Which Test Won, “…the headline using ‘Gratis’ or ‘Free’ increased leads by 79.64% at a 99.9% confidence level and decreased the cost per lead by 46.14%.”
The e-letter adds, “Interestingly enough, there was no statistically significant difference between the [click-through rate] of the two versions.” Interesting indeed. One might have expected, not unreasonably, use of Free to lower the quality of the leads. Not in this case.
So here is some free advice for you. Put free in your ad.
—Steve Cuno
For instance, even though “everyone knows” that the word FREE sells, MasteringLandingPages.com decided to put it to the test with a pair of Italian-language Adwords ads. One headline used the word Template. The other used Gratis, Italian for Free, in its place. Otherwise, the ads were identical.
Results? According to the invaluable (as in, you should subscribe to it) e-letter Which Test Won, “…the headline using ‘Gratis’ or ‘Free’ increased leads by 79.64% at a 99.9% confidence level and decreased the cost per lead by 46.14%.”
The e-letter adds, “Interestingly enough, there was no statistically significant difference between the [click-through rate] of the two versions.” Interesting indeed. One might have expected, not unreasonably, use of Free to lower the quality of the leads. Not in this case.
So here is some free advice for you. Put free in your ad.
—Steve Cuno
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