Was The Boron Letters Video and its ads successful? How could it be improved?
YouTube ad Goal: 1+ Leads from the forms in the video description during the period the ad ran
Facebook ad goal: 1+ Leads from the description and main CTA
Result: 0 Leads from both
Although there was 1 form download it was from an existing subscriber from an email notification.
So lets see what made it different.
As with the previous post, there are 2 things that may be different
The ad and the content(video itself)
Lets’ start with comparing the ad inputs and outputs.
Then, we’ll compare the video’s inputs and outputs
Ad Outputs (HTWAGA Vs. TBL)
Lets compare the outputs of the ads
HTWAGA | TBL | |
Impressions | 31,165 | 41,221 |
Views | 798 | 1,062 |
Cost | 39.99₪ | 40.71₪ |
Avg. CPV | 0.05₪ | 0.04₪ |
View rate | 2.56% | 2.58% |
We see that for almost the same price we’ve got 264 more views in TBL, which shows that if anything the TBL ad probably was performing better than HTWAGA’s and the “problem”, because of which we got 0 leads, was likely in the content itself.
Nonetheless, before we look at the content, I’d like to see what made the TBL Ad perform better.
Why Did TBL Ad Perform Better? STOPPED REVIEWING HERE 13:44
After looking into it, it seems there were 3 variables that were different, which means we won’t know the answer for sure(For that we need 1 difference). The descriptions and thumbnails were similar, but not identical, so I won’t compare the headlines of the two ads. But, lets see the results of TBL A vs. TBL B 🙂
HTWAGA | TBL | |
Heading A | How To Write A Good [Content Piece] Advertisement In 5 Simple Steps - Victor O. Schwab Book Summary | 10 Content Creation Exercises Inspired by The Boron Letters |
Heading B | How To Write A Good [Content Piece] In 5 Simple Steps | 10 YouTube/Blog Exercises (2024) From The Boron Letters (1984) |
Description(Both ad groups) | 1; HTWAGA Animated Summary | 1: The Boron Letters Animated Summary |
Thumbnail |  |  |
Audience |
Adding News Appeal Won
When looking at Impression-to-View rates, the
headline “10 YouTube/Blog Exercises (2024) From The Boron Letters (1984)” with 3.16% (Self-Interest + News Appeal).
outperformed “10 Content Creation Exercises Inspired by The Boron Letters” with 2.49% (Self-Interest appeal only).
See explanation about headline appeals here (sec 00:00-03:08)
The cost was the other way around though, but that must be some glitch. I’m waiting for an answer in that regard from the Google Community.
Thumbnails and Descriptions Must Be The Same
In the next content pieces I plan to stop advertising for a while and let YouTube carry out my advertising organically.
Nonetheless, to know which headline performs best it is crucial that the Thumbnail and Description remain absolutely the same, apart for book name or other unique parts of the content piece (The part seen before the click at the very least).
Next up – Content differences.
HTWAGA vs. TBL Video Differences
As we’ve already determined, HTWAGA got 798 views and 3 leads while tbl got 1062 views and 0 leads. Lets compare content pieces and see why
HTWAGA | TBL | |
Main CTA Prompts | End of Each Chapter | Introduction - 1 |
PDF File Variety | Main + 3 Others (4) | Main + 2 Others (3) |
Overall PDF Download Prompts | 11 | 17 |
Main CTA Type | Workbook | Workbook |
Video Making Software | PowToon | Doodly |
CTA Animation | Zoom In + Workbook Jumping | Zoom In on Workbook |
Too Many CTAs
If we were to judge by this table alone, I’d say that we’ve overdone it with the CTA prompts, since that’s the only thing that seems different when referencing to the 3 and 0 lead results.
PowToon Animations Are Moving
Another possibility is that the PowToon moving animations were more attractive than Doodly’s.
YouTube Metrics Give A Clearer Picture
To help us better understand whether these were the real reasons, we may want to look at the video analytics on YouTube
Here they are:
HTWAGA | TBL | |
Dates Launched | 03-10.02.24 | 02-09.10.24 |
Average Viewing Time | 02: 00 | 00: 43 |
Subscribers | 5 | 5 |
Likes | 11 | 11 |
Average Percentage Viewed | 14.1% | 3.6% |
10 Items Too Overwhelming?
Very similarly to the blog post analysis the average viewing time of the boron letters is about one third of that of HTWAGA, which makes my assumption strengthened that probably 10 ideas is too overwhelming.
People just left before they made it to the end and to the final CTA, so we got less leads.
More Probably The Opener is to Blame
Blank Words
Alternatively, something that seems to make even more sense is that the opener in TBL is too generic.
The opener “If you want your content to take off” seems like a lot of empty promises that do not explain what the video is really about.
Statement vs. Thought Provoking Question
One more thought is that the opener is a “statement”, and statements may provoke resistance. For example, HTWAGA starts with “Why would anyone read your copy, if it’s bo-ho-ho-ho-ring?” It evokes curiosity, so that when I present the answer now, the viewer will be waiting to hear it. Once I do he’ll feel satisfaction and want to continue watching.
So how may we know whether the 10 items or the opener were responsible?
By watching more detailed retention analytics in YouTube
Retention Rate Shows A More Detailed Picture/The Openers Blame
In the retention graph in YouTube it shows the following
Audience retention rates:
Time | Audience Still Watching HTWAGA | Audience Still Watching |
00:34-00:37 | 30.9% | 19.2% |
01:25-01:26 | 24.0% | 7.1% |
14:11-14:14 | 10.5% | 1.9% |
20:25 | Video Ended at 14:11 | 1.9% |
Observations and Improvements
Extreme Importance of Openers
Because as a rule of thumb the complete majority of viewers drop in the earlier part of the video, the opener has much more effect on retention in comparison to what happens later.
HTWAGA Opener Clearly Outperformed TBL Opener
By minute 01:25-01:26 TBL had about 3.5 times less percent of initial viewers watching than HTWAGA.
0s-30s TBL
0s-30s HTWAGA
Here are my assumptions as to why:
Why? Possible Reasons
1.Too General
Saying, “This video is meant to help your content to take off” is too general, and does not talk about any specific problem, it is therefore probably discarded as not honest and skipped.
“Why would anyone read your content or watch your video?” is more specific
Application: It’s like saying “This video will make you rich”, or “How can you negotiate down your apartment price before you rent?”, remember to be specific.
2. Questions Beat Statements
TBL’s opener is a statement which may either be believed or not.
Whereas HTWAGA’s is a question, which prompts the reader to ask, indeed “why?” and open his mind to possibilities.
Application: Just like in the previous application “How can you negotiate?” not “Here’s how to negotiate”
HTWAGA Body Retention Also Outperformed TBL Body
Until now we’ve only analyzed how many people dropped off until 1:26/1:27 in the video.
If we look at the remaining part, we will see that there too, TBL lost 74% of its audience from 1:27 ’till 14:14 while HTWAGA only lost 57%.
Why? Possibly Too Many Animations
First thing that comes to mind is that the exercises in TBL are overloaded with animations whereas in HTWAGA its more spaced out. I think using PowToon might have helped.
Application: Anyway, PowToon costs 40$/mo, so I’ll stick with Doodly for now, though perhaps I should use more scenes, and avoid the template of 1 screen per exercise.
Facebook Ad Analysis
But hey wait, there’s also the FB ad which I forgot to document…
Okay so regarding facebook it seems that the result its ad got is 15 form views of 3 different types. (7 from main CTA of the ad and 4 on two other forms in the description of the video)
Of the 15 visits, none ended up subscribing.
Here are some metrics in comparison to HTWAGA:
HTWAGA | TBL | |
Cost | ~6.73$ (25.02₪) | 15,14$ |
Destination Page Visits | 1 | 4 |
Interaction rate | lower than 0.1% | lower than 0.1% |
Dates | 3-10 Feb 2024 | 3-10 Oct 2024 |
Objective | Traffic | Traffic |
Thruplays | 73 | 27 |
Impressions | 1,080 | 4,595 |
Link Clicks (Outgoing) | 6 | 17 |
CTR (Impression to Click) | 0.56% | 0.37% |
Since I am pretty sure I did not make any changes to the ad and simply followed the already existing system, it seems yet again that the opener difference was responsible for a higher CTR ratio for HTWAGA.
The most important thing to note here is that Facebook ads had yet to make any Leads in the whole time I use them(13 ads), although google ads did provide quite a few, which means it’s performance is rock bottom.
For this reason I guess I’ll just start from scratch if I do Facebook ads again, following some random YouTube guide. This case was no different. According to Google Analytics – 11 people visited the page for 2 seconds, 7 clicked download now, but filled the form.
Research Required: Google Analytics vs. Facebook Ads Manager
The Metrics
Facebook page visit metrics and Google Analytics still don’t match.
Google analytics shows 12 page visits and 11 Users(Feb 3-10.24), while
Facebook shows: Clicks (All) – 11, Outgoing Clicks – 6, Destination Page Visits – 1 for HTWAGA.
What I Dont Understand
What i don’t understand is first, why Google Analytic’s 12 Visits and Clicks(All) don’t match. It could possibly be of course that 1 user just copy pasted the link and re-visited it later but i doubt it.
In any case even if so, it doesn’t explain why the facebook 3 metrics are different, even though there was only one link in the ad. I wrote yet another Email to Jon Loomer the Facebook Ads expert. We’ll see what he says 🙂
In the meantime I’ll just take my indications from Google Analytics and ConvertKit.
Conclusion
HTWAGA performed infinitely better during the period its ad ran in relation to TBL (0 vs. 3 Leads)
After comparing HTWAGA and TBL in different ways to find out the cause and how we could avoid the same fate in the next video we’ve established that we’re going to try to apply the following:
Applications Subject to Testing:
We’ve determined the reason was in the content itself and not the ad.
In order to reverse this
1. Test ONE at a time
Maintain all parts of the ad identical apart from 1 single variable (With the exclusion of bookcover, book and author name)
2. Test Self-Interest + News Vs. Self-Interest + Other
Include Self-Interest with News appeal in the next headline if applicable. Test it against Self-Interest with Curiosity/Quick & Easy
3. Apply These Two Opener Tips
A. Talk about a SPECIFIC situation in the opener
B. Ask a question, do not make a statement
5. Try a Completely new tutorial on Facebook Ads
4. Spread Animation Into More Slides
Reduce drawings amount on each screen by spreading them into slides
5. Try A New Facebook Ads Tutorial
Try following a Completely new tutorial, almost as if starting from Zero.
4 Books That Impacted Me Greatly
Since I see that you’re desperately looking for ways to get knowledge and improve, here are 4 books I’ve read about 4-5 years ago and made a great impact on me about riches and human relations. When you finish reading them, I’m super curious to know how it went, so I’ll be extra grateful if you let me know at yan@improvementor.blog. Thanks 🙂 (Includes affiliate links which probably don’t work for 4 years already :P)
Related Posts
How To Improve Your Next Video (HTWAGA Analysis 2)
Why Tested Advertising Methods Got 0 Leads And Improvement Plans (Video)
