6 Smart Tips to Beat Ad Fatigue

You created an exceptional ad and it received good traction, however, your audience won’t fawn over your ads every minute of the day, they are likely to get bored of it if they see it often.

Now think about when you are surfing the web, you see an ad, you find it interesting, and maybe you click on it. And now, everywhere you go, that ad follows you around. To cut this noise, you probably just scroll right past it or, even worse, report it.

The ad that made you stop and take notice at one point, you move right past it now. That’s ad fatigue in action and it can have a negative impact on your brand.

In this blog post, we’ll cover all about ad fatigue and how you can combat it. Let’s begin.

What is Ad Fatigue?

When your audience frequently sees your ad, gets tired of it, and ultimately, loses interest and stops paying attention, that’s ad fatigue. The purpose of advertising is to turn new viewers into customers, which can’t happen if you’re bombarding your viewers with the same ads constantly.

Ad fatigue is real, in fact, 77.4% of US digital buyers said that they see too many ads from the same retailer and 78% state that it is “inexcusable”.

What are the Signs of Ad Fatigue?

With ad fatigue, your campaigns become less effective, prevent users from moving down the sales funnel, and ultimately, hurt your bottom line.

Ad fatigue isn’t difficult to spot. You can identify it by checking your key metrics. Here are some signs to check if your users have tuned out your ads.

1. Decline in Click-Through Rates: If CTR increases, it shows how engaging your ad is, which compels your visitors to discover more about you. So, if CTR falls over time, it’s likely that the culprit is ad-fatigue.

2. Reduction in Engagement: If your social media ad engagement like comments, shares, or clicks are diminishing over time, you see a dip in engagement.

3. Negative Feedback: When users comment on your ad, it’s worth listening to what they say. If they complain about the frequency of your ad, it’s a red flag.

4. High-Frequency Viewership: Frequency is the average number of times people see your ad. If your audience sees your ad more frequently, they are likely to avoid it.

How to Combat Ad Fatigue?

In the digital age, ad fatigue is inevitable, even in your best campaign. However, there are a few steps you can take to hit back at the crippling powers of ad fatigue and get your strategy on track. They are:

1. Modify Your Target Audience

Most campaigns struggle just because the wrong set of people are seeing the ad. Therefore, look carefully at your target audience and ensure if your messaging is relevant to them. When you understand what your target audience wants, they are more likely to click on your ad. You can even use advertising automation to retarget your ads to users based on their behavior.

2. Jazz Up Your Ad Content

Change the main content of your copy. Try adding a new flavor to it by changing your value proposition to entice users to click on your ad. Conduct keyword research and then add those keywords into your ad copy. Also, you can run seasonal or holiday-themed ads to grab more traction. Your call-to-action (CTA) is a key component of your ad. Ensure that any content changes don’t interfere with overall brand messaging.

3. Advertise Your High-Quality Content With Other Offers

Advertising high-quality content is an effective way to boost brand awareness and can also help combat ad fatigue. Promoting a relevant blog post, infographic, or research alongside your main offer can help add value to your campaign while giving it a new flavor.

4. Change the Ad Creative

Ad creative refers to the images, text, and headlines that make up an ad. Changing these elements can breathe new life into your campaign. Give your ad image and/or headline a makeover to give it a brand new feel.

Here are a few easy ways to refresh ad displays to appear different to the user:

• Change background images
• Experiment with new designs
• Change the color of your CTA button
• Change the placement of your CTA

5. Change the Ad Format

If your current ad format is not delivering information in the best way possible for your audience, you can try formats like:

• Image ads – Here’s an example of AWS promoting Amazon Translate on Facebook via crisp content and catchy visuals:

• Video ads – Video ads are a great medium to grab attention all while still helping you get your customers. Here’s an example of SEMrush promoting their SEO fundamentals course with a short video:

• Carousel ads – Carousel ads are swipeable ads that enable you to tell your product or service story with a lot of creativity. Here’s a vibrant and catchy example by Salesforce. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

• Native ads – The idea behind native ads is – an ad that doesn’t feel like an ad. They are less intrusive and more organic. Here’s an example of when IBM aligned with The Atlantic for its native advertising campaign:

6. Create Multiple Ads and Rotate Them

To beat ad fatigue, you can start by creating different versions of your ad with different CTAs. This allows you to deliver the same content in a new way and keep your audience engaged. Then, you can schedule and rotate them to keep things fresh for users.

With these tips and tricks, you can keep your ad content as fresh as a daisy.

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