In the fast-paced world of digital advertising today, marketers and advertisers are always looking for ways to improve their campaigns and get more out of their money. Ad testing is a key part of this process of optimization. Traditional ways of testing ads can take a lot of time and money, as they require manual work and a lot of resources. 

But now that creative automation is available, testing banner and video ads is faster, easier, and can be done on a large scale. In this blog, we'll talk about the benefits of smart ad testing with creative automation and how it makes it easier than ever for marketers to test their ads.

What is a smart banner?

A smart banner, also called an intelligent banner, is a type of display advertising that is made to change and improve its look based on the user's device, the website or app where it is being shown, and other factors. Smart banners aren't like traditional static banners because they can change their size, design, and content to fit different screen sizes and orientations.

Smart banners are a useful tool that makes it easier for websites and apps to talk to each other, allowing for a smooth flow from the web to the app. If you put a banner on the website for your brand that shows a product, promotion, or call to action, you can get people to click on it and download your app.

How it works is as follows: When a user clicks on the smart banner, it sends them to the app so they can shop more easily. If the user hasn't already downloaded the app, the smart banner sends them to the right app store to do so.

Here's where smart banners show their true worth. After the user downloads the app, a process called "deferral deep linking" takes them right to the content they clicked on in the app in the first place. For example, if they clicked on a banner that showed jeans, the app would open and show those same jeans.

A/B ad testing with creative automation

When it comes to A/B testing, using a smart banner is an effective method to enhance the user's browsing experience compared to other promotional approaches. Moreover, it also provides more accurate results compared to traditional promotion methods. 

Smart banners save money. By using smart banners, you can direct qualified website users to the Experiment URL without relying on paid ad sources like Facebook or AdWords. This helps you save money while driving traffic. Moreover, it reduces the risk of biased results. Setting up experiments can be challenging, and configuring Facebook campaigns or other platforms is even more complex, especially for newcomers. With smart banners, as they are exclusively shown to users with specific devices defined in the experiment, the likelihood of errors decreases significantly. This boosts your chances of obtaining a clear winner without any potential mistakes.

However, A/B testing is just one part of the problem. In the world of digital marketing, timing is essential. While most larger businesses have all the resources to test and improve their ad creatives, smaller growing businesses need that extra advantage. This is where creative automation comes in. 

Advantages of creative automation in ad testing

When it comes to using creative automation as an ad testing tool, there are tons of advantages. Here are just a few:

1. Efficiency and speed

You can easily create and test numerous variations of smart banners with the help of creative automation solutions. Automating the banner design and coding process is more efficient than doing it by hand. This facilitates the rapid iteration and evaluation of various creative hypotheses.

2. Creative scaling

The testing process can be expanded with the help of creative automation. Many banner variants can be generated quickly and easily with automation, allowing for large-scale testing of elements like design, copy, layout, and calls to action. Because of this, you can conduct in-depth A/B tests, which reveal useful information about your target audience's preferences.

3. Data-driven decision making

Creative automation software has excellent tracking and analytics features. Metrics like click-through rates, conversion rates, and engagement can be gathered for each smart banner variant. You can improve the effectiveness of your banners by using this data-driven strategy to make decisions in real time.

4. Personalization and targeting

Tools for creative automation frequently have sophisticated targeting capabilities. Based on different factors like demographics, interests, or behavior, you can divide your audience into different segments and send personalized smart banners to each segment. You can find the most potent combinations, maximize engagement and conversion rates, and find the most effective combinations by testing different variations tailored to audience segments.

5. Iteration and Optimization

Automation also speeds up iteration and optimization. You can quickly refine and iterate on your smart banners to enhance their performance based on the insights obtained from A/B testing. You can continuously improve your campaigns for better results by using automation tools, which make it simpler to create new variations and implement changes.

How to test banners and videos with creative automation?

In place of hunches, data-driven decisions can be made with the help of ad split testing. However, it's a time-consuming process to manually generate variants for multiple products with multiple CTAs and multiple ad formats. Here is how you can leverage automation to speed up A/B testing!

1. Start simple

Create a foundational ad template that can be easily customized to generate multiple variants efficiently. It is better to start with a simple template that can be easily customized. Ensure that the colors and fonts are consistent, and then develop more complex designs. This allows designers to focus on creativity while ensuring consistent branding across digital platforms.

2. Use asset management and versioning

When you are creating multiple variations of the same ad, it’s crucial to have an asset management solution. You can invest in a creative automation solution that is equipped with a digital asset management (DAM) system. This centralized repository ensures that no creatives are lost and enables seamless collaboration among team members, resulting in faster campaign launches. Moreover, with version control, you can always revert to the older version. This also simplifies testing and experimentation. 

3. Automate the ad creation process

Utilize creative automation to produce banners and video variations automatically based on audience cohorts or geolocation information. assemble information on the effectiveness of older banners and video ads. Utilize the metrics specified in your testing objectives to analyze the data. To spot trends and determine which designs and videos are performing better, compare the results across variations.

4. Use AI to generate content

You can leverage tools like DALL-E or Adobe Firefly to generate content for your designs. While AI-generated content is not perfect, they help brainstorm ideas and quickly try out different variations of your ads. AI-powered creative automation solutions can also help with creating layouts for your banners.

5. Format your banners for different channels

Make use of creative automation platforms to automatically resize ads for various channels, browsers, and devices. This ensures optimal ad display across different digital platforms, improving user experience and engagement.

6. Leverage custom workflows

You can use presents to create your workflows. Collaborate with people from inside and outside the organization to develop and validate your ad creatives. This minimizes redundant customization efforts while adhering to brand guidelines, saving time for designers.

7. Iterate and Optimize

Improve and refine your banners and videos based on the results of your testing. Find the best-performing variants, then tweak or create new versions based on what you've learned. Make use of flexible automated tools to rapidly produce variants for testing and optimization. With automation tools, you can make changes to all variations of a design in bulk.

Closing thoughts

To truly leverage smart banners, you need to use the right tools. Software solutions like Artwork Flow automate the boring parts of building ad creatives and smart banners so that you can focus on creating designs that convert. If you’d like to know how Artwork Flow can support your ad performance, book a quick demo today for a personalized walkthrough from our experts.

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