The Best Facebook Ads for Earbuds

THE SPREAD
Morning Marketers!

Today we have some quick bites on Google. Then, we’ll get into the main course and look at the Facebook ads of three companies that sell earbuds. Finally, we’ll end with some SEO news and a meme.

STARTER
Quick Bites:

• In case you missed it, Google’s spam update rollout is finished, but its core update is still rolling out

• Coincidence? A large number of sites negatively affected by Google’s recent updates had pages plastered with ads

• Google has a new head of search

MAIN
The Best Earbud Ads:

This week we are looking at the Facebook ads of three popular earbud companies:

1. Sony

2. Apple

3. Raycon

Before we get into what these ads are doing well, let me explain the lens that we are looking through.

We are judging ads on whether they communicate the benefits of the product or service, not the features. Features are cool, but customers really care about what those features do for them (the benefit). For example, describing the sound quality is a feature. But, describing how earbuds make listening to your favorite music easier, is a benefit.

Alright, let’s see how these companies market their earbuds:

#1: Sony Earbuds

The Good:

• The Primary text is structured in an easily digestible way: Feature. Feature. Benefit. The first feature is, “Beautiful design.” The second feature is “Astonishing sound.” And, the benefit is how these earbuds “fit seamlessly into your world.”

• The image is eye-catching and looks like it could be taken by a user of these earbuds.

The Bad:

• The word choice in the Primary text could be better. “Beautiful design” and “Astonishing sound” don’t communicate anything unique or specific about these earbuds.

• The name of the product, “WF-1000XM5” is not doing this ad any favors; it’s not memorable and the competition have catchier names for their products (think AirPods).

The Recommendation:

• Refine the Primary text to speak to a specific target customer, like people who have trouble finding comfortable earbuds. Something like, “Designed to fit comfortably in your ears. Uncompromising sound and seamless integration with your devices.”

• Test different images. The guitar in the background is interesting, but does not reenforce the benefits of these earbuds.

Let’s look at another Sony earbud ad:

The Good:

• This ad is for the same WF-1000XM5 earbuds but is an improvement over the first ad. The Primary text doesn’t use vague adjectives, like “Astounding.”

• The image is interesting and shows that the earbuds are available in two colors. The stack of old records(?) provides a sense of scale.

The Bad:

• While the Primary text of this ad is an improvement over the first ad, it fails to mention the benefits of owning the earbuds. Design, comfort, and sound quality are mentioned, but not what these features do for the customer. An additional sentence like, “Listening to your favorite songs has never been so relaxing” would help convey the benefit of this product.

The Recommendation:

• Test a variety of images. The faux leather that the earbuds are resting on is eye-catching, but other textures and materials may boost CTR even more—only testing will reveal that.

#2: Apple AirPods Pro

The Good:

• Apple doesn’t need to say much because of their incredible brand equity. Yet, this ad does an effective job of conveying the benefits of buying these AirPods Pro. The feature is “Adaptive Audio,” and the benefit the user gets from this feature is keeping out unwanted sounds while letting in desirable sounds.

The Bad:

• The description—the text located below the image, under the URL—just says “Apple.” While Apple doesn’t need the description area to list additional features or benefits, it could use that space to communicate something helpful (Sony uses it to advertise “Free 2-Day Shipping”).

The Recommendation:

• Test different image backgrounds.

• Also, test different text color for “Adaptive Audio. A solid color, or a separate color for each word might perform better than the multi-colored version.

Let’s look at another version of Apple’s AirPod Pro Ad:

The Good:

• This ad is the same as the previous Apple ad, except, the text beneath the AirPods image promotes the cost of the earbuds (including a monthly installments option) rather than 6 months of Apple Music. Putting this text in the ad may help reduce abandoned carts after a potential customer clicks the ad.

The Bad:

• The black background contrasts with the white AirPods Pro case, but it makes the tone of the image feel serious. It might just be me, but a different background color might make the ad feel more approachable.

The Recommendation:

• Test additional text within the image.

• Test alternate background colors.

#3: Raycon Earbuds

The Good:

• The image above is a screenshot from a Raycon video ad, which does a great job of grabbing the viewer’s attention in the first second with humor: “These will last longer than your partner…”

• Calling these “Everyday Earbuds” and “your new bestie” helps the potential customer understand their intended use.

• Compared to the other ads we’ve seen, the Primary text at the top of this ad does the best job at pairing a feature with a benefit: being sweatproof means you can workout harder; active noise cancellation means you’ll feel less annoyance; 100K+ five star reviews means you’ll feel good about your buying decision.

The Bad:

• The only active ads I see for Raycon earbuds are video ads. It’s possible that video ads are working much better than static image ads for Raycon, but this is definitely something I would test.

The Recommendation:

• Test what the bullet points look like; instead of a green box with a check mark, try solid colored bullet points.

• Test additional feature/benefit bullet points, like “Extremely comfortable, so you can enjoy your music all day.”

Let’s look at another Raycon earbud ad:

The Good:

• This Raycon ad is a great example of how to use video footage, that looks user-generated, to position yourself as the better product. The first second of the video hooks the viewer by claiming that something is causing people to stop using their AirPods. Unsurprisingly, that something turns out to be Raycon’s superior features. But, the ad is effective at drawing attention and interest to the product.

The Bad:

• The headline and description sections below the image are uninspiring. I understand they are meant to invoke a sense of urgency in the viewer, but I like the message of the first ad better: “Sound quality you can’t beat.”

The Recommendation:

• Test different headlines and descriptions.

• Also, test a customer quote (in the primary text) to see if that increases video engagement time.

SIDES
SEO Morsels:

• Google Search Liaison: be a great site for your visitors, stop trying to “show Google” things.

• Google is working on fixing a Google Analytics 4 reporting bug

• How to improve your website speed in 2024

Marketing Meme of the Week: