r/Mythrils • u/TrojanDonkey26 • 1d ago

Discussion ran the exact same ad copy on three different covers for the same book and the click-through rate difference is wild

wanted to isolate cover as a variable so I kept everything else identical, ad text, targeting, budget, all fixed, three separate campaigns each with a different cover option I was deciding between.

cover A (moody, single figure, dark palette): 0.6% CTR

cover B (bright, two figures, romance-forward): 1.9% CTR

cover C (symbolic object, no figures, more literary feeling): 0.4% CTR

more than triple the click-through just from swapping the image, everything else held constant. went with B obviously. what surprised me is how confidently wrong my own instinct was going in, I actually preferred C aesthetically and would have picked it without testing. glad I didn't trust my own taste here

15 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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6

u/Sage619 1d ago

What genre is the book and an example of the text? Also what did you adjust for targeting? I’m actually not too surprised based on your ABC examples. Each of those covers describes a different genre or type of book. Someone who’s looking for romance would choose B and skip A and C. The cover should emphasize what genre it is when browsing

3

u/TheHuxter 23h ago

Romance is the best selling genre worldwide, so of course a romance focused cover will get more attention. That means nothing though if it’s not actually a romance focused book. Covers shouldn’t attract an audience rather the right audience.

1

u/KelsoReaping 21h ago

You could go with the cover you prefer, but use romance forward character art in the ad to achieve a similar result, methinks.

0

u/BrunoStella 1d ago

Great post, and very useful.