The K12 material optimization and delivery guide is released!

As the epidemic situation stabilizes, primary and secondary schools have gradually resumed normal teaching, and the golden investment period for educational companies has arrived.

As Chinese parents invest more and more in their children's education, the market for education companies is also growing, and competition in K12 education is particularly fierce. How to seize the current golden node, break through with differentiation and directly hit the minds of target customers, and achieve long-term growth that integrates product quality and effect has become a marketing pain point that major education companies are concerned about. Faced with a fierce market, major educational companies have different marketing methods and a wide variety of choices in delivery materials.

Currently, the commonly used delivery materials of K12 advertisers include horizontal videos, large images, three images, vertical videos and small images . According to statistics from Huichuan, an information flow delivery system, 95% of K12 advertising materials from January to March 2020 used horizontal videos and large images, of which horizontal videos accounted for 76%. Although short video ads have become a trend nowadays, the actual data shows that the CTR of the three-picture style is also very high. It is possible to add some material tests to the three-picture style to observe the results. So how to match various types of advertisements, how to cater to the general trend and efficiently attract target users, let’s follow the editor to take a look.

1. Guidelines for placing image materials

The advantage of picture materials is that they are prominently positioned and focus is highlighted. Although it looks like just a short sentence of copy + a few pictures, the core display elements, the selling points of the copy, the background color, etc. all need to be carefully matched. So, how do those images with high conversion rates achieve this?

1. The materials contain elements such as famous teachers’ teaching and product information display, which are more in line with user needs and increase the purchase rate

Statistics show that the most effective creative combinations of image materials (combination: copywriting selling points + material core elements + material selling points + material functions) are as follows:

(1) Famous teachers’ teaching + grade list + rich courses + course display;

(2) Limited-time registration + test paper + score improvement + effect display;

(3) Famous teachers’ teaching + children & online learning scenarios + assisted learning + scenario display.

The CTR and CVR of the above three creative combinations all performed well.

2. Paid courses and free courses use different material combinations and differentiated delivery.

There are two best material production combinations for paid courses (combination: core elements of materials + selling points of materials + functions of materials):

1) Test paper + high score + effect display;

2) Test papers & promotional slogans + help to improve scores + effect display;

In the free course, the best combination of materials is:

1) Characters & online learning scenarios + assisted learning + scenario display;

2) Course list + course major + course presentation.

3. The selling point is that the score improvement and good online course experience meet the users’ basic needs, which is the key to product selection.

In the following cases, one uses three pictures to show the scene of children watching live broadcasts and online learning through the product, and the other highlights the high scores on the test paper, emphasizing the effectiveness of the product. Judging from the comprehensive data performance, ICVR materials that include scores and online teaching experience are very good. (ICVR=CTR*CVR is a comprehensive evaluation of the effect through click-through rate and conversion rate)

4. Adding props such as test papers, online learning scenarios and learning materials to the materials can attract more users.

The data shows that the top three ICVR performers are those that contain characters & online learning scenarios, test papers, or characters & learning materials. For example, the case on the right uses a three-picture format, which shows children’s online learning scenarios, learning materials and other content, and has good CTR and CVR performance.

5. A clearer and more complete course system can effectively promote user conversion.

For example, the following excellent case shows that the left picture uses the covers of Chinese, mathematics, and English textbooks to show the three course categories included in the product, while the right picture uses a large picture to show the product's complete education line from the first grade to the third year of high school.

6. Neutral colors and multiple colors can attract users' attention and have better effects.

In terms of image background color, data shows that neutral and multi-color ICVRs are the best. For example, the background color of the material in the upper right corner of the image is gray, highlighting the character theme and learning scene. The lower right corner of the image uses multiple color blocks to represent different subjects, which visually stimulates users.

7. The copywriting shows that limited-time registration can enhance the sense of urgency and promote conversion, and users have a higher demand for courses taught by famous teachers.

The data shows that the top two most effective copywriting for ICVR are limited-time registration and teaching by famous teachers. For example, the copy may contain “registration deadline (date)”, “led by famous teachers who graduated from Peking University”, etc.

The following case is used as an example:

For free course promotion:

Three pictures: showing three learning scenarios: children studying online through computers, watching live classes with their parents, and doing homework after class. Through scenario marketing, users are brought into the product usage scenarios, and the copywriting also emphasizes the important selling point of "free".

Big picture: It displays three courses, namely Chinese, mathematics and English, and covers primary school, junior high school and high school, showing the complete curriculum system of the product. At the same time, the copy highlights "live broadcast by famous teachers" and "free learning", which are the pain points that users are concerned about.

For paid course promotion:

Three pictures & large picture materials: The test papers are used as the main materials. The three pictures show the before-and-after comparison of the scores, expressing that the children’s scores have been significantly improved after using the product, demonstrating the effect of the product. The large picture focuses on the high scores on the test papers, and combines the copy "Explanation by a famous teacher who graduated from Peking University" to encourage users to buy courses, and the "0 yuan trial" accelerates the conversion of potential users.

2. Video material delivery guide

Nowadays, video ads have become a popular type of advertising material for major advertisers, but the results vary from person to person. In order to help advertisers market efficiently, the editor has specially summarized the 4-step method of video creative production here to guide you to achieve marketing breakthrough step by step.

Step 1: Set marketing goals

For K12 education advertisers, before placing advertisements, they need to define their target audience based on their product positioning and set KPIs based on the advertising budget. Since all major companies are different, we will not explain in detail here. Our hope is that major advertisers will conduct marketing based on understanding the products and themselves, rather than blindly launching campaigns.

Step 2: Creative ideas

For advertising, creativity can be said to be the soul of the entire advertisement. So what should educational advertisers pay attention to when creating advertising creativity? What kind of creativity can be more popular with users? Here are two points:

The first is the type of advertisement . We counted six types of advertisements, including suspense, resonance, exaggeration, contrast, and reversal. We found that suspense advertisements have relatively better conversion effects. For example, the live broadcast class of Zuoyebang creates suspense through the plot of continuously delivering materials, piques the audience's interest, and arouses the user's curiosity. Then, the subsequent path is cleverly designed to reveal the suspense, strengthen the selling point, and deepen the brand impression.

(The current brand name is Zuoyebang Live Class)

The second is the product selling point . There are many selling points for course products. Which selling point do users value more? Data shows that among the many selling points such as course content, cost-effectiveness, teaching material content, and teaching quality, users particularly value the cost-effectiveness of the product and whether it helps their children's learning and thinking. Advertisements with these two product selling points have relatively high CVR and CTR. For example, the video below shows that by opening a gift box, users only spend 9 yuan to get a lot of teaching materials, thus demonstrating the high cost-effectiveness of the product.

(The current brand name is Zuoyebang Live Class)

Step 3: Creative Content

A complete video ad covers a lot of content, such as whether the video cover is eye-catching, whether users can see it at a glance when browsing the app and have enough interest to click to watch, such as the video content and advancement, time, location, characters, props, and performance form must be specifically detailed in the script, as well as subtitle style, soundtrack, etc. What should be paid attention to when targeting video advertising materials in the education industry? Combined with the data statistics from January to March 2020, there are roughly the following points:

Form and scene - There are many ways to interpret videos. Educational ones are mostly lectures, writing, interviews, situational dramas, oral broadcasts, etc. The video backgrounds are mostly offices, homes, classrooms, roads, or simply building a curtain background. Among them, the situational drama format is more effective and life scenes can bring users closer.

Number of characters - Compared with a single character, the setting of multiple characters is better, and the setting of characters with colleague relationships is easier to enhance the user experience.

Props and costumes - In educational ads, lifelike character costumes can narrow the distance between the product and users and trigger resonance; and setting up some value-added props like "opening gift boxes" can attract users' attention and prompt them to take action.

Step 4: Narrative Rhythm

There is a classic rhythm in video playback: when playing, the cover should be eye-catching - the golden 3-5 seconds, set incentives/interest points to stimulate user interest (the CVR of highlighting interest points or conflict points in the first 5 seconds is the highest) - in the first 20 seconds, introduce product selling points to let users recognize the value of the product - after 20 seconds, highlight the brand to enhance trust, clarify action guidelines, and guide purchases.

For example, in the following video case, in the first 5 seconds, an incentive is set to increase the math score from 60 to 140 to attract users' interest; the first 20 seconds introduce the teacher's solid background and math knowledge point learning methods to enhance users' awareness of the product's value; in the last 20 seconds, the brand is highlighted to users to enhance trust and guide users to purchase courses. Judging from the results, the conversion rate of this video exceeds that of similar spoken materials by 30%.

Having said so much, let me finally highlight the key points~

Please save the following two pictures, the conversion effect will live up to your expectations.

Author: Alibaba Innovation Business Group Intelligent Marketing Platform

Source: Alibaba Innovation Group Intelligent Marketing Platform