Display ads' best practices have changed a lot as digital advertising has grown. In 2024, making effective ads requires you to understand both design basics and technical needs to stand out online. According to Meetanshi, display ads across industries get clicked 0.46% of the time, which shows why advertisers need to improve their ad design and strategy to get more clicks. As digital ads get more advanced, marketers change how they work to create display ads that not only get attention but also get results.
You know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, in digital advertising, it needs to be worth a thousand clicks, too. And speaking of worth—PPC Land reported that display advertising CPM increased by 47% in Q2 2024 compared to last year. With costs rising so much, it's more important than ever to make sure every part of your display advertising plan works as well as it can.
Strategies for effective display ads: Design tips and successful practices
Mastering display ad design fundamentals
Good display ads start with understanding and using basic design rules. Visual order helps guide people's eyes through your ad content, making sure they see your message properly. This becomes particularly important when you consider that you have mere seconds to capture attention online. Good visual order starts with size and position—your main message should be the largest and most prominent element, followed by supporting information in descending order of importance.
Colors play a significant role in brand recognition and emotional response. Studies show that keeping your brand's look the same across all platforms can increase sales by up to 23%, which shows why design matters so much for long-term success. Beyond matching your brand, colors evoke specific emotions and reactions from your audience. For example, blue often makes people trust you more, while red can create a sense of urgency or excitement.
When it comes to text, successful display ads need careful font choices and setup. Here are the main things to think about for text:
Screen readability: Pick fonts that stay clear no matter what device or screen size someone uses. This means testing your chosen fonts on many different devices and screen types to make sure people can read them easily, even when they're small. Many designers choose sans-serif fonts for digital display ads because they're easier to read at different sizes and on different screens.
Font weight changes: Use different thicknesses of the same font to show what's most important and create emphasis. This approach allows you to maintain consistency while making certain parts stand out and showing readers where to look first. The difference between thin, normal, and bold text can help make a clear order of importance without using too many different fonts that might make your ad look messy.
Letter spacing: Pay attention to how close letters are to each other and how much space is between lines. Getting these spaces right makes your text easy to read and look professional, which really matters in display ads where people decide very quickly whether to pay attention. Testing different spacing options helps you find the perfect mix of looking good and being easy to read.
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Creating compelling ad content
Your ad needs to show value right away while keeping people interested. With ad costs going up, as PPC Land reports, it's more important than ever to make content that gets people to take action. Start with a clear message that shows how you solve your audience's problems. Your main benefit should be obvious right away and answer why someone should care about your ad.
Making good ad content requires understanding what your audience wants and what problems they face. Think about these key things when writing your message:
Main benefit: What's the best thing your product or service does? This should be clear and speak to what your audience needs. Present the benefit in a way that matches what your audience wants to achieve, making them more likely to click your ad.
Emotional connection: How does your product make customers' lives better? Your ad should tap into the feelings that make your audience want to act. This means knowing the deeper benefits of what you're selling and showing them through both pictures and words.
Trust builders: What proves your claims are true? Adding real customer reviews, awards, or numbers can help build trust with your audience. Put these trust signals into your design carefully so they support your main message without taking over.
Time pressure: Why should someone act now? Create real reasons for quick action to get people to respond, but keep it honest to maintain trust. This might include limited-time deals, seasonal offers, or special chances that encourage quick decisions.
CTAs must be easy to see and convincing. According to WordStream, different industries get very different conversion rates—from 1.96% in advocacy to 9.64% in dating websites. Your buttons should match what works in your industry and what your audience expects. The best CTAs include:
Action words: Use strong words that make people want to click right away. Make your message direct and clear about what you want people to do. This might mean using phrases like "Get Started," "Learn More," or "Shop Now," depending on what you want to achieve and who you're talking to.
Clear value proposition: Tell people exactly what they'll get when they click. Being clear helps build trust and sets the right expectations, leading to better results. The benefits you offer should match exactly what your target audience wants and needs.
Stand-out design: Make your CTA button easy to find in your ad. This involves careful consideration of color contrast, size, and positioning within the ad layout. The button should be easy to spot without overwhelming the overall design.
Message clarity: Every word must serve a purpose. Technical terms and industry-specific language should only be used when they add genuine value to your message and when you're certain your audience will understand them. Otherwise, people should understand your message instantly, so use simple, direct words that clearly show why someone should choose your product or service. When checking your ad copy, consider how quickly it gets your point across and whether it speaks to your audience. Therefore, we encourage A/B testing your ads with small groups to see how well your message works.
Technical specifications and format requirements
Getting the technical details right ensures your ads show up correctly everywhere. Considering the previously mentioned low click rates, every technical detail must be perfect to get the best chance of engagement.
Image resolution requirements demand careful attention to detail and an understanding of different display environments. Regular screens need images at 72-96 DPI, while high-resolution retina displays need 144-192 DPI. Using vector graphics helps keep your ads looking good at any size, making them great for logos and brand images.
Choosing the right file type affects both how good your ad looks and how fast it loads. Each file type works best for different things:
PNG files: Best for images that need see-through parts or sharp edges. This type keeps images looking good while letting you have transparent backgrounds, perfect for logos and text graphics. Just remember to keep file sizes small with good compression.
JPEG files: Ideal for photographs and complex images with many colors. This format offers excellent compression capabilities while maintaining visual quality, making it great for display ads with product photos or lifestyle pictures. The key is finding the right balance between file size and quality to ensure ads load quickly but still look good.
SVG files: Perfect for graphics and logos that must stay sharp at any size. This type works especially well for ads that change size to fit different spaces while staying clear and sharp. SVGs are usually smaller files than other types, which helps ads load faster.
Animation and interactive elements require careful consideration of technical limitations and user experience factors. When adding these features, think about:
Frame rate optimization: Balance smooth animation with performance requirements. Most platforms recommend keeping frame rates between 24-30 fps for optimal performance. This ensures smooth animation while keeping files small enough to load quickly. Also, have a non-moving version ready for places where animation might not work.
Time limits: Follow each platform's rules about how long animations can run. Most limit animations to 15-30 seconds; some want them even shorter. This helps keep people's attention without annoying them.
Interactive features: Follow platform rules and what users expect. When adding interactive elements, ensure they are noticeable but not overwhelming, and consider touch-friendly design for mobile devices (because, let's face it, that's where most of us live now).
Testing and optimization strategies
A step-by-step approach to testing can make your ads work much better. Start by testing one thing at a time before trying multiple changes together. According to StoreGrowers, businesses pay about $65.80 for each action from display ads, which shows why improving your ads is important for saving money.
Setting up your starting point helps you test better. Start by gathering all the information about how your current ads are doing, including click rates, conversion rates, and how people interact with your ads. This information helps you set realistic goals and find the most important elements to test.
Choosing what to test needs careful planning to get useful results. Think about testing things that could really change how well your ads work:
Design parts: Try different layouts, color combinations, and ways to arrange your message. Test different arrangements of your key message elements to find the most effective composition. These tests should focus on one element at a time to clearly identify what makes a difference.
Copy variations: Test different approaches to your value proposition and call-to-action. Experiment with various messaging styles, tones, and value propositions to identify what resonates most strongly with your target audience. This might include testing different benefit statements, emotional appeals, or urgency drivers.
Targeting parameters: Refine your audience targeting through systematic testing. Experiment with different demographic, behavioral, and interest-based targeting combinations to find your most responsive audience segments. Track performance across different targeting parameters to optimize your reach and engagement.
Speaking of making testing easier—have you tried The Brief's ad design platform yet? It makes testing simple with tools that help you create, run, and understand different ad versions. This way, you can quickly make changes based on test results, so your ads keep getting better over time.
Image: The Brief
Looking at how display ads perform needs a complete approach that looks at many different measurements and how they work together. Focus on those that match your campaign goals while also watching other signs that might show ways to improve.
Key measurements should be tracked regularly and understood in context:
Main numbers tracking: Watch the most important measurements that directly show if your campaign is working. Click-through rates, conversion rates, and cost per acquisition give you quick feedback on how your ads perform.
Supporting numbers analysis: Track extra measurements that give more context and insights. Time spent looking at ads, interaction rates, and view-through conversions can show important patterns in how people use your ads.
Platform-specific considerations
Different advertising platforms have their own rules and best practices that need careful attention. Each platform serves different user behaviors and expectations, so don't hesitate to adjust your approach.
Google Display Network has specific technical and content rules advertisers must follow. Image quality standards are very strict, requiring sharp, professional pictures that meet exact size requirements. Text must stay within character limits while keeping the message clear and impactful. Rules about movement in ads apply to both how long they can run and file size, requiring careful work to make sure ads load quickly and show correctly.
Facebook and Instagram also present unique opportunities and challenges for display advertisers. These platforms want ads that look natural in users' feeds. When setting up your Facebook ads, you'll need to choose between several format options, with single image/video being the most straightforward choice for beginners. While Facebook offers flexible automatic formatting, manually uploading and controlling your creative assets gives you more precise control over how your ads appear in users' feeds.
Image size requirements change depending on where the ad appears, so you must plan this during design. Rules about how much text can overlay images can affect whether ads get approved and how well they work, so you need to balance getting your message across with following platform rules.
LinkedIn's professional environment, however, needs a different display advertising approach. Content must stay business-appropriate while still engaging professional audiences. Image sizes often differ from other platforms, so you need separate versions optimized for LinkedIn's specific setup. The platform's targeting abilities let you reach specific professional audiences, making it valuable for B2B advertising.
Understanding these requirements helps ensure your ads show up correctly and work well across all channels.
Programmatic advertising adds more complexity to display ad setup. Success in programmatic requires understanding:
Dynamic content adaptation: Create flexible ad designs that work across different placements and contexts from the very start. This means making templates that can handle various content combinations while staying visually appealing and keeping the message clear.
Cross-platform compatibility: Make sure your ads work well across different platforms and devices. This needs careful attention to technical details and how users actually experience them.
Real-time bidding needs: Prepare your ads for success in programmatic auctions. This includes making multiple ad versions to test performance and adjusting bids based on what the data shows. For example, here you can find the latest LinkedIn bidding strategies that actually work.
Advanced targeting and personalization
According to PPC Land, consumer confidence has been going down since Q2 2024, making exact targeting more important than ever. This change in how consumers behave requires advertisers to be more strategic and intentional in their targeting approaches, ensuring their messages reach the most receptive audiences in time.
Behavioral targeting means using information about how users interact with content to show more relevant ads. Website interaction history tells you a lot about what they want and like. By looking at how users move through your site, which pages they visit, and how long they spend with different types of content, you can make more targeted advertising approaches. This information helps identify users who are most likely to buy, letting you adjust your messages and offers for them.
Purchase behavior patterns give another important way to target:
Recent purchase study: Look at buying patterns to guess future needs and interests. This means looking at not just what customers buy but when and how they make purchases. Understanding these patterns helps you time your advertising to match when people naturally buy things.
Related product potential: Find chances to show customers related products or services. By looking at purchase history across different categories, you can make targeted campaigns that show customers complementary items.
Frequency planning: Determine the best contact patterns based on customer buying cycles. This means carefully balancing how often you show ads to maintain awareness without annoying people. Regular analysis of response rates helps make these patterns better over time.
Understanding how your target audience uses content also helps you design better ad experiences:
Format choices: Study which types of content get the most engagement. Some audiences respond better to videos, while others prefer interactive or text-based formats. Understanding these preferences helps you make your ad design and delivery strategy better.
Timing patterns: Find out when your audience is most likely to respond to advertising messages. This includes both time of day and seasonal changes in engagement patterns. Use this information to schedule your ads for the best impact.
COLOR SCHEME: Blue gradient heatmap (light to dark) with accent colors:
Gold (peak ROI)
Green (best conversions)
Red (high competition alerts)
Purple (optimal budget periods)
MAIN ELEMENTS:
24-Hour Clock Visual (Left Side)
Circular heatmap showing hourly engagement
Overlay icons for device usage (mobile/desktop/tablet)
Peak times highlighted
12-Month Calendar View (Right Side)
Monthly blocks with intensity colors
Key shopping events marked
Season-specific overlays
KEY DATA POINTS TO VISUALIZE:
Prime time: 8-9 PM shopping peak
Lunch rush: 12-1 PM spike
Weekend patterns: 11 AM-4 PM sustained activity
Seasonal highlights (Spring launch, Summer sale, Back-to-school, Holiday)
Platform usage: Know where your audience spends their time online. Different platforms attract different user behaviors and expectations, requiring different approaches to content and messaging.
Geographic targeting adds another layer to display advertising strategies. Understanding local markets can greatly affect campaign success:
Cultural awareness: Consider local customs, preferences, and taboos in your ad design. This needs thorough research and sometimes local market experts to make sure your messages work well.
Language adaptation: Change your messages for local language differences and dialects. This means more than just translation – it includes cultural context and local expressions. Professional translation and localization services can help make sure your messages keep their impact across different markets.
Regional buying habits: Change your strategies based on local market conditions and consumer behavior. Different regions often have different shopping patterns, preferred ways to pay, and reasons for buying.
Measuring success and ROI
Instead of just counting clicks (that's so 2010), you need a complete measurement plan should look at both immediate performance indicators and longer-term business impact. This two-part approach ensures you're tracking both how well campaigns work right now and how they affect your broader business goals.
Main performance measurements need careful watching and analysis:
Conversion tracking: Set up strong systems to measure direct and assisted conversions. This involves setting up proper tracking pixels and ensuring all conversion points are properly monitored.
Cost analysis: Watch all parts of campaign costs to get the best return on investment. This includes not just ad spending but also production costs and resource use. Understanding your true costs structure helps make better decisions about improvements.
Revenue impact: Track how display advertising directly and indirectly affects revenue. This might include immediate sales attribution as well as longer-term customer value considerations. Advanced tracking models can help you understand the full impact of your display advertising efforts.
Image: 7-point breakdown for Understanding the Importance of Revenue Impact:
Sales Velocity Tracking: Track how quickly display ads convert to sales compared to other channels
Purchase Pattern Insights: Understand how display advertising influences buying frequency and order value
Campaign ROI Measurement: Calculate both immediate and long-term financial returns from ad investments
Customer Acquisition Cost Analysis: Compare acquisition costs across different display ad formats and platforms
Revenue Stream Diversification: Evaluate how display ads contribute to different product lines and services
Seasonal Performance Impact: Measure how display ad revenue varies across different seasonal periods
Market Share Growth: Track how display advertising contributes to overall market share expansion
Analytics setup forms the backbone of good performance measurement. Modern analytics platforms offer powerful ways to track and analyze display advertising performance:
Cross-channel tracking: Set up systems to watch performance across all advertising channels. This lets you understand how display advertising works with other marketing efforts. Connection between different analytics platforms ensures complete data collection and analysis.
Custom reporting: Develop specific reporting solutions that match your business needs. This might include custom dashboards, automated reports, and special analysis tools.
Data visualization: Create clear, informative visuals that help stakeholders understand campaign performance. Good data visualization makes complex data easier to understand and act on.
Campaign improvement should be seen as an ongoing process rather than a one-time effort. Regular analysis and adjustment of campaign elements help maintain and improve performance over time:
Weekly performance checks: Do a regular analysis of key performance indicators. This helps spot trends and potential issues early, allowing for quick fixes. Writing down findings and actions helps build knowledge over time.
Monthly strategy meetings: Schedule regular reviews to assess broader campaign performance. These meetings should involve key team members and focus on longer-term improvement opportunities. Regular strategy reviews help ensure campaigns continue to match business goals.
Quarterly planning: Develop complete plans for future campaign improvements. This includes setting new performance targets and identifying areas for testing and improvement. Long-term planning helps ensure continuous progress toward business goals.
The success of display advertising campaigns in 2024 depends on good planning, creative work, and constant improvement. By following these display ads' best practices, you can create campaigns that not only get attention but also deliver real results for your business.
Remember that the digital advertising world changes quickly, requiring constant attention to new trends and technologies. What works today might need changes tomorrow, so stay flexible and keep testing new approaches. Your dedication to making better display ads will pay off – in clicks, in conversions, and in creating those "aha!" moments that make digital advertising worth it.
The key to long-term success is finding the right balance between proven best practices and new ideas, always using data to guide you, and focusing on giving value to your target audience. After all, we're not just pushing pixels around a screen but creating connections that count.
