The Brand: A company that helps moms acquire breast pumps and maternal supplies through insurance.
The Goal: Increase CTR and lower CPM by testing which style of background drives better results.
The Test: We created two static ads: one with a colorful gradient background from a stock website and the other with an AI-generated hot-pink fabric in the background. Outside of the backgrounds, the ads are entirely identical. We'll test the performance of one against the other.
Our Hypothesis: People are used to seeing ads with fancy-looking gradients and solid-color backgrounds, but what if we add a touch of cohesiveness to make the product/text overlay stand out more? We hypothesized that the ad with the AI-assisted background would immediately stand out and compel users to stop scrolling.
The Outcome: The ad with the stock background generated a massive 673% more leads thanks to its significantly higher conversion rate. Despite a slightly lower CPM, this creative was more successful at turning views into actions.
Surprisingly, both ads had nearly identical CTRs, showing us that while both styles caught attention, it’s how the ad resonates after that initial click that really drives results.
Our Takeaway: AI-assisted backgrounds might look eye-catching, but they’re not resonating with this audience—at least, not yet. Stock-style visuals are still proving to be more effective at converting. Here, it may be because the AI background can distract from the real hero of the ad, which here is a coveted, well-known pump. It’s a reminder that design innovation needs to be balanced with performance.