A better way to choose your cover photo

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We have seen many folks trial and error in figuring out what picture to use for their cover photo. This can be the cover photo for your direct booking site or the cover photo on the major OTAs—either way, you want to lead with the photo that draws people in.

We’re data nerds here at CraftedStays so we try to make decisions that are based of data.

Method 1: Airbnb Insights

One way you can choose your cover photo is to run various tests on Airbnb

  1. Assign your best guest of a cover photo
  2. Make note of when you assigned this photo (a google doc or notes doc will suffice, just make sure you know which photo you assigned that day)
  3. Go to your Airbnb account and go to the insights tab
    • Go to Conversions > Booking Conversions
    • Select the listing on the top of the page
    • You’ll see on the top of the page “Average search-to-listing conversion”. Make note of the conversion rate.
  4. Reassign another photo and run another test. It’s best to run it one week a time.
  5. Compare results after running enough iterations of your best photos.

The better way to do this is to test simultaneously using Meta ads.

Method 2: Ad Variations

  1. Create a Facebook profile for your business.
  2. Go to your Ads Manager (business.facebook.com/adsmanager)
  3. Setup your campaign
    • Name your Campaign: Name it something like Property name – Cover Photo Test
    • Create a new ad, Type: Auction Campaign, Objective: Traffic
    • Budget Optimizer: Choose “Ad Set Budget Optimizer”
    • Do not set “Create A/B Test”
  4. Create Your Testing Ad Sets
    • Name the Ad Set: Name it “Cover Photo Ads”
    • Set Conversion to website. You can enter your direct booking site or Airbnb listing. This way any traffic will also help you drive more traffic to your booking site.
    • Budget and Schedule: Set your budget anywhere from $10-50
    • Audience Locations: For finer control, set the location to where your guests usually come from. (optional)
    • Select Publish
  5. Create Your Testing Ad Sets
    • Name the Ad Set: Name it “Cover Photo Ads”
    • Set Conversion to website. You can enter your direct booking site or Airbnb listing. This way any traffic will also help you drive more traffic to your booking site.
    • Budget and Schedule: Set your budget anywhere from $10-50
    • Audience Locations: For finer control, set the location to where your guests usually come from. (optional)
    • Select Publish
  6. Create an Ad Variation
    • Fill out Ad Creative
      • Add one of your cover photos that you want to test
      • Fill in Primary Text, Headline, and Description.
      • Set call to action to “Learn more”
    • Choose the destination you want people to land to when they click your site. For this test it’s not important but it doesn’t hurt to drive people to your booking site for an added bonus.
  1. Duplicate a new variation
    • On the left side panel next to the newly created ad, select the three dots, and choose “Quick duplicate”
    • Name the new ad
    • Change only the photo – ! Important ! do not change any other copy. This may through off your test.
  1. Schedule or set your ad to run.
  2. Monitor your ads
    • Let the ad run for at least 5 days.
  3. Review results. Look for the one with the greatest click-through

Based on the ads above, the first ad listed was the most effective, with a click-through rate of 3.9% compared to the other ones, which were ~2.0%.

If you’re interested in more tips on how to drive more bookings by leveraging data and other tactics download our free ebook.

Whether if it’s for your direct booking site or airbnb page, make sure you’re optimizing your images for the best conversions.

Running quick tests will help you optimize your listings and ensure that you’re not losing people before they had a chance to view your property.

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