Analysis of Psychographic Indicators via LIWC and Their Correlation with CTR for Instagram Ads

Abstract

The online advertising industry continues to grow and accounts for over 40% of global advertising spending. Online display advertising consists of images and text, and advertisers maximize sales revenue by contacting consumers through advertisements and encouraging them to make purchases. In today's society, where products are becoming more homogenized and needs are diversifying, appealing to consumer psychology through advertisements is becoming increasingly important. However, it is not sufficiently clear what kind of appeal influences consumer psychology. In this study, we quantified the appeal of the text in advertisements for health products and cosmetics, which were actually delivered in Instagram advertisements (one of display advertisements), by applying linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC). The correlation between click-through rate (CTR) and the text was analyzed. The results showed that negative appeals that arouse consumer anxiety and a sense of crisis were related to CTR.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Instagram ads: Users who use Instagram have a high awareness of images and videos, and it is desirable to have advertisements that do not create a sense of discomfort.
• Figure 2: Product category CTR box plot: Compared to health products, cosmetics have a smaller distribution of CTR. Cosmetics primarily promise benefits related to beautiful and healthy skin maintenance, resulting in relatively consistent effects across different products.This leads to increased competition and a tendency for a smaller CTR distribution.
• Figure 3: Distribution of mean values by psychological categories (main text): In health products, the occurrence rate of "cause" is high, and it contains words such as "ideal," "insufficient," "countermeasure," and "method" that stimulate triggers.
• Figure 4: Distribution of mean values by psychological categories(In-image text): Cosmetics, similar to the main text, have a higher occurrence rate of "relativi," and include words that indicate temporal deadlines, such as "特別キャンペーン12月31日まで！" (Special campaign until December 31st!).
• Figure 5: Health products (main text): Health products have a weak positive correlation between "Negative emotions (negemo)" and CTR. It is suggested that CTR increases by arousing target consumers' health consciousness through negative appeals when promoting the efficacy of the product.