You’ve got 8 seconds. Did your ad make an impact?
May 22, 2025
You have 8 seconds to get your customer to take action with your ad. What makes them pause? What makes them click? The headline and message? The image? The colors? It’s not just one thing. It’s everything. From the customer sales funnel to the images you choose, we’ll show you how to create ads that grab attention and drive action.
The customer sales funnel
When you invest in advertising, you need to understand how your customers make decisions. When someone is thinking about buying something, their journey is mapped out through the customer sales funnel, a step-by-step process that guides potential customers from initial interest to actual purchase:
Branding & Awareness: Make customers aware of who you are and what you offer
Your customer: People who may not know you yet
Your ad message: Build familiarity and trust with your business
Potential ad tactics:
Over-the-top (OTT)/Connected TV (CTV) – Reach customers streaming their shows
Streaming audio – Target customers while listening to music or podcasts
YouTube – Use visual ads to draw attention to your products or services
Consideration & Evaluation: Prove your value to potential customers
Your customer: Interested people looking for solutions
Your ad message: Showcase benefits and build credibility
Potential ad tactics:
Display – Keep your business top-of-mind as they browse online
Pre roll – Reach customers with short video ads before content plays
Email – Share personalized, relatable content in their inbox
Actions & Conversions: Your customer is ready to make a decision and take action
Your customer: People ready to make a purchase
Your ad message: Drive action with easy call-to-action details
Potential ad tactics:
Geofence – Target your customers based on their locations
Social – Create a sense of urgency and engagement for your customers
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – Make sure customers find you when searching
What draws attention
Studies show that a person is more likely to notice an ad if it’s relevant to them. If a person is looking for a new car, ads for cars are more likely to draw attention. And psychology tells us that when someone sees an ad, their brain starts to process all of the information. As this takes up mental energy, the brain looks for shortcuts.
The principle of least effort shortcut is when an ad easily grabs attention, your customer is more likely to look at it because it’s not wasting energy to process it. In addition, customers are more likely to remember an ad if it’s unexpected and eye-catching. Bottom line, if you want people to notice and remember your ad, make it matter to them and make it easy to understand.
The ad headline
On average 70-80% of people only read headlines, so you’ll want to pay special attention to how you introduce your ad. What makes a good headline? It must be clear, concise and get your customer to take action.
5 characteristics of attention-grabbing headlines:
Simple to understand. Your headline must help the customer understand the main point of the ad.
The right length. Headlines that are 5-10 words or shorter perform the best.
Connect emotionally. The headline copy must make your customer pause and read more.
Target your audience. The headline must appeal to your target audience. Don’t try to sell to everyone.
Write several options. Compare headlines and tweak until you have the strongest one.
Source: Copywriter Collective
Tips for writing your ad headline:
Know your target audience
Know what your audience cares about
Know why your audience should buy from you
Understand the characteristics that grab attention
The ad message
Once you’ve got a great headline, you need to focus on the rest of the ad copy. Your main goal is to prompt action by telling the customer what to do — whether it’s to make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter or learn more about a new product.
10 ad copy recommendations to explore:
Solve your customer’s pain points: Write ad copy relevant to your audience that actually means something to them.
Analyze your competition: Review competitor ads to see what content works for them.
Highlight the benefits: List the benefits of your product or services instead of the features.
Be friendly: Talk directly to your customer by using the word “you” to make the ad more personal.
Use action words: Motivate your audience with action words to create a sense of excitement and urgency.
Add emotion trigger words: Emotional words like secret, hurry or discover will drive higher conversions.
Be simple: Simple ad copy helps your customer understand your main point right away and encourage them to take action.
Include a call-to-action (CTA): A strong CTA is clear, relevant and action-oriented (like subscribe or buy now).
Optimize for mobile: Be sure to optimize your ad copy for smaller screens for a better customer experience.
Test and refine: Try multiple versions of your ad copy to see which performs best and resonates with your customer.
Source: Semrus
Tips and tricks for writing ad copy:
Frame your message around what your target audience wants and needs.
Use short sentences, bullet points and white space to guide the eye. Don’t use fluff.
Be authentic but use applicable power words like proven, guaranteed and exclusive.
Include specific details and statistics that validate what you say.
Stay on brand and build trust with a consistent tone and voice.
The ad image
Images that stand out and convey your value proposition work best. A study found that content with good images has 94% more views than those without.
4 reasons images matter in your advertising:
Images capture emotion: A smiling couple, a breathtaking landscape or a winning triumph tap directly into the customer’s emotions. Images that elicit emotion drive connection, and connection builds relationships.
Why it matters: People are more likely to remember how your brand made them feel than what it said.
Takeaway: Choose images that create the emotional response you want your customer to experience.
Images build credibility: High-quality visuals signal professionalism and represent your brand.
Why it matters: Visuals are often the first impression your customers get, so make it count.
Takeaway: Invest in professional photography or stock images that align with your brand identity.
Images sell an experience: While you are selling a product or service, the right imagery creates what it ‘feels’ like to experience owning your product or service.
Why it matters: Customers want to envision themselves in the story you’re telling.
Takeaway: Use images that reflect your customer’s values and needs.
Images express benefits: A product image that shows how it is used conveys its benefits faster than a list of features.
Why it matters: 90% of information transmission to the brain is visual, and the brain processes an image in 13 milliseconds.
Takeaway: Let the image do the selling to your customer.
Tips and tricks for choosing advertising images:
The best ads start with a strong visual and take-home message.
Organize your ad visually and use complementary graphics and artwork styles.
Be concise and direct, using minimal words.
Let images do the talking to convey the story you are trying to tell.
The ad colors
Picking the right colors helps you communicate the message to your customers. Your color choice impacts how customers view your brand and influences their purchase intent.
Keep in mind what colors represent on the color wheel:
Primary colors are red, yellow and blue.
Secondary colors are made when you mix two primary colors to create green, orange and purple.
Tertiary colors are made by combining primary and secondary colors.
5 key brand color personalities and their matching emotions to make a mark:
Blues
Personality: Honest, wholesome, cheerful
Emotion: Trust
Reds
Personality: Daring, spirited, imaginative
Emotion: Urgency
Greens
Personality: Reliable, intelligent, successful
Emotion: Harmony
Purples
Personality: Creativity, intuition, spiritual
Emotion: Peaceful
Browns
Personality: Outdoorsy, tough, practical
Emotion: Dependable
Tips and tricks when using colors in advertising:
Choose a color combination with opposing hues on the color wheel to create bold advertising.
Don’t use too many distinct colors as it may make the ad look cluttered and distract from the message.
Saturation, the intensity of the color, is effective to highlight or emphasize specifics in an ad.
Consider your audience, as men generally prefer bold colors, while women prefer softer colors.
Capture your audience’s attention within those first 8 seconds by understanding the customer sales funnel and crafting compelling headlines and messages. Remember to tailor your approach to your target audience and continually test and refine your ads to maximize impact. With the right strategies in place, you can create memorable advertisements that resonate and convert.
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