Overview

For Pawrade, we tested two ad creative approaches—playful/fun and emotional/sentimental—to see how they performed across the funnel. Our goal was to determine which type of messaging drove more conversions and higher ROAS at the top of the funnel (prospecting) and the bottom of the funnel (retargeting).

Top of Funnel (Prospecting)

Outcome: Minimal Difference

At the top of the funnel, both the playful and emotional creative performed similarly. This suggests that during the awareness phase, lighthearted and sentimental messaging are equally effective in drawing interest.

Results

Playful Creative

• Purchases: 94

• Revenue: $196,739

• ROAS: 5.66

Emotional Creative

• Purchases: 95

• Revenue: $173,499

• ROAS: 5.43

The slight difference in ROAS indicates that at this stage, users are more focused on exploring options rather than being swayed by emotional messaging.

Bottom of Funnel (Remarketing)

Outcome: Emotional Creative Drives Results

At the bottom of the funnel, emotional creative significantly outperformed playful messaging. As users neared a purchase decision, ads that tapped into their emotions led to higher engagement and conversions.

Results

Playful Creative

• Purchases: 17

• Revenue: $34,440

• ROAS: 4.50

Emotional Creative

• Purchases: 57

• Revenue: $121,380

• ROAS: 6.44

The emotional creative delivered 3x more purchases and nearly 3.5x more revenue. This suggests that, at the decision-making phase, customers responded better to messaging that spoke to the emotional commitment of buying a puppy.

Key Insights

Top of Funnel: Playful and emotional creative were equally effective at capturing attention.

Bottom of Funnel: Emotional messaging was far more successful in driving conversions and revenue.

Conclusion

This case study highlights the importance of matching ad messaging to the user’s stage in the funnel. Fun, playful ads worked well for awareness, but emotional storytelling was key in converting users at the final decision stage, proving that emotional resonance matters most when closing the sale.