Welcome to TouchPoints, the newsletter that breaks down marketing collateral from top SAAS brands for inspiration and analysis.

This week we’re looking at Walnut’s homepage and Linkedin ads from LastPass and Algolia.

Walnut

Full Homepage

Homepage Hero

Test Multiple Headlines

When I first took the screenshot of Walnut's homepage, it read "create software demos that win deals"

When I refreshed, it read "Buyers will go nuts over your demos".

I couldn't find a third option, but I found some interesting similarities between these two:

Both combine a capability (demos) and an outcome (won deals, buyers going nuts).

My theory? They are testing the more straightforward "win deals" against the more tongue-in-cheek "go nuts" since their platform is literally named after a species of nut.

At the end of the day, I think they are both pretty great. Economical with the word count, and covering the two most important elements of messaging: capabilities and Outcomes.

I'm very curious as to which one is performing better.

LastPass

Linkedin Ad

Let Your Readers Connect The Dots

Lastpass's ad image is fairly minimal.

No screenshot. No stock image.

Just a giant statistic.

They don't even directly connect it back to their caption after the fact.

I am a fan of this concept.

There is really only one thing the ad NEEDS to convey, and that is the figure.

44% of hacks caused by human error involve phishing.

If the reader is REMOTELY in market, they will want to learn more about this stat.

While I like this approach of letting the prospect do some of the work, I think a smaller headline in the graphic that reads "learn how LastPass can help you secure your company's IT infrastructure" would improve the ad.

Algolia

Linkedin Ad

Don't Start an Ad With Fluff

Over the past 6 months, I have addressed different types of "fluff" that i see in ads and on websites.

Innocent fluff, malicious fluff, useful fluff, etc.

Usually when fluff is innocent or useful, you're already on a company's website.

Fluff can be a poetic, if ultimately vague way of driving home a point.

Starting an ad with search? Not a good decision in my book.

"Search is more than a search box" tells us NOTHING about what Algolia's product does.

My suggestion? Lean into the niche/persona callout below, and start the ad caption with:

"Hey Retailers! Your customers are using search. Is your site ready for that?"

Other than this, I think the ad does a very good job of highlighting a pretty great sounding value proposition (39% increase in conversion rates).

Any Questions?

Looking for more explanation about the elements of messaging that I highlight? Check out my guide here.

Anything further? I'm happy to take a break from exploring the wider world of marketing & eating chocolate chip cookies to address your questions.

Email me here.

Acknowledgements

I would like to extend our thanks to the following companies for providing examples and insights that made this edition of TouchPoints possible:

• Adfolio - For their awesome repository of B2B ads, with excellent commentary.

• Founderway.AI - An awesome resource that helped me better figure out how to run this newsletter, and forever friends of TouchPoints.

• Concise Copy - Pavlo is an absolute expert at homepage copy. Check out his value prop canvas for a super useful resource.

• Growth Therapy - Amanda is more B2C than me, but her insights about paid media and growth marketing are always welcome.

I sincerely appreciate these folks for providing great content and inspiration. It's great thinkers like these that allow me to deliver the best of modern SaaS marketing to you, our subscribers, every week in TouchPoints.