Optimizing Cybersecurity Ads for a Mobile-First Audience

With a significant majority of ad impressions occurring on mobile devices, a mobile-first creative and campaign strategy is no longer optional—it's essential for success. This involves a fundamental shift toward creating experiences designed for smaller screens, shorter attention spans, and on-the-go consumption. Key pillars of this strategy include leveraging short-form video, ensuring landing pages are fully optimized for mobile, and streamlining the conversion process with native forms. Failing to adapt results in high click-through rates with low conversions, leading to wasted ad spend and missed opportunities with a highly engaged audience.

We see that 90% of our ad impressions are on mobile. How should this change our creative strategy?

A mobile-dominant audience requires a creative strategy centered on visual, easily digestible content. Static images are often too restrictive to convey complex cybersecurity solutions on a small screen.

The strategic shift should focus on:

Short-Form Video: Adopt short, compelling videos (under 30 seconds) to tell a richer story and explain the platform's value. This format is more effective for capturing attention and conveying information quickly to a mobile audience.
Multimedia Ads: Utilize multimedia ad formats, such as those on Bing, to increase visual appeal and improve click-through rates (CTR).
Attention-Grabbing Visuals: Creatives must be designed to capture attention immediately, incorporating elements like brand logos and key text to stand out in a fast-scrolling feed.

What are the best practices for designing mobile-first ad creatives?

Designing for a mobile-first audience means prioritizing clarity and immediate impact. Users scroll quickly, so the creative must be compelling at a glance.

Key best practices include:

Use Short, Engaging Video: Video is a powerful tool for storytelling on mobile, but it must be brief to hold attention. Aim for videos under 30 seconds that get straight to the point.
Incorporate Strong Visuals and Branding: Visuals are critical for increasing CTR. Ensure all creatives, whether static or video, include a clear logo and minimal, high-impact text to reinforce the brand and message.
Optimize for Vertical Viewing: Design creatives for vertical aspect ratios (like 4:5 or 9:16) to maximize screen real estate on mobile devices.
Design for Sound-Off Viewing: Since many users watch videos with the sound off, use clear on-screen text or captions to ensure your message is understood.

Are vertical video ads more effective than square or horizontal ads on mobile?

Yes, vertical video is generally more effective for mobile-first campaigns. Since over 94% of mobile users hold their phones vertically, vertical video provides a more natural and immersive viewing experience. It takes up more screen real estate, making the ad harder to ignore and increasing engagement.

Studies have shown that:

Vertical video ads can have up to 9 times more completed views than horizontal ads.
On platforms like Facebook, vertical video ads can achieve a significantly lower cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-view (CPV) compared to square videos.
LinkedIn supports vertical aspect ratios like 4:5 and 9:16, which are served exclusively to mobile users and are ideal for capturing attention in the feed.

While square (1:1) is a versatile format for both mobile and desktop, a vertical-first approach is recommended for campaigns targeting a predominantly mobile audience.

How do we ensure our ad copy is readable and compelling on a small screen?

On a small screen, ad copy must be concise, relevant, and persuasive to be effective.

Key strategies include:

Personalization: Dynamically insert the user's job title or company name into the ad copy. This makes the ad feel more personal and immediately relevant, increasing engagement.
Direct and Action-Oriented Language: Use a strong, active call-to-action (CTA). For example, phrasing like "Book Your Demo" or "Discover the Platform" is more compelling than a passive "Ask for a Demo."
Keyword Integration: For search ads, ensure the headlines and descriptions include the specific keywords being targeted. This improves the ad's quality score and relevance to the user's search.
Concise Messaging: Craft short, impactful headlines and copy that get straight to the point. Mobile users are scanning, not reading in-depth, so the core value proposition must be clear within the first few words.

Our landing pages are not mobile-optimized. What's the impact on our campaign performance?

Non-optimized mobile landing pages are a primary cause of poor campaign performance, specifically a high volume of clicks with a very low number of conversions. This indicates that the ad is successfully capturing interest, but the post-click experience is failing. Users abandon the page out of frustration, leading to wasted ad spend and a significant loss of high-intent leads. Research shows that over half of mobile users will abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load, and for every one-second delay, conversions can drop by up to 20%.

What are the key elements of a mobile-friendly landing page?

A mobile-friendly landing page must provide a focused, frictionless, and fast experience.

Key elements include:

Dedicated and Focused Design: Use a purpose-built landing page instead of a standard website page. Remove main navigation menus and other distracting elements to keep the user focused on the call-to-action.
Single, Clear Call-to-Action (CTA): The page should have one primary goal. The CTA should be prominent and use action-oriented language that matches the user's intent (e.g., "Talk to Your CSM" for existing customers instead of a generic "Book a Demo").
Message and Keyword Consistency: The landing page headline and copy must align with the ad the user clicked. Including the same keywords from the ad reinforces relevance and improves Google's quality score.
Concise and Scannable Content: Structure the page with short paragraphs, bullet points, and clear headings so users can quickly understand the value proposition.
Simplified Forms: Make forms as short as possible, asking only for essential information. For LinkedIn campaigns, using native Lead Gen Forms is the most effective approach.
Fast Load Speed: Mobile pages must load in under three seconds to prevent users from abandoning the site.

Should we be creating separate campaigns specifically for mobile users?

The internal discussions do not suggest creating separate campaigns for mobile users. The recommended strategy is to adopt a mobile-first approach across all campaigns. This means designing creatives, landing pages, and conversion paths that are optimized for a mobile experience by default. By providing platforms with mobile-optimized assets, such as vertical videos and links to fast-loading pages, their algorithms can effectively manage ad delivery across all devices without the need for manual segmentation.

How does user behavior on mobile differ from desktop for cybersecurity professionals?

While the provided context doesn't offer specific data on cybersecurity professionals, general user behavior trends show significant differences between mobile and desktop. Mobile users are typically on-the-go, have shorter attention spans, and are less patient with slow-loading pages. They spend less time on sites compared to desktop users. Conversely, desktop usage is often associated with the workplace and more complex, in-depth tasks, leading to longer engagement times. Professionals may use different search engines depending on the context, with some cybersecurity personnel potentially using Bing at work instead of Google. Given these trends, mobile ad experiences must be quick, visually engaging, and offer a low-friction path to conversion to be successful.

Are document ads on LinkedIn a good experience on a mobile device?

Yes, Document Ads paired with native LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms are considered the best-performing ad format. This format allows users to download content like ebooks and white papers directly within the LinkedIn app. The key to their success on mobile is the integrated Lead Gen Form, which pre-fills with the user's profile data, creating a seamless, one-click conversion experience. This removes the major friction point of forcing a user to visit an external landing page, which may be slow or difficult to navigate on a mobile device. Their high performance indicates a positive and effective mobile experience.

How can we make our forms easier to fill out on a mobile phone?

The most effective method discussed is to bypass traditional forms altogether by using LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms. These native forms are inherently mobile-friendly as they pre-populate with the user's profile information, reducing the process to a single click.

For on-page forms, the guiding principle is to minimize friction:

Keep it Short: Make forms as brief as possible. For top-of-funnel content or when targeting existing customers, ask only for the most essential information, such as a name and email address.
Use a Single Column Layout: Ensure the form is designed in a single column for easy vertical scrolling on a mobile device.
Large Touch Targets: Form fields and buttons should be large enough to be easily tapped.

Does page load speed matter more on mobile, and how can we improve it?

Yes, page load speed is critically important on mobile. Mobile users are less patient, and research shows that over 53% will abandon a site that takes longer than three seconds to load. A one-second delay in mobile page load time can decrease conversions by as much as 20%.

To improve mobile page speed:

Optimize Media: Compress all images and use modern, lightweight formats like WebP.
Minify Code: Reduce the size of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files by removing unnecessary characters and spaces.
Leverage Browser Caching: Store parts of your site on a user's device so it doesn't have to be re-downloaded on subsequent visits.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN): A CDN stores copies of your site on servers around the world, reducing the distance data has to travel and thus speeding up load times.
Prioritize Above-the-Fold Content: Load the visible part of the page first so the user can begin interacting immediately while the rest of the page loads in the background.

A highly effective strategy is to use native ad formats like LinkedIn Lead Gen Forms, which capture lead information without sending the user to an external landing page, thereby completely bypassing any page speed issues.

Are there certain ad formats we should avoid completely for mobile campaigns?

The internal discussions do not recommend completely avoiding any specific ad format. However, they strongly caution against relying solely on a single static image for campaigns with complex messages, as this format is considered "too restrictive" to effectively tell a story or explain a platform's features. The strategy advocates for using richer, more dynamic formats like short-form video to better engage a mobile audience. While carousel ads were mentioned as unavailable in a specific beta program, this was not a general recommendation to avoid them. The choice of format should ultimately be driven by the campaign goal and the complexity of the message being delivered.