I thought AI ad copy was lazy writing, then A/B tested it against my own copy for 6 weeks
I run ads for a few rental listings here in Phoenix, and I always wrote my own headlines because I figured AI would just spit out the same cheesy 'Welcome Home!' stuff you see everywhere. Back in January I ran two Facebook campaigns side by side for the same duplex, one with my handwritten copy and one with headlines a tool called AdCreative generated. I was sure mine would crush it. After 6 weeks and about $400 in spend, the AI version got 312 clicks versus 187 for mine, and the cost per lead was $9.40 against $16.20. I still write the final version myself, but now I always feed the AI my notes first and let it give me 10 options, then I pick the one that sounds least like a robot wrote it. Has anyone else found that the AI copy wins on the boring, direct stuff but loses when you need a little local flavor?