Researchers at University of Tsukuba examined Japanese-language Instagram advertisements to determine how the linguistic features of ad copy are associated with click-through rates (CTR). The findings reveal marked differences by product category. While linguistic expressions related to health risk and discrepancies between a current and an ideal state were positively associated with CTR in supplement advertisements, expressions related to visual perception, positive emotion, and motion were associated with higher CTR in cosmetic advertisements. This study provides one of the first large-scale empirical examinations of the association between linguistic features in Japanese-language Instagram ad copy and CTR across product categories.

Tsukuba, Japan—While research on social media advertising has largely focused on images, videos, and platform algorithms, the role of ad copy has received relatively little attention. This gap is especially evident in non-English contexts, such as Japan. In addition, the same word or expression may be interpreted differently depending on the advertised product.

To address this gap, the researchers analyzed a large dataset of Instagram advertisements in Japan between July 2021 and June 2023. The dataset included 12,206 supplement advertisements and 9,486 cosmetic advertisements. The text was analyzed using J-LIWC2015, a psycholinguistic dictionary designed for Japanese that categorizes words according to their psychological and semantic features to quantify linguistic patterns and examine their statistical relationship with click-through rate (CTR).

The analysis revealed that in supplement advertisements, words associated with risk or discrepancies were positively related to CTR. Meanwhile, in cosmetic advertisements, words related to visual perception or appearance, positive emotions, and motion were positively related to CTR. Notably, some linguistic features had differing effects depending on the product category. Motion-related language, for example, was associated with lower CTR in supplement advertisements but higher CTR in cosmetic advertisements. These results suggest that ad copy strategies should be tailored to the product category.

The findings provide large-scale empirical evidence that the relationship between the linguistic features of ad copy and CTR differs across product categories. The study thus offers practical insights to help marketers design more effective Instagram ad copy and contributes to research on how linguistic features are associated with user engagement in digital advertising environments, especially in non-English settings.

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This work was supported by JST-Mirai Program Grant Number JPMJMI23B1, Japan.

Original Paper

Title of original paper:

The impact of linguistic features on CTR in Instagram ads: A study of supplement and cosmetic products

Journal:

PLOS One

DOI:

10.1371/journal.pone.0338313

Correspondence

Associate Professor YOSHIDA Mitsuo
Institute of Business Sciences, University of Tsukuba

INOUE Kenjiro
Doctoral Program in Risk and Resilience Engineering, Degree Programs in Systems and Information Engineering, Graduate School of Science and Technology, University of Tsukuba

Related Link

Institute of Business Sciences

Master's / Doctoral Program in Risk and Resilience Engineering