MIKA&CO
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The pre-sell guide: advertorials and listicles for cold traffic

When a pre-sell is mandatory

  • The product needs explanation (new mechanism, new category, sceptical topic).
  • Cold traffic from Meta or TikTok: the visitor knows neither the brand nor the solution.
  • AOV above the impulse threshold: the higher the price, the longer the persuasion path.
  • PDP conversion on cold traffic sits below 1 %, the signal that the bridge is missing.

Format 1 · The advertorial

  • Structure: hook problem, failed solutions, mechanism discovery, proof, soft CTA.
  • Told from the customer perspective, not the brand perspective. Reading mode lowers ad resistance.
  • One exit: every link leads to the same PDP. No menu, no footer maze.
  • Label it as advertising properly. Legally required and, with good content, not a conversion killer.

Format 2 · The listicle

  • "5 reasons why...": skimmable, mobile, each point a reason to buy with a mini proof.
  • Point one delivers the ad promise verbatim (message match), point five ends in the offer.
  • Between points three and four sits the objection block ("what if it does not work for me?" leading to the guarantee).
  • The most stable format for Meta: it works across almost every product category from the first test.

Format 3 · The quiz funnel

  • Three to five questions, then a reasoned recommendation. Advice as a conversion mechanism.
  • The results page is the actual sales page: "based on your answer X, Y fits".
  • Every answer becomes a zero-party data point for email segments and ad angles.
  • An email gate before the result is fair if the result is worth the trade.

The five pre-sell killers

  • Message mismatch: the ad promises A, the page tells B.
  • Too many exits: navigation, footer links, popups. Every door costs conversions.
  • Load time above 3 s on 4G: bought attention dies in the spinner.
  • Brand ego: the pre-sell sells the problem and the solution, not the founding story.
  • No proof within scrolling distance: after every claim the brain wants a reason to believe.

Pre-sell pages are Phase L of our system: we build them including design and code, tested in the angle-by-landing matrix against the direct PDP variant.

What happens next

  1. 1

    Fill in the form

    Five fields, two minutes: company, shop, revenue range, platform, what is going on.

  2. 2

    20-minute intro call

    We find out whether this fits. Shops on our decline list get a decline, not a pitch.

  3. 3

    Phase C starts

    Seven days later you have your baseline, break-even ROAS and the three biggest leaks in euros. Then you decide.

No contract before Phase C. Reply within 24 hours on business days.