Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out!
Happy to give you some initial thoughts on your LinkedIn Ads question. It's a common point of confusion, and tbh the real reason for how you should approach copy is a bit different from what you might think. It's less about avoiding a specific type of click charge and more about capturing the attention of a very busy, very distracted audience. Let's get into it.
TLDR;
- No, LinkedIn does not charge you when a user clicks the "...see more" button on your ad. Billable clicks are typically those that lead off-platform or open a Lead Gen Form.
- The reason for short, punchy copy isn't cost avoidance; it's the incredibly short attention span of users scrolling their feed. Your first 1-2 lines are all you have to stop them.
- The most important piece of advice is to stop writing copy about your product's features and start writing about your Ideal Customer's 'nightmare'—their most urgent, expensive, career-threatening problem.
- Your ad copy should be tailored to the specific ad format you're using (e.g., single image vs. conversation ad).
Let's bust that myth about the "...see more" click
Right, let's clear this up straight away because it's a great question and a very common misconception. LinkedIn does not charge you as a click when someone hits the "...see more" button to expand your ad copy.
That's a relief, eh? The billing model isn't designed to penalise you for writing longer, more engaging copy. LinkedIn typically charges for clicks that have a clear objective, such as:
- -> A click on your main call-to-action (CTA) button that leads to your website or landing page.
- -> A click on your company page logo or name.
- -> A click to open a native LinkedIn Lead Gen Form.
- -> Clicks on links within the ad copy itself.
Clicks for social engagement – likes, comments, shares, and expanding the text – are generally not billable events under a CPC (Cost Per Click) model. So, you can write that longer ad without fear of racking up charges for people just being curious. The real question isn't whether you'll be charged, but whether anyone will bother to click "...see more" in the first place.
The standard for "minimum copy" you've seen isn't a cost-saving hack. It's a survival tactic. The average user on LinkedIn is scrolling through their feed at pace, probably between meetings or on their commute. They are not there to read essays. Your ad is an interruption to their day, and you have about two seconds to convince them it's a worthwhile one. That's why those first couple of lines are so absolutly critical. They are the hook. If they don't grab the reader by the collar and speak directly to a problem they're facing *right now*, they'll just scroll on by. The battle is for attention, not for avoiding a non-existent click charge.
We'll need to look at your ICP... because it's a Nightmare, Not a Demographic
So, how do you write a hook that actually works? You have to forget everything you've been told about generic customer avatars. I see this all the time in client accounts. The targeting is set to "Companies in the finance sector with 50-200 employees" and the ad copy says something bland like "Streamline your financial workflows with our cutting-edge SaaS solution."
This tells you nothing of value and leads to generic ads that speak to precisely no one. It's the reason so much money is wasted on LinkedIn. To stop burning cash, you must define your customer not by their demographic profile, but by their *pain*.
You need to become an obsessive expert in their specific, urgent, and expensive nightmare. Your Head of Sales client isn't just a job title; she's a leader who lies awake at night terrified of missing her quarterly target because her team's pipeline is full of unqualified leads. For a compliance software SaaS, the nightmare isn't 'needing better reporting'; it's 'the CEO facing a multi-million-pound fine and reputational damage because of a regulatory breach.' Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) isn't a person; it's a problem state.
Once you've isolated that nightmare, you can build your entire ad strategy around it. Every word of your copy, every image you choose, every targeting parameter you set should be designed to find people living that nightmare and offer them a way out. This work is non-negotiable. If you skip this step, you have no business spending a single pound on ads, because you're just guessing.
Step 1: The Generic ICP
"Head of Engineering at a 100-person tech company."
Step 2: Isolate the Nightmare
"She's terrified her best developers will quit out of frustration with a broken, slow CI/CD pipeline."
Step 3: Build the Message
"Losing top engineers to a slow build process? Our platform cuts deployment times in half..."
Write a message they can't ignore
Once you know the nightmare, writing the copy becomes much easier. You're no longer staring at a blank page trying to think of clever taglines. You're writing a direct message to someone in pain. There are a couple of classic copywriting frameworks that work exceptionally well for this on LinkedIn.
1. Problem-Agitate-Solve (PAS)
This is my go-to for most B2B services. It's direct, empathetic, and quickly gets to the point.
- Problem: State the nightmare directly. Use a question to hook them in.
- Agitate: Pour a little salt in the wound. Describe the consequences and frustrations of the problem. Make them feel understood.
- Solve: Introduce your service or product as the clear, simple solution.
2. Before-After-Bridge (BAB)
This is brilliant for SaaS products or anything that creates a tangible transformation.
- Before: Paint a picture of their world with the problem. The frustrating, inefficient, stressful state they're in now.
- After: Paint a picture of their world *after* your solution. The calm, efficient, successful state they want to be in.
- Bridge: Position your product as the bridge that gets them from Before to After.
Let's look at how this transforms ad copy from bland to compelling. Imagine you're selling a financial reporting tool.
| The Old Way (Generic & Feature-Focused) | The Nightmare-Focused Way (Using PAS) |
|---|---|
|
Headline: Powerful Financial Reporting Primary Text: Our advanced analytics platform provides real-time data integration and customisable dashboards. Increase your efficiency and get the insights you need. Request a demo today. |
Headline: Stop spending a week on month-end reports. (P) Spending the first week of every month manually pulling data from 5 different systems for your board report? |
See the difference? The first ad is about the tool. The second ad is about the customer's life. It shows you understand their specific frustration. That's what earns the click. The second version might be longer, but it's infinitly more likely to get read because the first two lines hook the right person immediately.
Test different ad formats
The amount of copy you write should also depend on the ad format you're using. LinkedIn offers several, and they each have their own quirks. You need to adapt your aproach for each.
- -> Sponsored Content (Single Image or Video Ad): This is the most common format in the feed. Here, you have space for longer copy. Use the PAS or BAB framework. The first two lines are your hook to get them to click "...see more". The image or video must also grab attention and be consistent with the message. For video, the first 3 seconds are your visual hook – don't waste them on a fancy logo animation.
- -> Carousel Ad: These are great for telling a story, showcasing multiple features, or listing steps in a process. Each carousel card has its own headline and small amount of text. Keep the card headlines short and punchy. The main ad copy above the carousel should introduce the overall theme and tie all the cards together.
- -> Conversation Ad: This format lands in a user's LinkedIn Messaging inbox. Here, long copy is a killer. It needs to feel like a real, personal message, not a marketing blast. Keep it short, conversational, and focused on starting a dialogue. Ask a question. Offer a valuable resource. This is like paid cold outreach, so be respectful of their inbox.
- -> Text Ad: These appear in the right-hand rail or at the top of the page. You have very little space – a short headline and a few lines of text. There's no room for agitation here. You need to be brutally direct: state the benefit and the call to action. E.g., "Tired of Bad Leads? Get Qualified B2B Leads. Free Audit."
Your best bet is to test different formats. I've had clients where a simple image ad with long, well-written PAS copy outperformed video by a mile. I remember one campaign for a client in the B2B SaaS space where we generated leads for $22 CPL using a mix of video and image sponsored content ads. It all comes down to testing what resonates with your specific nightmare-driven audience.
Figure out what a 'good' lead cost is
This brings us to the final piece of the puzzle. People get obsessed with low-level metrics like Cost Per Click. You're asking about it, and it's a natural starting point. But a low CPC is useless if the clicks don't turn into customers. The real question isn't "How low can my CPL go?" but "How high a CPL can I *afford* to acquire a truly great customer?"
To answer that, you need to understand your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). This simple calculation changes everything. It's the math that lets you move from timid, budget-constrained advertising to aggressive, intelligent growth.
For example, let's say a customer is worth £10,000 to you over their lifetime. A healthy LTV to Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) ratio is often cited as 3:1. This means you can afford to spend up to £3,333 to acquire one new customer. If your sales team converts 1 in 10 qualified leads into a customer, you can afford to pay up to £333 for a single qualified lead from LinkedIn.
Suddenly, a £50 CPL doesn't look so bad, does it? It looks like a bargain. This is the perspective you need to have. Use the calculator below to get a rough idea of your own numbers. It might surprise you what you can actually afford to spend to get in front of the right person.
Your Action Plan
There's a lot to take in here, I know. It's a big shift from worrying about click costs to thinking about customer nightmares and lifetime value. But this is the work that leads to successful campaigns. It's what separates the agencies that deliver real business growth from the ones that just deliver clicks.
| Step | Actionable Recommendation | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Stop Worrying About Copy Length | Forget the idea that long copy costs more. It doesn't. Write as much as you need to tell a compelling story and solve the customer's problem. | Frees you to focus on what actually matters: the quality and relevance of your message, not arbitrary character counts. |
| 2. Define the 'Nightmare' ICP | Spend a day interviewing your best customers. Don't ask what they like about your product; ask what their life was like *before* they found it. Pinpoint their most urgent, expensive problem. | This is the raw material for all effective advertising. Without it, you are just guessing and will waste money on ads that don't connect. |
| 3. Rewrite Ads with PAS/BAB | Take your current ad copy and rewrite it using the Problem-Agitate-Solve or Before-After-Bridge frameworks. Make the "nightmare" the hero of the story. | These frameworks are proven to grab attention and create an emotional connection, which is what drives action in a crowded feed. |
| 4. Test Different Ad Formats | Create variations of your new, nightmare-focused copy and test them across different formats: single image, video, and carousel ads to start. | Your audience may respond very differently to different formats. Testing is the only way to know what will work best and to acheive the best results. |
| 5. Calculate Your Affordable CPL | Use the LTV calculator (or your own more detailed figures) to understand what a qualified lead is actually worth to your business. | This shifts your perspective from cost-minimisation to value-maximisation. It gives you the confidence to invest properly in acquiring high-value customers. |
Getting this right takes time, testing, and a deep understanding of both the advertising platform and marketing psychology. It's a lot more involved than just setting a budget and writing a few lines of text. This is why many businesses choose to work with a specialist agency. An experienced team can run through this process much faster, avoid common pitfalls, and leverage insights from hundreds of other campaigns to get you to profitability sooner.
We do this every day for our clients, from B2B SaaS companies to high-ticket service providers. If you'd like to have a chat and see how we could apply this thinking to your specific business, we offer a free, no-obligation strategy session where we can review your current plans and give you some actionable advice. Feel free to book a call if that sounds helpful.
Hope this helps!
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
