The impact of linguistic features on CTR in Instagram ads: A study of supplement and cosmetic products | PLOS One
Browse Subject Areas
Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field.
For more information about PLOS Subject Areas, click<br>here.
Article
Authors
Metrics
Comments
Media Coverage
Reader Comments
Figures
Figures
Abstract<br>This study analyzes linguistic features impacting click-through rate (CTR) in Japanese Instagram ads (21,692 ads; July 2021-June 2023, Meta’s Marketing API). CTR was computed as link clicks/impressions from Meta’s Ads Manager. Using J-LIWC2015, we quantified psycholinguistic dimensions, predominantly in Japanese. Multivariate regression models, controlling for caption length, log-transformed impressions, and product-level fixed effects, identified distinct linguistic patterns predicting CTR by product category. For supplement ads, “risk” and “discrepancy” positively impacted CTR; “motion” and “negative emotion” decreased it. For cosmetic ads, “see” , “positive emotion” , and “motion” were positive predictors, while “body” and “negative emotion” decreased it. These findings underscore the critical role of linguistic features in enhancing advertising impact when aligned with the psychological needs of target audiences. By leveraging these insights, marketers can develop data-driven communication strategies to optimize engagement on Instagram.
Citation: Inoue K, Yoshida M (2026) The impact of linguistic features on CTR in Instagram ads: A study of supplement and cosmetic products. PLoS One 21(4):<br>e0338313.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0338313<br>Editor: Ali Haider Mohammed, Universiti Monash Malaysia: Monash University Malaysia, MALAYSIA<br>Received: April 30, 2025; Accepted: November 20, 2025; Published: April 15, 2026<br>Copyright: © 2026 Inoue, Yoshida. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.<br>Data Availability: Our complete dataset has been made publicly available. You can access the data directly via the following URL/DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18038706.<br>Funding: This work was supported by JST-Mirai Program Grant Number JPMJMI23B1, Japan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.<br>Competing interests: Kenjiro Inoue is an employee of Onestar, Inc. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products associated with this research to declare. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
Introduction<br>In the contemporary digital economy, online advertising has become a primary channel for reaching consumers, with social media platforms like Instagram commanding a significant share of the market [1]. The visual-centric nature of Instagram has led to a substantial body of research focused on the impact of image and video content on user engagement [2]. Similarly, the effectiveness of algorithmic targeting and personalization has been a major area of academic and industry focus [3–5]. However, a critical component of advertising effectiveness, the linguistic content of the ad copy itself, remains comparatively underexplored. This research gap is particularly pronounced for non-English languages and in non-Western cultural contexts, where linguistic norms and persuasive appeals may differ significantly. This study aims to bridge this gap by systematically investigating how specific linguistic features within Japanese-language Instagram ad copy impact a key performance metric: the click-through rate (CTR). We anchor our investigation in established theories of persuasion, primarily the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) [6] and Framing Theory [7]. Recent work has explored ELM’s applicability in emerging contexts like virtual influencers and high/low-involvement products [8]. ELM posits that persuasion occurs via two distinct routes: a central route, characterized by careful and thoughtful consideration of the argument’s merits, and a peripheral route, which relies on heuristic cues such as source credibility or emotional appeals. Framing Theory suggests that the way information is presented—as either a potential gain or a potential loss—can significantly alter its persuasive impact. We hypothesize that the impact of these routes and frames is not universal but is contingent on the product category. Specifically, we examine two distinct but prominent product categories in online advertising: health supplements and cosmetics. We propose that “supplement” products, which relate to health and are often considered higher-involvement purchases, may be more susceptible to persuasion via the central route and loss-framing (e.g., avoiding a health risk). In contrast, “cosmetic” products, which are often tied to aspirational goals...