Overview:  Our client wanted to hit a specific customer acquisition target based on short-term profitability on the initial customer transaction from the inception of the campaign. While we quickly and consistently hit this target, we knew there was more value being left on the table applying this short term target goal.

Analyzing their historical sales and customer data over a 2-year period, we discovered that the average value of a repeat customer over time was worth 4 times the amount of the initial sale and up to 5 times higher than the average sale value. We also found that more than 50% of our client’s customers return and purchase again.

Results:  These insights helped our client shift their focus to long-term revenue generation.  As a result, the increase in allowable acquisition cost increased average ad positions, which in turn increased total customer volume by a significant factor.  The long-term results are projected revenues and profits far in excess of the increase in marketing costs.

Google’s recent introduction of a Display Network tab in their AdWords interface marks a more profound change than mere navigation redesign.  What does this change mean for you?

Anyone using Google’s Display Network should be aware of these changes and now understand that they will have a profound impact on campaign structure and performance.

Google defines its three location targeting settings as:

• People in, searching for, or viewing pages about your targeted location (default)
• People in your targeted location
• People searching for or viewing pages about your targeted location

With the default setting enabled, your ads will be exposed to people who are likely to be located within your designated location, people who include your targeted location in their search query and people who specify your location in their search settings. Someone located within your targeted area who specifies a different area in their search query will not be exposed to your ad under the default setting, nor will people in other countries who mention your targeted area in their search query.

These advanced location options are now also being applied to campaigns within the display network. If you are running a display network campaign with the default setting enabled, your ads will be shown to people within your location viewing related material as well as to people outside your targeted area viewing any related content specific to your location.

If you choose the second targeting method, your ads will be shown only to people thought to be physically within your specified area. There are some serious exceptions worth noting, however. If you are a pizza place using this setting to target a Rhode Island audience and someone within that state searches for “Boston pizza places”, they are still eligible to see your ad. If someone in Boston searches for “Rhode Island pizza places”, they are ineligible to see your ad with this setting enabled. Note that Google’s determination of someone’s physical location is based on a number of factors: their Google domain (i.e. google.com vs google.fr), their IP address, their personalized search settings and their recent search history. This means that even with this setting enabled, you are likely to see a small degree of traffic from other locations.

The third advanced location option, previously referred to as “search intent”, allows your ad to be shown to anyone displaying interest in your targeted location. The person’s actual physical location is ignored so their search intent is identified by geographic terms in their query or their personalized search settings. The pizza place targeting Rhode Island would see their ads being shown to someone in Texas searching for “Rhode Island pizza places” but not to someone in Rhode Island searching for “pizza places”. Once again, the user would need to be in the same country as the targeted location for their geographic search intent to qualify them for exposure to your ad.

By understanding and utilizing these advanced location options, you can more effectively target your desired audiences and avoid any unnecessary exposure allowing you to spend your advertising dollars more effectively.

Overview: Our client’s success is built upon cultivating a community of users for their free solution and an effective nurturing program that converts free users to paid subscribers. Their goal is to improve conversion efficiency of all traffic landing on their site and to drive higher free user volume.

Prior testing revealed that their audience reacted negatively to aggressive calls-to-action and responded favorably to highly-technical page copy that directly addressed their needs and established our client’s credibility.

With this in mind, a test page was developed that incorporated the registration form for the free version of the software into the landing page design, replacing a large call-to-action button. Care was taken to not move or remove any content that increased credibility and resonated with our client’s core audience.

Results:  Split testing determined that the new landing page, which included an embedded registration form and retained all credibility content, improved overall conversion rate by 49%. Compared to the control page, registration volume driven by the new landing page increased by 36%.

As a result of the test, our client will make similar changes to interior pages that visitors commonly reach before registering and downloading the free version of their software.

Ryherd’s proposal, called the “Retail Project RI”, aims to flip standard retail incubation on its head by first growing retail ventures as online stores, then moving to brick & mortar once they have proven profitability and market acceptance.  Over time, the Retail Project RI plans to launch hundreds of stores to help fill the many empty and underutilized storefronts across the Ocean State, at the same time creating permanent jobs based on outside revenues.  Working Planet’s eight years of history helping businesses grow profitability through quantitative modeling and management of their online advertising was a key factor in the selection process.

Ryherd’s project won over 436 other applicants, and was one of seven finalists, whose projects are all being featured at the Rhode Island Foundation web site.

Overview:  Our client’s success is built upon driving sales and revenue directly through their website and indirectly via phone-based sales.  Due to the seasonality of their business, there are several inherent challenges they face related to: 1) profitability during the low season and 2) inventory levels and increased competition during the high season.

By analyzing their prior years’ sales trends, we developed a strategy that focused on targeting the states and products that produced the most sales during the early spring and fall months.  During periods of high competition, continual adjustments were made to our bidding strategy to ensure the most recent trends in conversion levels were being leveraged to support revenue generation. Ad copy related to special offers and core value propositions were tested during this time to ensure our client’s messaging differentiates them from other resellers, local stores and manufacturers. Inventory levels were monitored regularly to ensure products being advertised are available for purchase.

As seasonal search activity and conversion rates increased with rising temperatures across the U.S., advertising was rolled out to the entire country to support sales growth.  Once engagement rates slowed at the end of the season, budget was shifted to the states in which conversion rates could support advertising to help extend the season beyond its traditional time period and away from lower converting regions.

Results: Using this strategy, Working Planet grew online sales by 58% over the prior year. Coupled with this increase in sales activity, we found gains in conversion rate and cost savings which resulted in a 15% decrease in cost-per-sale year over year.

Search intent, one of Google’s advanced targeting methods, allows you to target or exclude audiences that have included a location qualifier in their search query. With search intent enabled, your ads can potentially be shown to anyone who includes a term that refers to your geo-targeting campaign settings, regardless of their own location. For example, if your pizza restaurant campaign exclusively geo-targets Rhode Island and you have search intent enabled, then your ad could be shown to a user in California searching on “Rhode Island pizza places”.

The search intent functionality should only apply if a user is determined to be within the same country as the targeted location (eg. a user in France searching for Rhode Island pizza places should not be shown your ad even with search intent enabled).  However, Google’s determination of physical location is imperfect and is based on a number of factors: whether someone is using a Google domain in- or out-of-country (eg. someone in France using the U.S. Google domain, google.com instead of google.fr, will see ads targeting the United States), IP address, personalized search settings, and even recent search queries. So, there remains no way to exclusively limit or define an audience by geographic region.

In a follow-up post, we will break down each of Google’s advanced geo-targeting methods and let you know just who you can include and exclude from your audience.

Overview:  Ongoing examination of our client’s sales process revealed that, for a subset of their customers, the buying decision was heavily influenced by the availability of mobile device integration.  A goal was then set to grow lead volume from an audience who bases their buying decision on a product’s underlying technology and ability to integrate with smartphones.

To reach more relevant tech-savvy users, ads were delivered to users performing searches for related concepts on devices that integrate with our client’s products and packages.  The ad copy contained appeals to the mobile search audience, but also retained the core concepts that resonated with traditional search audiences, and included a clickable phone number that allowed users to contact our client directly from the search results page.  In addition, a keyword list was selected to target the widest relevant audience seeking a full service package.

To reinforce our client’s dedication to serving mobile users,  we worked with the client to develop a landing experience tailored to users on mobile devices. Towards that end, a custom call-to-action was created to better convert smartphone users who would rather click a button to call a customer service representative than complete a lengthy contact form using a small mobile phone keyboard.

Results: Our mobile targeting strategy that included new ad messaging, mobile-targeted page content, and a call-to-action tailored to smartphone users, resulted in a lead volume increased of 8% from the high-value keyword set tested, with significantly improved efficiency compared to search audiences using desktop devices.

Compared to the identical keyword set delivering impressions to desktop users, mobile audiences converted at a rate 214% higher and produced leads at a cost-per-lead 72% lower than desktop audiences.

Think of it this way. Your leads, customers, sales, engagements, or visitors are what make you money, and making money is the point of why you are marketing in the first place.  However, unless you sell a single-priced, single-margin product sold only through eCommerce, these customers, sales, engagements or visitors have different value to your business.  If they have different values to your company, why would you pay the same amount to acquire them?

It gets worse. Because of the auction-based nature of most online advertising, not translating the worth of your most valuable leads or customers into higher bids for the most valuable marketing sources means that you are likely leaving that audience for your competitors. And since volume is concentrated in the top positions of the auctions, you may be giving up a significantly large volume of a high-value audience.  In effect, by using an average CPA target you are allowing your least valuable leads or sales to dictate the scope of your campaign.

The good news is that this is easily fixed.  By incorporating lead or sales value (and if it is sales value, we mean profit margin) into your bidding algorithms, you can quickly achieve multiple good outcomes, including:

- Greater efficiency and reduced risk with your marketing spend

- Higher value and higher quality customer acquisition

- The ability to identify and focus on your best market segments

Remember, your investment in ad spend is intended to drive outcomes. Keep your eyes on the prize, and use your business metrics to drive your marketing.

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