Case Study on E-Commerce PPC (85% Lower Cost Per Lead)

Background

This client, specialising in upscale specialty home goods with starting prices at approximately £5,000, operates within a highly profitable market. Their website functions akin to an e-commerce platform, showcasing a diverse range of products. In this premium market segment, customers usually prefer to have a consultation to ensure they select the perfect product, rather than making direct online purchases. The client approached us seeking assistance in reducing their lead costs and increasing the volume of high-quality leads.

The Audit – Huge Opportunities Uncovered

Navigating through Google Ads can often feel like walking through a minefield. It stands as the world’s most influential ad platform, yet its complexity has grown significantly. It’s clear that Google’s primary focus is to maximize its revenue, sometimes at the expense of the advertiser’s return on investment. This is where our expertise becomes crucial.

Initially, we conduct a thorough audit of the account, focusing on:

• Analyzing current data for valuable insights (identifying what is and isn’t working).
• Detecting errors in the setup that are leading to ineffective conversions.

In every audit, we invariably identify areas ripe for improvement. When we took over this account, the initial metrics were as follows:

• Cost: £2,020
• Conversion Rate: 0.34%
• Conversions: 5
• Cost Per Conversion: £403

We immediately noticed the low conversion rate and a cost per conversion that was higher than expected.

To revitalise this campaign, we undertook several key steps:

Ensuring Precise Tracking

Effective tracking is fundamental to any well-structured campaign. Without it, determining which campaigns are successful becomes impossible, thus hindering any decision-making on campaign adjustments. The challenge is that setting up this tracking can be complex and is often done inaccurately. In this particular account, we found settings like “Count Every Conversion” leading to misleading data accumulation over the years.

For instance, with the “Count Every Conversion” setting, if a user clicks an ad once and opts in three times, it counts all three as separate leads, which is suitable for purchase conversion campaigns but not ideal for lead generation.

To rectify this, we established new triggers and tags in Google Tag Manager, which then relayed accurate data back to Google Analytics and Google Ads. Google Tag Manager is employed in every account we handle to ensure that all data is collated in one place and correctly categorized.

Boosting CTR with Streamlined Ad Groups & Ad Copy

In Google Ads, “ad groups” consist of a set of keywords that you bid on, along with the corresponding ad copy shown when those keywords are searched. Users searching for specific keywords are seeking precise solutions, and generic ads often fail to match their exact needs, leading to increased costs due to low CTRs. In this account, we observed numerous ad groups utilising identical, generic ads.

We addressed this by creating entirely new ads for each ad group, incorporating headlines and descriptions that featured the specific seed keywords. This not only enhanced ad relevance but also significantly improved the user experience.

Following these optimization steps and our continuous management, the results by the end of June 2019 were as follows:

• Cost: £1,690
• Conversion Rate: 0.42%
• Conversions: 7
• Cost Per Conversion: £241

These strategies led to a reduction in the cost per conversion by over 40%.

Increasing Conversions with Effective Landing Pages

Running profitable campaigns requires a multifaceted approach. Often, it’s not just the setup within the account that matters, but also what occurs post-ad click. A common issue we observe is traffic being directed to a website that isn’t optimised for the desired conversion. Lead generation campaigns, in particular, suffer when they direct to standard websites filled with distracting elements.

When a visitor arrives on a page, it’s imperative to clearly convey the desired action and eliminate any distractions. This is where the use of landing pages becomes critical. A landing page is specifically designed to drive conversions following an ad click.

In this instance, the account was directing traffic straight to their website, which provided ample scope for conversion rate optimization. We devised a dedicated landing page, incorporating our proven high-conversion techniques. The landing page featured a direct and compelling headline, a well-crafted benefits section, and a clear call-to-action, all within a beautifully designed layout.

The results were transformative:

• Cost: £1,820
• Conversion Rate: 1.19%
• Conversions: 32
• Cost Per Conversion: £56.90

Conclusion

By setting up precise tracking, optimising the campaign with our specialised process, and implementing a focused landing page, we successfully reduced the CPL (Cost Per Lead) by over 85%. The dramatic reduction in costs, combined with the significant increase in conversions, highlights the efficacy of our refined PPC strategies.