SOS Advertising - Post-Campaign Summary
Executive Summary Campaign Overview
Three key goals were established for the Google AdWords campaign developed for SOS Advertising [www.sos-ads.com], a customized promotional product company with over 600,000 advertising specialty gifts. The three goals were: 1) achieve a high click-through-rate (CTR) of at least 1.5%, 2) maintain an average cost-per-click (CPC) of no more than $0.65, and 3) allocate the full $200 budget effectively throughout the three week campaign window. Six AdWords campaigns were created to achieve these goals: Animal Hats,
Career Hats, Costume Hats, Fan Hats, Light Up Hats, and Specialty Baseball Hats. Key Results
All three goals were exceeded as the overall CTR was 2.28%, the average CPC was $0.51, and $199.05 of the budget was spent by the end of the campaign. The account
accumulated 393 total clicks and 17,273 total impressions. The best performing Ad Groups were Camo Border Patrol which achieved an overall CTR of 7.61% and an average CPC of $0.32, and Ponytail which realized an overall CTR of 4.63% and an average CPC of $0.54. We believe our greatest AdWords achievement was the ability to develop a successful strategy that increased the CTR each week, while decreasing the average CPC.
Conclusion
Campaign success was attributed to a well-structured account that mirrored the structure of the SOS Advertising website, frequent monitoring of performance metrics, use of Google tools (e.g., the Opportunities tab, Google Analytics, Traffic Estimator, AdWords
Editor, and more), and regular adjustment of keyword selection, matching options, and
bidding strategy. Ads for SOS Advertising were served on the first search engine results page (SERP) with an Average Position (Avg. Pos.) between 1 and 3. New keywords with high search potential, as revealed by the Traffic Estimator, were continuously added from the Search Term and Keyword Report, in order to maximize clicks and the CTR.
Future Online Marketing Recommendations
Industry Component Campaign Overview
The overarching goal of the campaign was to expand SOS Advertising’s customer base through creating awareness of the variety of unique hats offered. Three AdWords objectives were set in the Pre-Campaign stage to accomplish the clients’ goal: 1) achieve a CTR of at least 1.5%, 2) maintain a CPC of no more than $0.65, and 3) allocate the full $200 budget effectively. To successfully reach these goals, an Avg. Pos. between 1 and 3 was desired. Constant adjustment and optimization of the campaign ensured that no keywords were inflating impressions or expending the budget too quickly.
We began with six campaigns, and ended the three week campaign window with four. The number of Ad Groups throughout the three weeks was narrowed by pausing
underperforming Ad Groups that had a CTR of less than 1.00%. This was only done after much effort with rewriting ad copy, increasing keyword bids, using the search term report to add more qualified keywords, and exploring Google’s Opportunities tab. This strategy allowed us to focus our efforts on Ad Groups that showed potential for high search volume.
The account was active for three weeks between the dates of March 20 - April 10, 2011. Ads were consecutively served seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with the most prevalent days for search being Mondays and Tuesdays from 9am-1pm. Table 1 below shows the total budget spent throughout the campaign window. The budget was allocated daily and then redistributed several times throughout the day to the campaigns with the highest CTR and lowest CPC. This strategy allowed the best performing campaigns to maximize the overall CTR and lower the average CPC.
Table 1: Actual Budget Spent by Week and Campaign
The budget was staggered by week, allocating the most money for the final week, when we believed the campaigns would be the most optimized. In the first week we allocated $8.56 per day, for week two the daily budget was increased to $9.23, and week three the daily budget moved up to $11.44. The Animal Hats, Light up Hats, and Specialty
Animal Hats Career Hats Costume Hats Fan Hats Light Up Hats Specialty Baseball Hats Total Budget Per Week Week 1 $16.05 $9.50 $6.81 $2.27 $11.85 $18.08 $64.56
Week 2 $9.00 $12.23 paused paused $1.89 $26.29 $49.41
Week 3 $1.07 $15.40 $0.00 paused $18.26 $50.35 $85.08
Total Per
Baseball Hats campaigns received the highest percentage of the budget because they had a
higher search volume revealed from the Traffic Estimator. This estimated proved to be accurate, as two of the top performing Ad Groups came from the Light up Hats campaign and the Specialty Baseball Hats campaign.
In order to monitor the AdWords account, specific business rules were developed and implemented to ensure proper campaign management. This included reviewing ad copy performance on a daily basis to identify best practices and maximize ad relevancy. If any keyword triggered an ad with an Avg. Pos. lower than three, their bids were increased to a maximum of $1.00 in the first week, which later increased to $1.25 by the end of the campaign. This increase was due to a greater percentage of the budget allocated to the top performing campaigns in the final weeks. Keywords were paused if they gained over 50 impressions and no clicks, or were achieving unusually low CTRs below 1.00% (usually caused by the broad nature of the keyword or lack of relevancy to an ad). Within each Ad Group, we ran at least two ads to optimize performance, and were continually changing ad copy to incorporate new search terms. In the first week all campaigns were set to rotate their ads and then closely monitored to identify best practices and utilize the trends in creating new ads. After a week and sufficient data had been gathered, the campaigns were set to optimize ads to allow for the best performance based on CTR and CPC. Table 2 below shows the top three performing ads based on clicks, CTR, and Avg. Pos. during the campaign.
Table 2: Top Performing Ads
Part of the initial strategy was to set up daily automated reports through the Google AdWords interface that were sent to the team’s joint Gmail account. Downloadable Excel versions of the Campaign, Ad Group, Ads, Keywords, and Search Term Reports were all included in the daily emails. AdWords Editor was used as the most efficient way to
Campaign Ad Copy Clicks CTR Avg. Pos.
Career Hats US Border Patrol Hat
Official hat with 3-D insignia
Order your Border control hat today
www.sos-ads.com/BorderControlHat
29 9.35% 1.9
Career Hats {KeyWord:Border Patrol Hat}
Authentic Hat With Adjustable Fit
Discounts Offered, Order Now!
www.sos-ads.com/BorderControlHat
11 6.11% 1.9
Specialty Baseball Hats
{KeyWord:Baseball Cap with Hair} Buy Your Baseball Hat with Hair!
Get a Variety of Fun Low Price Hats
sos-ads.com/{KeyWord:baseball-cap-with-hair}
perform the initial upload of the 6 campaigns and 34 Ad Groups to the online AdWords interface, due to its ease of importing mass amounts of data at once. The Opportunities tab was checked daily to ensure all new ideas for improvement were utilized to maximize performance. Before adding keywords from the Search Term Report, the Google Traffic
Estimator was used to predict overall search volume, clicks, and cost per day. Evolution of the Campaign Strategy
SOS Advertising offers a selection of over 600,000 customizable products and we narrowed this product selection down to focus the account structure on the product category of unique hats. We arrived at this decision based on research gathered from Google Insights
for Search, revealing promising potential trends for unique hats in 2011. An account
structure was created consisting of 6 campaigns with 34 Ad Groups, sending users to specific hat product pages. The account structure consisted of a large range of products because of the search volume uncertainty for specific hats. After a sufficient amount of data was gathered, the structure was narrowed down to focus optimization efforts on AdGroups with the highest potential. The 9 best performing Ad Groups, determined by the number of impressions, clicks, and CTR were Ponytail, Bat Head, Pirate Parrot, Bunny, Birthday Cake, Pleated Chef, Rasta with Dreads, Camo Border Patrol, and Viking.
A surprising major change made during the campaign window was the shift from long tail keywords to more general and broad keywords. The original plan was to utilize long tail keywords in order to reduce untargeted impressions, maximize the CTR, and minimize the CPC. However, most of the long tail keywords were so specific that they had an extremely low search volume and became inactive. The long tail keywords were kept un-paused in case of future reactivation by Google as a result of an increase in search traffic. Less descriptive keywords were added and aimed for a more “medium tail” approach such as, “hats with hair”. This strategy resulted in a keyword list of up to 1,073 words for one Ad Group.
Another major change made throughout the campaign window was the insertion of popular search terms within the headline of the ad copy. Additionally, Dynamic Keyword
Insertion (DKI) was utilized for at least one ad in each Ad Group, which tended to generate a
higher CTR. In the second week, we decided to experiment with Google Sitelink Extensions
(Ad Sitelinks) in order to make the ad copy more relevant to viewers and increase the CTR
order to maximize the CTR. After allowing both ads to run for 24 hours, the ad copy with the lowest CTR and highest CPC was paused, and a new ad was created that reflected the best practices of the top performing ad. The newly created ad mirrored the top performing ad with only one minor change made, in order to further test ad copy writing techniques. The A/B tests revealed that ad copy with the use of DKI in the headline, a clear call to action, and a highly relevant display URL, was the most successful in generating clicks.
Key Results
The AdWords account produced highly desirable results, exceeding all
pre-established goals for the campaign. Table 3 below summarizes key performance indicators for the top two performing campaigns, where the CTR was consistently increased as the average CPC was decreased. In week two, the Career Hats campaigns’ CTR drastically increased from 1.56% in week one to 8.70% by week three. This increase was a result of the account restructuring and successful optimization efforts, such as the addition of successful keywords and creation of highly relevant ad copy using keywords with high search volume. Because of the increased campaign performance a larger percent of the budget was allocated to the Career Hats campaign, allowing for the campaign to further excel and maintain a high CTR.
Table 3: Summary of Key Performance Indicators by Week for the Top Two Campaigns
The Search Term Report feature, the Opportunities tab, and the Keyword Tool were utilized to identify new keywords and negative keywords to add to the list. Overall, keywords had a Quality Score between 6 and 10 which generally resulted in a higher Avg. Pos. with a lower CPC. Broad Match Modifiers were used to have more control over irrelevant impressions, attracting a large volume of highly targeted searchers, and therefore a high CTR. Table 4 below summarizes the performance indicators for several successful keyword phrases within the top two performing Ad Groups. The majority of the top
Campaign Week Clicks Impressions CTR Avg. CPC Avg. Pos.
0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0 1 2 3 4
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3
CPC ($) CTR ( % ) CTR CPC
performing keywords were more general, utilizing either broad match or a broad match modifier, revealing the unexpected success of the change from long tail keywords to a more “medium tail” approach.
Table 4: Best Performing Keywords for the Top Two Ad Groups
Conclusion
Not only did the account successfully exceed the original objectives ending with a total of 393 clicks, 17,273 impressions, a 2.28% CTR, and an average CPC of $0.51, but it generated a 500% increase in unique hat orders. As depicted in Chart 1, optimization efforts allowed for a steady increase in CTR throughout the campaign, while decreasing the average CPC.
Chart 1: Overall Campaign CTR and CPC
Future Recommendations
Google AdWords clearly helped our client generate more online orders. We recommend that our client increase the budget allocation for the Career
Hats campaign from 18% to 25%, and continue to allocate the majority of the budget to the Specialty Baseball Hats campaign. Because these two campaigns had a CTR of 4.37% and
4.49% respectively, as well as receiving the highest share of clicks, increasing the amount of the budget allocated to these areas should lead to an improved ROI, and increase the amount of unique visitors to the site. In order to increase ROI in the future we suggest creating new Ad Groups within each campaign that specifically target businesses looking to place bulk orders. Not only will bulk orders increase the dollar amount spent per order, it will also decrease the amount necessary to achieve the desired ROI. Another way to attract businesses is to emphasize the customization services that SOS Advertising offers as one of their main unique selling points.
Ad Group Keyword Clicks Impressions CTR Avg. CPC Avg. Pos.
Ponytail Hats with hair 18 231 7.79% $0.56 1.6
Hair +hat 9 335 2.69% $0.58 3.3
+hat with pony tail 8 40 20.00% $0.60 1.2
Camo Border
Patrol
us border patrol +hat 11 39 28.21% $0.35 1.1
Border patrol apparel 7 93 7.53% $0.40 2.4
Learning Component Learning Objectives and Outcomes
Through the Google Online Marketing Challenge our team hoped to learn how to successfully execute and manage a Google AdWords account with a large structure. By the end of the Challenge we wanted to possess the knowledge of how to utilize various Google tools in order to optimize an account and increase relevant traffic to our client’s website. Some of the main takeaways include how to: increase CTR by using DKI, manage a budget for an online marketing campaign, and obtain insight into how people search through Google. We also learned how to use a multitude of Google tools to maximize the effectiveness of the account including the Keyword Generator, Traffic Estimator, Insights for Search,
AdWords Editor, Ad Sitelinks, and many more. One unexpected outcome was the low
search volume of the majority of the long tail keywords, resulting in inactive statuses. We predicted the volume to be low, but anticipated them to return a high CTR from targeted consumers actively searching these specific products.
The most helpful tools through the competition were the information learned through the Google Adwords Learning Center and the Google AdWords Help Forum. These sites provide a wealth of expert information that helped solve any problem encountered prior to and during the competition. Whether we needed to check an ad editorial policy or explore ideas on how to improve Avg. Pos., the two sites played a fundamental role in guiding our strategy. By the end of the competition, every group member learned and experienced a vast amount about AdWords and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising.
Another invaluable lesson we learned through the process of competing in the Google Online Marketing Challenge was how to work and communicate with a client. We were able to use our interpersonal skills to build a relationship with a small business owner and provide them with online marketing strategies by working at a distance.
During the campaign window, issues that were overlooked when planning the account structure arose and required us to address them appropriately. We learned that it is important to constantly monitor the account and utilize the available tools to continuously optimize campaigns and increase the number of orders placed. Our team became very passionate about the campaign and wanted to reach the CTR goals set at the beginning of the Challenge. We communicated multiple times a day to discuss strategic actions necessary to increase
Challenge exceeded our expectations and provided us with insight on how to work with a client to produce a successful online marketing campaign.
Group Dynamics
The biggest problem that we had to overcome was creating a proper communication plan to use throughout the competition. In the beginning of the campaign, we had trouble knowing when group members updated or made changes to the campaign. We were able to mitigate this problem by starting a Gmail thread and using Gchat to inform group members anytime a major change was made and the strategy that was used. We also used Google Docs to collaborate on documents and keep our campaign organized. The Change History feature was utilized by team members in order to determine which changes had already been made, as to not duplicate initiatives. An advantage of our group was the supportive and positive mentality that each of us had. Working in that environment allowed us to create a close-knit culture and learn from one another. After reflecting on our experience with the Challenge we believe it would have been beneficial to have become professionally certified in Google AdWords, prior to the start of the competition. The knowledge needed to pass the exam would allow teams to better understand the AdWords interface and develop a more successful strategy.
Client Dynamics
Our client, Ryan Sacco, was extremely supportive of us and gave us the freedom to design a campaign that we believed would be most successful for his company. The only difficulty that we encountered with our client was the lack of familiarity with maintaining his website. Mr. Sacco did not control his site, so any changes that were made had to be done through a management company, ASI. We were able to contact ASI to sort out some of the technical problems and show our client how he could manage part of the site himself. When we began the relationship with the client we did not realize we would be such a key
contributor to the companies’ entire online presence. However, it was a very rewarding experience to be able to help our client in areas other than AdWords.
Future Recommendations
