How A Paid Media Strategy Increased This Client's Revenue By 22%

Creating and implementing an optimized paid media strategy is a great tactic to augment organic traffic and increase ROI. Continue reading to discover how we helped one client increase conversion rate by 17% and revenue by 22% by utilizing Google Shopping, Search and Display ads as well as streamlining paid media strategies for their new website.

Paid Media Strategy: Increasing This Client's CVR & Revenue

Prior to working with Groove Commerce, Barron Designs had 4 individual websites dedicated to each product category. Each website was built using a custom platform, which became challenging when their team wanted to make a simple update to any of the sites.

In addition to optimizing their eCommerce website, Barron Designs enlisted our help with improving their paid media strategy. We took over their paid search accounts in April 2020 and enhanced their online store by combining 4 websites into 1 and launching the updated site in October 2020.

The Problem

The team at Barron Designs wanted to streamline their current campaigns for efficiency and efficacy. They also wanted to create an interim paid search strategy that would simplify and optimize their structure at the time. So, the Groove Commerce team took over the company's three paid media accounts: Faux Panels, Faux Wood Beams and Faux Columns.

The company's paid media strategy encountered two main problems. For one, duplicate keywords and disjointed campaigns led to cannibalization and higher costs for both the Faux Panels and Faux Columns accounts.

Second, the Faux Wood Beams account had inconsistent location targeting and duplication, which created inefficiencies and resulted in higher costs-per-click.

The Solution

To help solve our client's problem and improve their paid media strategy, our team took a two-pronged approach. First, we optimized their strategy for the outdated websites − this was prior to the website launch in October. Then, we combined and streamlined strategies for the new website − this happened alongside the October launch. Here was our plan:

• Understand the company's current paid search strategy
• Take over paid search maintenance
• Streamline and optimize account
• Recommend cohesive strategy for current websites

Google Shopping, Search & Display Campaigns

The goal of implementing the Google Search and Display campaigns was not only to increase visits to the website, but also to drive customers who were actively searching for faux panels, faux wood beams or faux columns to relevant website pages. The goal of the Smart Shopping campaign was also to increase website visits as well as give customers in the consideration phase detailed information about products.

Simplifying The Account Structure

We simplified the complex structure of all three accounts to focus on core keywords and top-selling products. For example, we created three campaigns for the Faux Panels account: Faux, Stone and Brick; then, we identified high-impact keywords for each campaign. The Stone campaign, for example, included keywords such as: faux stone panel, faux stone veneer, home location and more.

In addition, we leveraged audience targeting, such as interest and affinity audiences, lookalike audiences, shopping cart abandoners, Facebook page visitors, YouTube channel visitors, website visitors and those who bought samples.

The First Account: Faux Panels

To help Barron Designs streamline their paid media strategy for efficiency, we needed to optimize their account. Here are some optimizations (to date) for the Faux Panels account:

• 68 under-performing ads paused
• 50 keyword changes
• 24 audience changes
• 5 under-performing campaigns paused
• 5 campaign objectives changed to maximize conversions
• Budget increases for well-performing campaigns

The Second Account: Faux Wood Beams

To create a more effective strategy, here are some optimizations (to date) for the Faux Wood Beams account:

• 66 under-performing campaigns paused
• 30 under-performing ads paused
• 38 targeting changes
• 7 keyword changes
• Budget increases for well-performing campaigns

The Third Account: Faux Columns

Finally, here are some optimizations (to date) that our team implemented for Barron Designs' Faux Columns account:

• 42 under-performing ads paused
• 6 under-performing campaigns paused
• 2 keyword changes
• 5 under-performing campaigns paused
• Budget increases for well-performing campaigns

Acknowledging Areas For Improvement

As we continue to analyze all three accounts, we uncovered some opportunities for improvement. We noticed that poor bidding tactics are hindering growth, and the company, at times, was not utilizing standard best practices.

With different users making updates once or twice a month (on average), they'd typically "set it and forget it" rather than creating an optimized paid media strategy. This results in inconsistent campaign management across accounts. Though they had changed ads, they had not matched appropriate keywords − therefore hurting performance.

Our Recommendations

Groove's plan for maximizing revenue involved implementing a paid search strategic growth plan, proactively optimizing ads and account settings, increasing conversion rate, decreasing cost-per-click and reducing bounce rate.

To help the client augment organic traffic and results, we created and managed Google Advertising and Bing Advertising to increase paid sessions and conversions. We also optimized funds between platforms (including Google Search, Shopping, Display, retargeting and Bing Advertising) as well as increased paid conversion rate and average order value with proactive bidding, A/B copy testing and ongoing creative updates.

We also recommended that it was best for the client to leverage audience demographic data to improve conversion rate. Properly implementing negative keywords and search query data helps to optimize Barron Designs' campaign ROI, and comprehensively researching keyword opportunities is critical to expand reach and introduce search volume per ad group.

Finally, taking advantage of scheduled bidding and narrow locations on all campaigns as well as utilizing extension options and responsive search ad formats helps to improve campaign performance. 

Results

It's important that our team leverages analytics and reporting to help the company track and report metrics. We equipped them with a Databox reporting dashboard to understand and analyze KPIs at each stage of the buyer's journey.

Using interests and affinity audiences, we optimized target audiences to expand the audience to people who are:

• Similar to website visitors
• Interested in purchasing home decor or home improvement products
• Interested in interior design or interior design services
• Interested in home improvement
• Interested/have watched videos on the company's YouTube channel

The current strategies being used are Target Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS) and Maximize conversions. The year-over-year (YoY) comparison for Target ROAS is 2.75 in 2020, compared to 2.38 in 2019.

Shopping feed optimizations increased the eCommerce conversion rate by 17% YoY and increased revenue by 22% YoY. Also, switching from manual to automated bidding strategies (targeted ROAS) increased the return on ad spend by 16% YoY (from April 1 to September 17.)

Conclusion

Need help enhancing your eCommerce marketing strategy and driving serious results? Groove Commerce is here to help! Check out our eCommerce PPC agency to learn more about our approach. If you have any questions or would like to speak with one of our experts, just fill out the form below. Our team is happy to help!