GENERATE
CONVERSIONS
Increasing sales is the number one goal for any business. Google Ads is an indispensable tool to showcase your products to potential clients who are likely to make a purchase.
However, strategies that are geared towards conversion can be dangerous and cost you a lot of money if the appropriate segmentation and reach techniques are not applied. At SEM Consulting Bcn we want to help your company achieve more conversions while maintaining a reasonable cost-per-acquisition that is within your budget.
Keywords with high purchase intent
Finding keywords that favor conversions is an art. It requires stepping into the shoes of the customer and understanding what they're searching for when they use certain keywords. Contrary to keywords to increase traffic, keywords for conversion can't be found as easily with Keyword Planner, Semrush, or Google Trends, because we're not looking for terms that generate a lot of searches, but those that are most used by people with purchasing intent.
We want to avoid spending a single euro in search terms that don't bring conversions. At SEM Consulting Bcn we conduct a manual and empirical study of each and every one of the keywords we are considering that might contribute to increase your sales.
Analyzing conversion rates to suggest UX optimizations
We conduct a detailed analysis of the conversion rate for each campaign/ad group, ads, and keywords to identify with surgical precision those pages that have a conversion rate below the average, then we offer suggestions to increase the number of people who convert once they arrive onto your website.
There are many factors that can have an influence: the type of call-to-action, how you present your unique value proposition, the number of data points that your form asks for, the use of colors and images, etc. We can offer our recommendations so SEM Consulting Bcn or your creative team can implement the changes at no additional cost to you.
Adjusting bids based on CPA and conversion amount
Each SEM specialist has his own process to place bids. At SEM Consulting Bcn we believe that the more relevant data we have for the conversion, the more accurate your decisions will be. THat's why we consider the current CPA (of each keyword, audience, device, etc.) and we compare it with its corresponding historical average. Once we identify the upward or downward trend, the next step is to understand the reasons behind it.
For that reason, we analyze the overlap rate with the competition, the conversion rate, the amount of searches, the budget spend, the number of conversions, etc. There are many factors that may impact conversions, so once we identify them, we can establish a specific increase or decrease percentage based on our study of the market and the performance.
Considering automated bids (maximizing conversions/target CPA)
There are differing opinions about the effectiveness of automated bids, but the truth is that no one has a blanket answer: it depends on the type of business, the industry, the demant and competition, the available budget and the targets. That's why at SEM Consulting Bcn we encourage you to conduct experiments and let the data speak for themselves. Before that, we must remind you that your account must have at least 30 conversion in the last month so the Google algorithms have enough data to make informed decisions.
In addition, we must take into account the differences between maximizing conversions (obtaining the maximum number of conversions possible with your budget) and the target CPA (set a limit to your spend per conversion), consider the pros and cons for each specific scenario, and choose the one that will be the most beneficial to your business.
Applying audiences with purchase intent and remarketing
With audiences with purchase intent we can reach those users who are looking to buy a product or service that is similar to what you're offering. With remarketing we can show your products to those users who have already shown interest in your products and are therefore further down in the sales funne (we will need at least 1000 active users to apply this audience type).
The correct use of these audiences can contribute to segment the reach towards potential clients who are ready to convert and therefore increase conversions while we reduce the average CPA of the account.
Exact match to increase efficiency
Starting a few months ago, exact match is no longer technically exact: it also includes related terms, so it is difficult to have as much control over your keywords as before. However, it is still the best type of match if we want to limit traffic to those users who search for the keywords that we're bidding for, and therefore direct our spend to those searches with the highest purchase intent, achieving a more efficient CPA.
Extensions that encourage purchases
At SEM Consulting we highly encourage using two types of extensions to encourage conversions. In the first place, it's convenient to include your value proposition in a callout extension. This way, we are giving the user more information about your product before he clicks through, making the clicks more qualified and more likely to purchase, therefore reducing your CPA.
The second option is to add call extensions so the user can reach you directly without even having to click through to your website. The combination of both these extensions allows the user to know more about your product and how to reach you. This way he won't have to spend time on your website finding your contact information or the details on your product and you'll be closer to converting the sale.
Adding terms that don't convert as negative keywords
If we want to increase conversions to get a profitable CPA, it is necessary to identify regularly those terms that have a high click volume but don't convert. At SEM Consulting Bcn we review the search terms reports to find those terms and add them as negative keywords. This way we redirect money from those underperforming terms to those terms that have a higher purchase intent.
It's also important to check the assisted conversions of each term before implementing it as a negative keyword. A term may have few conversions but it may be effectively helping other, more relevant, keywords. The user's path to purchase is different for every product and industry, so we must identify the keywords that assist vonversion and never block those or reduce our bids on them, because it will negatively impact other keywords that are converting.
Guaranteeing adequate conversion tracking
Creating detailed report is an arduous task, but a necessary one, if we want to take informed decisions based on data. At SEM Consulting Bcn we take care of that, so you don't have to do it. We also establish a system to track microconversions (arriving to the shopping cart or staying on the checkout page for longer than three minutes, for example) and final conversions with different monetary values (free signups, subscribing to a mailing list, downloading an app, sales, potential client, etc.) and this way we will have a solid base from which we can optimize the different paths in the short, medium, and long term.
Implementing shopping campaigns (if you have a product catalog)
Shopping is a good way to show images of your products on the SERP to your potential clients. However, it's a channel without positive keywords so we must implement advanced negative keyword strategies to control the search terms that we invest money in. At SEM Consulting Bcn we frequently review the search term report to add the terms that are not converting as negatives to the conversion-focused campaign, so in this way we can redirect them to the brand awareness campaign.
Ads to encourage sales
By writing ads that are incisive and direct we can avoid attracting users that are exploring at the top of the sales funnel, which would increase our cost. We want to attract those users who are ready to convert. This strategy implies that your average CTR and you traffic volume will decrease, but you will get a better conversion rate and a more efficient use of your money.
