Campaign Optimization Kirk Ramble

Principal Optimization Consultant, Webtrends

Step 1 – Media Campaign

Step 3 – Big Profit

Step 1 – Media Campaign

Step 3 – Big Profit

This appears to be how many online marketers think of their world:

Step 1 – Buy some media. Step 3 – Watch the dollars roll in!

Let’s explore Step 2 – discuss how Step 2 is a primary driver of campaign ROI & how Webtrends Optimize can help.

Step 2 – it’s a real thing. •  Examples of campaigns that forgot Step 2. •  Diagram: A world with out Step 2. •  How to improve media campaigns with Step 2. •  Diagram: A world with Step 2.

Anatomy of a successful Campaign Optimization project. •  The single reason campaign traffic & Optimize are perfect together…

Why worry about all of this? •  Introducing – the 3rd lever!

How do we go about doing this? How to make your next campaign ROCK

Agenda:

Step 1 – Media Campaign

Step 3 – Big Profit Step 2 –

Landing Page

This appears to be how many online marketers think of their world:

Step 2 – Where does all this expensive traffic go, and what happens next?

Step 1 – Buy some media. Step 3 – Watch the dollars roll in!

With little thought before the campaign, and zero after it starts about:

However, the above misses a central part of the online marketing value chain –

Step 2 – Landing Page

Online marketers will invest considerable resources

(I know I’ve done it):

And with good reason:

•  Tweaking campaign creative •  Re-tweaking campaign creative •  Re-re-tweaking campaign creative

•  The campaign creative needs to grab attention & be irresistible to clicks.

•  Examining media spend & •  Reviewing media/campaign

performance.

•  The media buy needs to efficient, delivery value and showcase the product in the best possible light.

Yes, the campaign landing page – the forgotten hero in many an online media blitz.

But there is still something missing ….a high performing campaign landing page: •  Immediately communicate to the visitor they are in the right place •  Reinforce the message/promise made in the campaign that drove the visitor

Let’s see some examples of other-than-high performance campaign landing pages….

Examples of Campaigns that forgot step 2. The following examples are disconnected experiences between what prompts a visitor to take action, and the resulting landing page.

•  Your campaign creative is a promise made to the visitor.

•  Initial landing page messages are your proof points to those promises.

•  A disconnection here can result in:

•  Confusion •  Hesitation

Step 2 – Landing Page

Neither of these result in high conversion rates.

Warning: What you are about to see is real.

Names have not been changed,

because I found them on the internet.

FAIL.

Banner Ad: Frozen favorites

Landing page: Nothing is frozen & what’s a Kroger?….

Banner Ad: Talk to Chad

Landing page: What happened to Chad?

Banner Ad: Xfinity $29.99

Landing page: $39.99? Oh wait, there it is.

We should likely test that one.

It is entirely possible that highlighting the $39.99 price point drives a higher net revenue than the $29.99 price point. We run a simple test to find out if this is the case. However, unless you have a good reason not to do so – match the landing page experience to the message that drives your visitors.

Banner Ad: 25GB Mailboxes

Landing page: Bunch of features – where did mine go?

Down here.

Fold is about here.

Full disclosure:

Office 365 is one of my favorite clients – they have a great testing culture and have done some fantastic tests. Goes to prove: step 2 can be forgotten by anyone.

Banner Ad: Free – Free- Free

Landing page: Free – Free – Free!

See – it does work sometimes!

Banner Ad: Free Shipping

Landing page:

Banner Ad: Reward Card

Slippers! And why you came here in the page corners.

This really isn’t that bad – but we could reinforce the campaign message stronger as the primary message.

My guess is they have a slippers ad too, but I haven’t seen that one.

Banner Ad: Virgin America case study.

Landing page: …Your guess is as good as mine…

Step 2: Generic experience – Jumble of campaign

attributes and messages.

Step 1: Search –

Keyword related message 1

Step 3: Big Profit

Step 1: Search –

Keyword related message 2

Step 1: Email – Lots of product information – click for a

demo

Step 1: Banner –

Price message

Step 1: Banner –

Value message

What the previous examples show us is a graphic that looks like this:

In the age of campaign tagging & powerful tools like Webtrends Optimize

– there must be a better way.

Banner Ad: $99

Landing page:

Carousel Slide 2 – Support

Carousel Slide 3 – $99

On the next slide we will see how Wave Broadband could have used the feature presented in the referring banner ad to surface a relevant message to visitors. We would use Optimize to display the correct carousel slide on page load

Carousel Slide 1 – High Speed

Great Support

50 Meg Speed

Banner Ad: Feature specific

Landing Page page:

Carousel Slide 1 – Support

Carousel Slide 1 – $99

Carousel Slide 1 – High Speed

Banner Ad: $95, Free Shipping, Free Returns

Landing page: Partially consistent message - secondary on the page.

On the next slide we will see how Warby Parker could have used the features presented in the referring banner ad to surface a relevant message to visitors. We would use Optimize to display the additional content on page load.

FREE SHIPPING & FREE RETURNS

$95 Special

Banner Ad: $95, Free Shipping, Free Returns

Landing page: Consistent message

Only when specific banner ad display rules are met, Optimize can surface a message to reinforce campaign message.

Graphics are awful – because I made them.

Banner Ad: 80% off Androids, iPad etc.

Landing page:

In the body of this page, you do (eventually) see what drove you to the page. However it would be very easy to just do this -

Something about next to nothing – where are the Androids & iPad?

Banner Ad: 80% off Androids, iPad etc.

Landing page:

Connect the copy in the ad, to the headline on the landing page.

Androids & iPad for next to nothing

Campaign messaging on Campaign Landing page:

All traffic & content for a Webpage.

OR:

Segmented traffic landing on pages optimized to match their needs.

Visitor need Page Content

Examples:

Campaign messaging on Campaign Landing page:

Segmented test - Running a test to determine optimal page content for traffic from display ads

Target - Showing all traffic from display ads a consistent message •  likely the winning content from segmented

test.

Winner!

Segment Target

Q: What is the difference between a segment and a target? A: A Segment is a portion of your traffic you can test separate from the rest of your

traffic. Targets are content, selectively shown to visitors based on display rules.

Step 2: Connected

experience – Messages rotate to match the referring

creative.

Step 1: Search –

Keyword related message 1

Step 3: Big Profit

Step 1: Search –

Keyword related message 2

Step 1: Email – Lots of product information – click for a

demo

Step 1: Banner –

Price message

Step 1: Banner –

Value message

What the previous examples show us is a graphic that looks like this:

Anatomy of a successful campaign Optimization (landing page) project

Anatomy of a successful campaign Optimization (landing page) project

Campaign & every reason

someone would want our product are documented.

Landing environment is chosen (ideally optimized for

conversion rate).

The single reason campaign visitors and Optimize are perfect together.

ROI increase

Campaign documentation

Campaign & every reason

someone would want our product are documented.

Landing environment is chosen (ideally optimized for

conversion rate).

The single reason campaign visitors and Optimize are perfect together.

ROI increase

To create a campaign - marketers will examine every use case and value proposition that sets their offer apart from the competition. These messages will often get divided and placed Into different creative or media executions: •  B2B value proposition message on business sites •  Cost savings & durability feature message to deal sites •  Offer bundle 1 •  Offer bundle 2 •  Etc.

A landing environment is either chosen or created. •  Showcase campaign value consistent with

campaign messaging. •  Simple and clear UX to drive conversion rate

Ideally the campaign landing environment is optimized for conversion rate: •  A/B test to uncover ideal wireframe •  MV test to learn element & messaging hierarchy

(More information about the above later.)

Landing environment chosen

Campaign & every reason

someone would want our product are documented.

Landing environment is chosen (ideally optimized for

conversion rate).

The single reason campaign visitors and Optimize are perfect together.

ROI increase

Single reason campaign visitors & Optimize are GOLD

Often our optimization efforts are focused around trying to figure out what the visitor is looking for, and then showing it to them. •  The single reason campaign visitors and

Optimize are perfect together:

VISITORS TOLD US WHAT THEY WANT!

Campaign & every reason

someone would want our product are documented.

Landing environment is chosen (ideally optimized for

conversion rate).

The single reason campaign visitors and Optimize are perfect together.

ROI increase

VISITORS TOLD US WHAT THEY WANT?!? Visitor motivation is a primary driver in page conversion rate. With campaign media – the motivation for each visitor is communicated based on the specific message that drove that visitor to the site.

Motivation: Savings on frozen food.

Motivation: $29.99 fast internet

Motivation: Mailboxes working with Outlook

VISITORS TOLD US WHAT THEY WANT?!? Banner Ad:

Nothing is frozen & what’s a Kroger?….

Bunch of features – where did mine go?

$39.99? Oh wait, there it is.

Landing page: None these campaign landing pages reinforced the motivation that drove the visitor to take action. This can result in •  hesitation •  confusion –

Neither of these result in high conversion rates.

Why would we worry about all of this?

•  Introducing – the 3rd lever! •  …That’s where the money is….

Why would we worry about all of this?

Campaign creative performance

Media spend performance

Running the campaign creative with the best

CTR.

Moving media spend to the most efficient

vehicles.

Why would we worry about all of this? 3rd lever!

Why would we worry about all of this? 3rd lever!

Diminishing Marginal Returns – •  In the beginning changes to both

creative rotation and media spend drive significant impact to your campaign performance.

•  After some tweaking your campaign

creative and media spend are far more difficult to improve.

This is about where most campaign mangers start to pull their hair out – how do I keep improving?

Landing Page Conversion Rate!

How to become a rock star and get a raise 3rd lever!

Another central driver of campaign ROI is still available for you to improve – The conversion rate of your campaign landing page is not a pre-determined static number assigned to you by the internet gods – You have the ability to test/tweak and improve your ROI – by increasing the relevance of your landing page!

Campaign creative performance

Media spend performance

Running the campaign creative with the best

CTR.

Moving media spend to the most efficient

vehicles.

Why would we worry about all of this? 3rd lever!

Landing Page Conversion Rate!

Media specific relevancy & a high performing

landing page!

Example results of media campaign:

Media Spend: Campaign Traffic:

Landing page conversion rate:

Revenue: Cost per end action:

$1,356,500 3,390,000 3.5% $5,250,000 $11.43

After we use Optimize to increase the conversion rate – we would see the following:

Media Spend: Campaign Traffic:

Landing page conversion rate:

Incremental Revenue:

Cost per end action:

$1,356,500 3,390,000

3.85% (10% lift) + $525,000 $10.39 4.20% (20% lift) + $1,050,000 $9.52 4.55% (30% lift) + $1,575,000 $8.79

Why would we worry about all of this? “that’s where the money is…”

•  When tagged properly, your campaign creative sends messages to the landing page about the specific ad the visitor has clicked: -  Type of media (Search, banner ad etc.) -  Message (Ad group, campaign ID, keyword)

•  Webtrends Optimize can read this this information & use predefined rules to surface messaging relevant to the specific ad:

However, these hooks are necessary – so some upfront planning is advised.

Ad group MC_id Etc.

Ad group as human readable

Message to surface on landing page (Set in Optimize as part of the test plan):

0078 Offer 1 – Free Shipping

Free Shipping

1045 Offer 2 – Great customer support

Customer support

023 Value message – Saves time

Time saving message

How do we go about doing this?

Step 1 – Media Campaign

Step 3 – Big Profit

Step 2 – Landing Page

How to make your next campaign ROCK •  As you define your campaign creative – reflect as much of this as you can

in the campaign landing page. •  Plan to test/target on your landing page to ensure tight alignment between

creative execution & landing page messaging. •  If you are spending any money to bring visitors to your site – let us help

you improve you ROI.

Take Away(s) -

Step 2 – it’s a real thing. •  Reinforce the promises made in your campaign creative on the landing page.

The single reason campaign traffic & Optimize are perfect together… •  Visitors told us what the want by clicking on specific messaging •  Webtrends Optimize can surface that message on the landing page

The 3rd lever! – Test – Test – Test. •  Beyond creative rotation and media mix – you still have 1 more powerful lever to

pull: conversion rate!

Plan to test/target on your landing page: What does that mean – (shameless plug). Webtrends Optimize helps you present alternate/test versions of your webpages to site visitors. This allows your visitors to ‘vote’ for their preferred page by the actions they do/do not perform & you both make your customers happy & a lift in your bottom line. How to go about testing to drive campaign performance:

A/B test – Wireframe & page layout

Multivariate test – Messaging &

element significance

Campaign based

targeting

© 2012 Webtrends, All Rights Reserved. | 46

A/B/n  Tes)ng  •  Compares two or more alternatives of a single page

element, page or funnel; even proportions (50/50) »  Split testing - same as above: uneven proportions (e.g. 90/10)

•  When to use? For quick comparisons of significant changes

© 2012 Webtrends, All Rights Reserved. | 47

Mul)variate  Tes)ng  (MVT)  •  Simultaneous testing of multiple variations of multiple

content elements to determine most effective combination. •  When to use? To learn what combinations work best.

Thank You

Kirk Ramble, Principal Optimization Consultant Webtrends

blogs.webtrends.com

@kirkramble

Kirk.Ramble@webtrends.com

© 2013 Webtrends Inc. 49

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