64% Drop In Cost Per Conversion For Leading Packaging Designer And Manufacturer

“Working with Victoria from SMEketing has been a game-changer. We’ve seen significant improvements in clicks, and the cost per click has been expertly managed. You won’t look back after giving them a try.”

Alison Adamson, Create-This

Overview

Create-This, experts in cardboard-engineered products, were facing a declining performance from their Google Ads account.

Despite having a consultant on board, the lack of effective communication and action left them seeking an agency that not just improves performance, but builds a strong relationship too.

They found SMEketing via a Google search and asked us to undertake an initial audit. This audit revealed many issues with the account and gave us a plan to start working to bring the campaigns back up to speed.

Challenges

Lack of Account Management

Their previous consultant’s limited engagement resulted in an account setup that wasn’t in line with best practices. Likewise when Create-This had requested changes or new products to be added, these had been either slow to be implemented, or had not been implemented at all.

Inefficient Settings, Such as Location and Partner Settings

There were many settings and structures within the account that weren’t set up correctly.

For example, location settings were set to “Presence or interest: People in, regularly in, or who’ve shown interest in your targeted locations”, which means Create-This ads were being displayed in countries far beyond the target UK audience, wasting valuable ad spend.

Likewise, the ‘Search Partners’ setting had been turned on, meaning their ads were showing on Google’s search partners. This is a notoriously poor channel, resulting in low-quality clicks and traffic to the site. Wasting their valuable budget on clicks that were not converting.

Muddled Conversion Tracking

Sample requests and contact forms were lumped under a single conversion action, providing misleading data.

In addition, there were issues with duplicate conversion tracking, leading to over-inflated conversion reporting and incorrect KPIs.

Fluctuating Conversion Rates

Looking over the past 12 months of data, conversion rates had fluctuated from highs of 5.34% to lows of 1.56%. In April 2023 it was sitting at 2.01%.

Rising Costs

The cost per conversion was erratic, but the trend was a gradual rise. In April 2023 it was £171.

Poor Campaign Structure

Overlaps, duplicate keywords, and low-quality scores affected the campaign’s effectiveness.

Outdated Ad Copy

Ads hadn’t been refreshed in a significant amount of time. Ensuring your ad copy is fresh and relevant at all times is vital. Monitoring competitor’s ad copy, and testing and tweaking your own copy is a key part in managing a successful campaign.

Strategy

Resetting Account Settings

We corrected the location settings and paused the Search Partners option, focusing solely on the UK audience to get a higher ROI.

Overhaul Conversion Tracking

Separated the tracking for ‘Sample Request’ and ‘Contact Us,’ allowing for more accurate performance metrics. Any duplicate conversion tracking was elimintated. Conversions were tracked using the Google Ads tag, implemented via Google Tag Manager.

Budget And Bidding Optimisation

Shifted from Max Clicks and enhanced CPC to smarter bidding strategies better suited for their needs. Once we the new conversions were coming in at a rate of 30 a month, we tested different smart bidding strategies to ensure we were making the most of Google’s AI capabilities.

Campaign Restructuring

Initially, Create-This’ campaigns had a disorganised structure with overlaps and duplicate keywords that muddled their performance.

As a result of our comprehensive review we undertook a near-complete restructuring.

Ad groups were reorganised by product type, eliminating overlaps and redundancies. This targeted approach allowed for a more efficient allocation of ad spend and a clearer picture of what was working and what wasn’t. The result? A cleaner, more focused campaign that could accurately measure and thus improve performance.

Quality Score Improvement

The account had several low-scoring keywords that were dragging down the overall quality score. Low scores mean higher costs and fewer impressions, a lose-lose situation.

We identified these troublemakers and replaced them with more relevant keywords. Additionally, we worked on improving ad relevance and landing page experience, two key factors in determining quality score. As a result, we saw noticeable improvements in ad rank and, subsequently, a greater share of impressions.

Ad Copy Refresh

The existing ad copy hadn’t been updated in a while, which likely made it stale and less appealing to potential customers. We set out to totally revamp it.

After researching current trends and target audience preferences, we wrote new headlines and descriptions for the ads. Each ad was designed to speak directly to the needs and pain points of Create-This’ ideal customer.

We also incorporated strong call-to-actions to encourage clicks. The end result was a significant improvement in click-through rates.

Results

• Cost per conversion: Down from £171 to £60.53
  
• Conversion rate: Up from 2.01% to 4.27%
  
• CTR: Improved from 8.02% to 12.12%

“We have been using SMEketing for over a year and Victoria has really improved our results. It’s a collaborative effort to make the most of our budget, and we’ve seen a significant increase in our clicks. She’s always happy to meet up and makes things easy for me to understand. Highly recommend giving them a try.” 

Alison Adamson

In conclusion, Create-This’ experience proves that a well-managed Google Ads account can bring about transformative results. With targeted strategies, SMEketing was able to not just turn around the Google Ads account but also build a strong, communicative relationship with the client.

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