Hi there,
Really happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance on your Google Ads campaign. It sounds like you've stumbled upon a potentially great opportunity, but it's wise to approach it with a bit of caution and a clear strategy.
Firstly, congratulations on the recent performance surge! Seeing a significant drop in CPA alongside a substantial increase in conversions is definitely a positive sign. However, before you reallocate a large chunk of your future budget, let's consider a few key areas to ensure this isn't a flash in the pan and that you're maximising your ROI.
We'll need to look at campaign performance...
The first thing to delve into is the consistency of the improved performance. Is this a sustained trend, or a short-term spike? It's crucial to analyse the data over the past few days to see if the lower CPA and higher conversion rates are holding steady. Look at things like:
- Click-Through Rate (CTR): Has your CTR remained consistent or improved? A sudden increase in impressions without a corresponding rise in clicks could indicate that your ads are being shown to a less relevant audience, which could impact conversion quality.
- Conversion Rate: Is your website conversion rate still healthy, or has it dipped due to the increased traffic? An uptick in traffic can sometimes overwhelm your website, leading to slower loading times or a compromised user experience, both of which can deter conversions.
- Landing Page Performance: I'd also analyse your landing page’s bounce rate and time on page. If people are landing on your page and leaving quickly, it can be a sign that they're not finding what they expect, or that the page isn't compelling enough.
- Keyword Performance: Has the performance of individual keywords shifted? Are certain keywords driving a disproportionate share of the new conversions? If so, you might consider allocating more budget to those high-performing keywords and pausing any underperforming ones.
If the metrics are all looking positive, then it's a good indication that the boom is sustainable. If you're seeing dips in conversion rate or CTR, its possible that something is wrong with your landing page. Perhaps it can't handle the traffic load.
I'd say you analyse the quality of the leads...
Increased conversion volume is fantastic, but only if those conversions translate into paying customers. Before you scale up your budget, take a close look at the quality of the leads you're generating. Are these leads actually qualified prospects who are likely to convert into customers, or are they just filling out the form because your ads are now more visible?
Consider these questions:
- Lead-to-Customer Conversion Rate: What percentage of your leads are turning into actual customers? Has this rate changed since the performance surge? If your lead-to-customer conversion rate has dropped significantly, it could indicate that you're attracting lower-quality leads.
- Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV): Are the new customers you're acquiring through this campaign generating a similar CLTV as your previous customers? If their CLTV is lower, it might not be worth aggressively scaling the campaign, even if the initial CPA looks attractive.
- Feedback from Sales Team: Talk to your sales team and get their feedback on the quality of the leads. Are they finding it easier or harder to convert these leads into customers? Their insights can be invaluable in assessing the true value of the campaign's performance.
You don't wanna ramp up your budget to just acquire a bunch of leads that don't convert into customers. You might see costs increase as well if you increase the budget by too much.
You probably should keep an eye on competitor activity...
A sudden surge in your campaign's performance could be due to a change in the competitive landscape. Perhaps a major competitor has pulled back their advertising spend, or maybe there's been a shift in search trends that favours your offerings.
I'd do a quick check on things like:
- Auction Insights Report: Review your Auction Insights report in Google Ads to see if any new competitors have entered the auction, or if existing competitors have changed their bidding strategies.
- Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Analysis: Manually search for your target keywords and see who else is advertising. Are there any new entrants, or have any of your usual competitors disappeared?
- Market Trends: Stay informed about any industry news or trends that could be influencing search behaviour. A sudden increase in demand for your services could explain the improved campaign performance.
This is to ensure that you are still competitive with other companies and to make sure that the performance isn't simply due to a change in competition.
You'll need to consider your ability to fulfill orders...
Before you dramatically increase your ad spend, make sure your business can handle the surge in new customers. Do you have enough staff, resources, and infrastructure to deliver your services without compromising quality or customer satisfaction? Ramping up lead volumes without ensuring you can actually fulfil the increased demand, would only lead to longer delivery times and lots of unhappy customers.
- Staffing Levels: Do you have enough employees to handle the influx of new customers? Consider hiring additional staff or outsourcing certain tasks to ensure you can maintain your service levels.
- Resource Availability: Do you have enough resources (e.g., equipment, supplies, software) to meet the increased demand? Make sure you have a plan in place to procure any additional resources you might need.
- Capacity Planning: Do you have a system for managing your workflow and ensuring that projects are completed on time and within budget? Implementing project management software or streamlining your processes can help you stay organised and avoid bottlenecks.
If you decide to scale up your campaign, closely monitor your customer satisfaction metrics (e.g., Net Promoter Score, customer reviews) to ensure that your service quality isn't suffering.
I've detailed my main recommendations for you below:
| Area | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Campaign Performance | Closely monitor metrics (CTR, conversion rate, landing page performance, keyword performance) to ensure the improved performance is sustained. |
| Lead Quality | Analyse lead-to-customer conversion rate and CLTV to assess the true value of the new leads. Get feedback from your sales team. |
| Competitor Activity | Monitor Auction Insights and the SERP landscape to identify any changes in the competitive environment. |
| Ability to Fulfill Orders | Check if you have capacity to fulfill your orders to a high quality |
Ramping up your Google Ads campaign can be a great way to capitalise on a surge in demand and accelerate your business growth. Just take the time to assess these different factors and make sure your business is well-positioned to handle the increased workload and maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. It's a really good situation to be in, just make sure you take a calm and measured approach and monitor all the different metrics to ensure you can still fulfill your services to a high quality.
Hopefully this helps. You may benefit from working with someone with expertise in paid advertising, to ensure you're making the best decisions with your budget. We offer a free initial consultation where we review your strategy and account together which usually is super helpful and gives potential clients a taste of the expertise they'll see going into their project if they decide to work with us.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
