Two fantastic features of paid search are the ability to use demographics to target a specific audience and to increase revenue. But to be successful in paid search, you can’t just recognize who the interested potential customers are. You also have to optimize their experience to get them to purchase your product or service.
Success isn’t always what it appears to be. Should a lot of clicks be your goal? Spoiler: no, not without defining what a profitable conversion is for your business model. While conversions are important, it’s what happens AFTER the conversion that can make or break your campaign’s success. For example, no matter how great your click-through rates are, or how low your cost per click is, the campaign is only successful if you turn prospective clients into revenue. So ask yourself, what is the true value of my current leads, and how am I going to follow them through the sales funnel to ensure success? When planning goals for your campaign, it is important to think about how you will nurture your leads.
For example, if your goal is for potential customers to call, think about who is answering your phones. Are they trained to direct the customer to the next stage of sales? Will they be prepared to answer an influx in calls? (You don’t want to send hot leads to an unresponsive call center.)
If your goal is to have site visitors fill out a form, then you need to make sure to optimize the form to ask for only the essential information. The longer the form, the less likely your visitor will fill it out. Are you capturing an email from when they fill out the form? Make sure you have a plan to nurture these leads, such as a drip email campaign that is tested and up-to-date.
Is your goal an e-commerce purchase? Think about it from a customer’s perspective. Would you feel safe using your credit card to make a purchase on a poorly-designed landing page with minimal information about a product? I wouldn’t feel safe. Make the experience secure, first of all. Then, consider the ease of completing the purchase. You don’t want them to step away from the computer and get distracted, or worse, realize they don’t want your product. If they DO abandon their cart, do you have a retargeting tag in place to recapture their attention?
Overall, to be successful in your paid search campaigns you need to define success, and ensure that your funnel is prepared. While conversions are a huge part of success, make sure you aren’t losing potential customers after the click, due to poor planning and a bad user experience.
About Uptick
Uptick Marketing is a digital marketing agency based in Birmingham, AL. We provide a variety of digital marketing services (30+ services à la carte) to our clients, including search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, digital advertising, graphic design, video production, and more. We work with business owners, marketing directors, and other key stakeholders every day—and we believe in results-driven strategies that work to grow your business.
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