james holmes - maximising roi for high-turnover ecommerce ppc campaigns - ionsearch 2012

ionSearch 2012 - Expert Panel Suite

Maximising ROI For High-Turnover

Ecommerce Campaigns

James Holmes – Paid Search Director, Blueclaw - Moderator

Peter Whitmarsh – PPC Manager, Search Laboratory

Adam Hawkins – UK Sales Manager, Kenshoo

Arianne Donoghue – Head of PPC, Stickyeyes

ionSearch 2012

James Holmes

Blueclaw

14.15- 15.00:

Maximising ROI for high-turnover ecommerce PPC campaigns James Holmes - Paid Search Director, Blueclaw – Moderator Peter Whitmarsh - PPC Manager, Search Laboratory Adam Hawkins - UK Sales Manager, Kenshoo Arianne Donoghue - Head of PPC, Stickyeyes

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1. How have Google’s latest ad innovations helped ecommerce advertisers?

• Allows for dynamic insertion of

products into remarketing

banners

• Based on users’ interaction with

your website

Dynamic Remarketing

Product Listing Ads

Interest Category Marketing

• Great if you have a specific interest to target

£££

Similar Users

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2. Is Facebook advertising worthwhile for ecommerce retailers and how best to measure ROI?

Facebook: Build > Engage > Amplify

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Page or App

Creation

Fan Base with

Like Ads

Publish to Fans

Targeting Fans of Friends

Sponsored Stories $

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Facebook Target > Expand > Convert Off-Facebook

$

$

$

$

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3. Beyond AdWords and the other PPC platforms, what role can third party technologies play for maximising ROI?

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SEM Challenges

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SEM Challenges

Dynamic Ad Creation

Products Feeds can keep relevancy updated

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Store: 123

Metro: MSP

City: Bloomington

Category: Living Room

SubCategory: Sofa

Size: Large

Brand: King’s

Item SKU: 527 510 480 10

Name: Soft Field

Color: Lime Green

Price: $550.00

Inventory: 12

Attributes

• Keyword Combos

• Inventory

• Price

• Promotions

Category + Brand

Sub-Category + Brand

Category + Color + Brand

Brand + Sub-Category

Brand + Category

Brand + Name

Name + Color

Size + Name

Name + Brand

Brand + Location

Location + Inventory

Category + Location

Auto Keyword Expansion

King’s Soft Field Sofa Only 12 left at $550.00. Price Match Guarantee www.acme.com/LivingRoom/Sofa

Auto Campaign & Ad Group Creation

• Brand

• Category

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Bidding Mechanisms

KW Rules-Based Portfolio-Based

Human Decisioning

Algorithmic Decisioning

Advanced Search Bid Management

Keyword Bid Management

Not Feasible

Portfolio Bid Optimization

✓

✓

✓

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Rules Based Bidding

• Bids are set on keywords

• Each keyword strives to reach the (same) goal

• Keywords look to hit its own individual goal…

• …even if there is an opportunity to improve overall performance by relaxing its own goal/constraint

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Portfolio Bidding

• Bids are also set on keywords

• The goal is for the entire portfolio – individual keywords don’t have a goal

• They all work together towards the “greater good,” even if it means taking a “personal hit”

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4. How best to structure PPC campaigns for maximum ROI?

The Problem

• Search terms for a keyword of +dresses

Search Phrase Impressions Clicks CTR Convs Conv Rate

dresses 2370000 50000 2.11% 1330 2.66%

dress 2600000 43000 1.65% 1230 2.86%

cheap dress 470000 30000 6.38% 560 1.87%

red dress 1100000 20000 1.82% 80 0.40%

red maxi dress 260000 18000 6.92% 200 1.11%

black minidress 400000 7000 1.75% 120 1.71%

designer dresses 120000 6000 5.00% 120 2.00%

silk dresses 280000 3000 1.07% 70 2.33%

size 10 dresses 30000 2000 6.67% 5 0.25%

new look dresses 22000 1500 6.82% 20 1.33%

prom dress 110000 1200 1.09% 20 1.67% debenhams dresses 20000 1000 5.00% 5 0.50%

The Problem

• Hundreds of different search terms

triggering this keyword

• Loads of these search terms are

actually keywords in the account

anyway

The Problem

• How do we even begin to optimise this?

Bid decisions Wrong

CTR Poor

Landing pages Poor

Quality score Poor

Keyword reporting

Wrong

The Solution

Well thought-out ad group negatives

Example

Dresses

Brand

Gucci

D&G

Primark

Colour

Red

Black

Pink

Quality

Cheap

Designer

High End

Style

Maxi

Mini

Prom

Negatives

• Think about the priority of negatives when

setting up

• Where should a search phrase ‘cheap red

maxi dresses size 10 uk’ be?

– Dresses (Head terms)

– Dresses >> Colours >> Red

– Dresses >> Style >> Maxi

– Dresses >> Quality >> Cheap

Priorities

• We should have a pecking order such as

Brand > Style > Colour > Quality > Head Terms

Priorities

Brand > Style > Colour > Quality > Head Terms

• Then when setting up we know that:

– ‘Gucci’ can be negated in the style, colour, quality &

head terms groups

– ‘Red’ can be negated in the quality & head terms groups

Priorities

Brand > Style > Colour > Quality > Head Terms

• So now we know that ‘cheap red maxi dresses size

10 uk’ can only go to one place

• Maxi is negated in everything below style so it has

to go to the style ad groups

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5. PPC & SEO- Synergy, Cannibalism or both?

PPC & SEO

Good thing or bad thing?

It depends!

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Depends on what?

• Where you rank organically

• Levels of competition in your sector

• Costs of PPC

• Strength of your brand

• What tracking/attribution software you use

• How well integrated you *actually* have them

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Plenty of overlap PPC in a silo translates to just

looking at this:

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Plenty of overlap

And means we’re missing out on this:

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Incrementality • Where the combination is greater than the sum of its parts

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Test, Analyse & Learn • Every business is different

• No substitute for your own data

• Examine your analytics

• Use attributed data where possible

• Understand where and how your PPC & SEO work together

It’s not about which is better or worse – they’re just

different! 35

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6. How does the EU cookie law change things for PPC advertisers?

EU Cookie Law • aka European Privacy Directive

• Comes into effect 26th May 2012

• Put simply:

• No cookies must be placed without user consent (opt-in)

• Unless they are essential for the site experience, e.g.

shopping cart

Key Questions 1. What happens to tracking and attribution which rely on the

use of cookies?

2. What could the impact be if a high percentage of site users

decline to opt-in?

3. What happens to a site if it doesn’t comply?

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7. Any questions?

ionSearch 2012

Peter Whitmarsh

Search Laboratory

Newer Google Features Presented By: Pete Whitmarsh

Dynamic Remarketing

• Allows for dynamic insertion of

products into remarketing

banners

• Based on users’ interaction with

your website

Product Listing Ads

Interest Category Marketing

• Great if you have a specific interest to target

£££

Similar Users

PPC Structure for Retail

Using Ad Group Negatives to Control Traffic

Presented By: Pete Whitmarsh

The Problem

• Search terms for a keyword of +dresses

Search Phrase Impressions Clicks CTR Convs Conv Rate

dresses 2370000 50000 2.11% 1330 2.66%

dress 2600000 43000 1.65% 1230 2.86%

cheap dress 470000 30000 6.38% 560 1.87%

red dress 1100000 20000 1.82% 80 0.40%

red maxi dress 260000 18000 6.92% 200 1.11%

black minidress 400000 7000 1.75% 120 1.71%

designer dresses 120000 6000 5.00% 120 2.00%

silk dresses 280000 3000 1.07% 70 2.33%

size 10 dresses 30000 2000 6.67% 5 0.25%

new look dresses 22000 1500 6.82% 20 1.33%

prom dress 110000 1200 1.09% 20 1.67% debenhams dresses 20000 1000 5.00% 5 0.50%

The Problem

• Hundreds of different search terms

triggering this keyword

• Loads of these search terms are

actually keywords in the account

anyway

The Problem

• How do we even begin to optimise this?

Bid decisions Wrong

CTR Poor

Landing pages Poor

Quality score Poor

Keyword reporting

Wrong

The Solution

Well thought-out ad group negatives

Example

Dresses

Brand

Gucci

D&G

Primark

Colour

Red

Black

Pink

Quality

Cheap

Designer

High End

Style

Maxi

Mini

Prom

Negatives

• Think about the priority of negatives when

setting up

• Where should a search phrase ‘cheap red

maxi dresses size 10 uk’ be?

– Dresses (Head terms)

– Dresses >> Colours >> Red

– Dresses >> Style >> Maxi

– Dresses >> Quality >> Cheap

Priorities

• We should have a pecking order such as

Brand > Style > Colour > Quality > Head Terms

Priorities

Brand > Style > Colour > Quality > Head Terms

• Then when setting up we know that:

– ‘Gucci’ can be negated in the style, colour, quality &

head terms groups

– ‘Red’ can be negated in the quality & head terms groups

Priorities

Brand > Style > Colour > Quality > Head Terms

• So now we know that ‘cheap red maxi dresses size

10 uk’ can only go to one place

• Maxi is negated in everything below style so it has

to go to the style ad groups