the good, the bad, and the ugly of automation by caitlin halpert

#SMX #13B @caitlin_halpert

The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly of Automation

Althoughthisisatemplate,theseslideshavebeencreatedasexamplestoshowyouwhat’spossiblewithinthetemplate.PLEASEDELETEALLEXAMPLESLIDESANDNOTESBEFORECREATINGORIMPORTINGYOUROWNDECK. YOU MUST USE THE SMX FOOTER ON YOUR TITLE SLIDE! Thetemplateworksbestifyouuseittocreateapresentationfromscratch.However,thisblanklayoutoffersyouflexibilitytoinsertyourownslidesabovetheSMXfooter.Youmustusethisfooteratonalmostallofyourslides.Ifascreenshotoverlapsthefooteronoccasion,that’sfine–butdoyourbesttocropappropriately!Beforeyoudoanythingelse,replace“#XXa”inthefooterwithyoursession’sspecifichashtag.InPowerPoint,SelectVIEW>SLIDEMASTERtoeditandincludeitonallslidesofyourpresentation.Alsoaddyour@twitterhandle(or@companyhandleifyouprefer).Askyoursessioncoordinatorforthesession’sspecifichashtag!Thistemplateishigh-resolution16:9.DONOTchangeitto4:3.Alsonotethatifyouimporta4:3presentationinto16:9youmayencounterdisplayissues.ThetemplateusesCenturyGothic&Corbelasdefaultfonts.Arialisasecondaryfontthatmayappear.NotethatolderversionsofPowerPointmaynothavetheseasanoption;changetoArialorotherstandardsans-serif-font.Wheninsertingtext,you*MUST*useonlystandardfonts.Wecannotguaranteeeventlaptopswillhavespecialtyfontsinstalled,norcanwedosoonsite.Powerpointswithanimationsmaynottranslatewelltopdf/slideshareformat–youmayalsosubmita2ndversion/scrubbeddeckmoreappropriateforpostingonlinebySMXproductionstaff.

Example Title Slide:

Althoughthisisatemplate,theseslideshavebeencreatedasexamplestoshowyouwhat’spossiblewithinthetemplate.PLEASEDELETEALLEXAMPLESLIDESANDNOTESBEFORECREATINGORIMPORTINGYOUROWNDECK. YOU MUST USE THE SMX FOOTER ON YOUR TITLE SLIDE! Thetemplateworksbestifyouuseittocreateapresentationfromscratch.However,thisblanklayoutoffersyouflexibilitytoinsertyourownslidesabovetheSMXfooter.Youmustusethisfooteratonalmostallofyourslides.Ifascreenshotoverlapsthefooteronoccasion,that’sfine–butdoyourbesttocropappropriately!Beforeyoudoanythingelse,here’showtoreplace“#XXa”inthefooterwithyoursession’sspecifichashtag.InPowerPoint,SelectVIEW>SLIDEMASTERtoeditSLIDE#1toincludeitonallslidesofyourpresentation.Alsoaddyour@twitterhandle(or@companyhandleifyouprefer).Askyoursessioncoordinatorforthesession’sspecifichashtag!Thistemplateishigh-resolution16:9.DONOTchangeitto4:3.Alsonotethatifyouimporta4:3presentationinto16:9youmayencounterdisplayissues.ThetemplateusesCenturyGothic&Corbelasdefaultfonts.Arialisasecondaryfontthatmayappear.NotethatolderversionsofPowerPointmaynothavetheseasanoption;changetoArialorotherstandardsans-serif-font.Wheninsertingtext,you*MUST*useonlystandardfonts.Wecannotguaranteeeventlaptopswillhavespecialtyfontsinstalled,norcanwedosoonsite.Powerpointswithanimationsmaynottranslatewelltopdf/slideshareformat–youmayalsosubmita2ndversion/scrubbeddeckmoreappropriateforpostingonlinebySMXproductionstaff.


About Me &

•  IworkfromourBurlington,VToffice

•  5yearsindigitalmarketing

•  Search,SEO,mobile,paidsocial,display,andanalytics


TheGood

TheBad

TheUgly

KeepingitGood

Agenda


The Good


Lesstime

Betterperformance IncreasedROI


Bidding – We can test!

Marin KPO

DS CO


Bidding – We can test!

Marin KPO

DS CO

Lesstime

Betterperformance

IncreasedROI


Let your tools tell you when there’s a problem


Let your tools tell you when there’s a problem

Lesstime

Betterperformance

IncreasedROI


Plug & play reporting is a winner


Plug & play reporting is a winner Lesstime

Betterperformance

IncreasedROI


Ad Customizers – work within your current structure


Ad Customizers – work within your current structure

Lesstime

Betterperformance

IncreasedROI


The Bad


Saving time on keyword builds…


Saving time on keyword builds…

1.3million+keywords


Now what?


$.43perdayperkeyword

Nodatadensity

Nodata-basedbiddingdecisions

Inabilitytoidentifyeffectivekeywords

Timetomanageaccountincreases

Adcreationtakeslonger

Moretimetomanagekeywords

Greatertime

investmentinbidding


$.43perdayperkeyword

Nodatadensity

Nodata-basedbiddingdecisions

Inabilitytoidentifyeffectivekeywords

Timetomanageaccountincreases

Adcreationtakeslonger

Moretimetomanagekeywords

Greatertime

investmentinbidding

Moretime

Worseperformance

IncreasedROI


Upfront investment pays dividends

ResearchYour

Keywords

Predictvolume

Data-baseddecisions

Reduceongoing

maintenance

UseBroad&BMM

Aggregatedata

Findnewkeywords

Understandhowtheywork


What do you mean “understand how Broad & BMM work”?

•  Wordorderdoesn’tmatter!

•  Pluralsdon’tmatter!

•  Misspellingsdon’tmatter!

•  Ifthequerysetthekeywordwillmatchtoisn’tunique,don’taddanewvariation!


The Ugly


GoodProcess

BadData

FAILURE


What causes bad data?

Trackingpixeldrop-off

Performanceanomalies

Hugeclearancesale

Datadelay Slowsitespeed

Noleadqualitytracking


Overlooked Scenario: Bidding


Keyword MaxCPC AvgPos Cost Conv CPA

+nurse+uniforms $1.10 2.39 $234.29 69 $3.84

[nurseuniform] $1.35 2.30 $897.43 154 $6.80

[nurseuniforms] $1.50 2.00 $1,903.67 338 $6.37

Data, as seen by your bid algorithm



+nurse+uniforms $1.20 2.00 $617.52 124 $4.98

[nurseuniform] $0.95 2.50 $520.32 96 $5.42

[nurseuniforms] $1.10 2.30 $1,020.30 190 $5.37

One week later…



+nurse+uniforms $1.20 2.00 $617.52 124 $4.98

[nurseuniform] $0.95 2.50 $520.32 96 $5.42

[nurseuniforms] $1.10 2.30 $1,020.30 190 $5.37

One week later…

MOREVOLUME!

LOWERCPA!LOWERCPA!



+nurse+uniforms $1.20 2.00 $617.52 124 $4.98

[nurseuniform] $0.95 2.50 $520.32 96 $5.42

[nurseuniforms] $1.10 2.30 $1,020.30 190 $5.37

One week later…

MOREVOLUME!

LOWERCPA!LOWERCPA!

SuccessfulBidding!!!


What’s the problem?


You’re actually playing query whack-a-mole

Query/Keyword MaxCPC AvgPos Cost Conv CPA

nursesuniforms 2.15 $3,035.39 561 $6.17

+nurse+uniforms $1.10 2.39 $234.29 69 $3.84

[nurseuniform] $1.35 2.30 $897.43 154 $6.80

[nurseuniforms] $1.50 2.00 $1,903.67 338 $6.37


You’re actually playing query whack-a-mole

Query/Keyword MaxCPC AvgPos Cost Conv CPA

nursesuniforms 2.15 $3,035.39 561 $6.17

+nurse+uniforms $1.10 2.39 $234.29 69 $3.84

[nurseuniform] $1.35 2.30 $897.43 154 $6.80

[nurseuniforms] $1.50 2.00 $1,903.67 338 $6.37Lesstime

Worseperformance

IncreasedROI


Clean query mapping enables effective bidding

IdealBid Volume

Efficiency


Take our keyword-to-query mapping from this:

+nurse+uniforms[nurse

uniforms]

[nurseuniform]


To this:

+nurse+uniforms

[nurseuniforms]

[nurseuniform]

[nursesuniforms]


SingleKeywordAdGroup

Keyword=SingleQuery

100%Bid

Control

Hyper-specificadcopy

•  Pickkeywordsbasedonqueries

•  Usenegativestocontrolquerymapping

•  Result:EachquerycanonlypossiblymaptoasinglekeywordtoenablebetterbiddingresultsofALLtypes


The Dangers of Auto Budgets


Can I save time budgeting my small accounts?

$5000 4campaigns Fancyalgorithm

*PerfectBudgets*Campaign1-$98Campaign2-$32

Campaign3-$15.33Campaign4-$21.34


Relying on daily budget caps cripples performance


Relying on daily budget caps cripples performance

Lesstime

Worseperformance

IncreasedROI


How to control budgets through bidding alone

ReducebidsonkeywordsaboveCPAgoalStep1Dropbidsonbelow-averagekeywords,evenifwithingoalStep2After0%ISlostduetobudget,beginregularbidding(upongood/downonbad)Step3

•  Dailybudgetcapsareabackup–notyourfirstlineofdefense•  NEVEREVEREVERraisebidsinabudget-cappedcampaign


Onlyautomatewhen:•  Youhavemeaningful,long-termtimesavings•  Performanceisboostedasaresult

Havesafetymeasuresinplace•  Automatictriggerstoendtheautomation•  Automaticreportsofautomationoutcomes

Testallautomationbeforereleasing

Reviewdatamorefrequentlythanyouwouldifnotautomating

Keeping it Good: How to SAFELY automate


LEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS

THANK YOU! SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX

the good, the bad, and the ugly of automation by caitlin halpert

Marketing