FineMinds Digital

There is little point in setting goals unless you track your results and there is little point in tracking if you don’t use the results to identify new goals and tactics to drive performance.

In this blog we show you how to set the right objectives and select the right tools and process for tracking.

Digital Media are arguably the most measurable media ever, and within digital media, paid search is the most measurable technique for tracking the success of variations in targeting, message and creative. But don’t think this makes tracking of paid search straightforward; far from it.

To tackle this issue you need to be very clear about how you will measure success and the current limitations in your tracking. You then need to work ceaselessly to improve accuracy.

As we talk to clients and their agencies, we find tracking is one of the biggest causes of frustration. Many talk about ‘not being able to believe their numbers’ which arises from inconsistent data from one system or across several systems.

So let’s go back to basics and list our ideal tracking requirements.

What is it?

Setting realistic quantitative objectives should underpin your search campaigns. This is closely linked to having the right metrics, web analytics tools, process and people to close the loop and monitor how well your objectives are being achieved and so adjust your strategy

Best Practices: 

1. Set clear objectives based on the market potential for your services.

2. Create standard reports that enable you to assess whether your objectives are met and then regularly review them to improve performance.

3. Ensure reporting is sufficiently granular you can identify improvements at a keyword level.

4. Select the best web analytics tools to give you granular reporting and with management dashboards.

5. Use a Bid Management Tool Strategy to automatically optimise on goals if you make a substantial investment in paid search.

What to watch for?

a. Accuracy – you have to work hard to maximise accuracy and consistency between different systems.

b. Duplication of results attributed to different referrers, in particular affiliates.

c. Avoid restricting potential sales by setting Cost Per Acquisition targets too low. Remember to take into account telephone sales influenced by the website and also lifetime value from repeated purchase.

The more sophisticated your tracking and the metrics you report upon, the better you will be able to assess the success of your paid search campaigns. So, adjust your goals and the targeting and bidding approaches to get better returns.

Understanding the metrics used to track success which we describe in this section is essential to bidding strategies and bid management systems.

Let’s now look at 7 different levels of tracking and goal setting sophistication which should help you assess where you are on the ‘tracking ladder’. Each different level of tracking for online marketing campaigns has several different measures – assess whether you are tracking everything you should be.

These 7 different levels are:

• Tracking level 1. Reach = Number of ad impressions or views = Awareness
•  Tracking level 2. Volume = Number of clicks, visitor sessions or Unique visitors.
• Tracking level 3. Click quality = conversion rates to value events.
• Tracking level 4. Cost effectiveness = Cost Per Click, Cost of customer acquisition (CPA) or cost per value event).
•  Tracking level 5. Return-on-investment (ROI).
• Tracking level 6. Branding metrics = Awareness, Familiarity, Favorability, Purchase intent.
• Tracking level 7. Lifetime value-based ROI.

Remember that these objectives are not mutually exclusive indeed they are often used together in Setting Performance Objectives For Bid Management tools.

Remember that the search network will only give you the first few campaign related measures:

• Impressions
• Clicks
• Clickthrough rate
• Average Cost Per Click

You will have to work hard to integrate these with the sales and budget-related measures. If you can’t determine your conversion rate, margin and so profit on a per-keyword and per-product basis then you won’t be able to optimise your paid search marketing.

FineMinds Digital is a digital marketing agency that provides Pay Per Click services for most of the major platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Amazon and more. If you’re looking for details about our PPC services, contact us now for the most accurate and updated information.