Simply Business - corrected version.qxd 27/11/09 12:32 Page 10
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CATEGORY 4:
Sponsored by
Best use of search marketing
WINNER: Simply Business
CAMPAIGN: ‘SIMPLY GOOGLE’
C
omparator website Simply Business
(SB) enables businesses to compare,
buy and manage business insurance
and offers landlord insurance and invoice
finance quotes, serving companies with up
to 20 employees. It has used pay-per-click
campaigns to generate leads to its site since
its inception in 2005.
In an extremely fast moving industry,
Simply Business found that pay-per-click
was the only online advertising medium
that was flexible enough to cope with
instant changes to campaigns, allowing the
team to target advertising spend where it is
most effective.
Against the backdrop of the recession
and the fast-changing PPC landscape, the
‘Simply Google’ campaign had two
objectives; to increase the volume of clicks
and leads resulting from them, and to
improve the return on investment across
the overall PPC campaign.
To obtain objective one, SB needed to
gain a better understanding of how its
customers used search engines to find
insurance. A combination of Google
campaign management tools and Omniture
analysis was used to analyse what
customers searched for. From there, new
keywords were added to the campaign and keyword groups, all with stringent actions such as typing their own trade into
a decision made on which ones to focus on negatives attached. The cost per acquisition a box were also tested.
for the highest volume. (CPA) achieved was 35 per cent less than Meanwhile call centre staff were briefed
The best performing and most valuable ‘normal’ PPC, indicating that the avenue on the PPC campaigns to aide their sales
keywords (or ‘head’) were actively merits further exploration. calls, and landing pages were given a
managed. Tail-end keywords were managed PPC was combined with natural search unique telephone number to help track
mostly using bidding rules. Each head had listings to help the campaign achieve even offline sales. When a customer bought
its own ad group, with individual ad more impact. With both listings visible for offline, the sale was attributed back to PPC
wording and tailored landing pages to give certain keywords, the quantity of PPC and revenue uploaded so that it could be
the Google user a relevant answer to their traffic was found to increase by roughly five tracked back to ad group and keyword
search query. per cent. level as well as to the campaign, ad group
To keep volumes high, SB needed to Results and findings from SB’s PPC and keyword. When a sale was generated
ensure that the wording of the ads campaign have been used in other pages on online it also was automatically attributed
generated the highest amount of clicks its website, in natural search, PR and even to the relevant PPC campaign. Revenue
possible. A programme of testing was for the content of the website. generated from PPC clicks was fed back
implemented against specific keywords and into the reporting, which in the future will
business types. SB also tested display URLs On and offsite techniques help to determine the ROI and where it can
in creatives. To achieve objective two and increase be improved upon.
return on investment across the PPC As a result of this pay-per-click strategy,
Driving relevancy campaigns, a mixture of on and off-site Simply Business was able to significantly
In order to increase leads as well as clicks, methods were used. Bidding to top position increase its return on investment and bring
it was vital to make sure that the relevancy on keywords produced maximum revenue the overall cost per acquisition down, while
between search term, advert and landing and profit, and weekly and monthly reports increasing click-thoughs to the site and the
page remained high and consistent. SB were used to optimise positions and weed number of sales leads.
ensured that the landing pages were out underperforming keywords. Keyword Alastair Douglas, head of marketing &
tailored to expectations of the user and lists were extended by analysing logs and analysis said, “Pay-per-click is a driver of
matched the advert they had clicked on. search queries, and all PPC leads and sales this company’s growth and brand
New Google products were also trialled were tracked back to the relevant awareness. Through consistent strategic
– the Google Content Network was used to keywords. management of our pay-per-click
help increase volume. Tightly targeted Page type, page content, call-to-action campaigns, Google PPC accounts for a large
advertising was conducted with several buttons, design and imagery and other user proportion of our annual revenues.”
B2BM AWARDS 09 – www.b2bm.biz
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