John Moran, our Senior Client Strategist, analyzes a Google Ads account that hasn’t been converting on cold terms, and is only converting on brand terms. Learn more about John's process of analyzing why this is happening.

In this episode, John also emphasizes the importance of analyzing various channels, tracking conversion paths accurately, and understanding the customer journey to improve conversion rates. Listen to this episode to learn how to optimize your Google Ads campaigns if you're having trouble converting cold traffic and watch out for Part 2 for the continuation of how John troubleshoots the account.

PS: This episode is from a recent internal Solutions 8 training.

Learn about the Solutions 8 Digital Marketing Services here: www.sol8.com/digital-marketing-services

0:00 Intro

0:15 What to Do if Your Google Ads Campaign Is Not Converting on Cold Terms

3:34 Checking channels

7:07 SMs is the worst for attribution

12:51 Check customer geography and learn more

18:00 Reviewing attribution sources

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We're so deep in the rabbit hole now

of little bolt ons and add ons and

2

strategies and that type of stuff.

3

The only thing that doesn't always

change is does more high quality

4

cold traffic convert, regardless of

what conversion journey they took.

5

So John, our biggest struggle in this

account is that we haven't been able

6

to convert on cold terms and we've had

this client for probably two years now.

7

It's been a real struggle.

8

It just really converts on brand.

9

so we've had a really terrible

traction on top of funnel terms.

10

Okay.

11

And I think even our P max brand

excluded is still showing up for brand.

12

Yeah.

13

And this is 1 more thing to add here.

14

we have made few changes

on titles and descriptions.

15

It has improved the.

16

Search terms quality, I will say,

but still, we are not able to,

17

target huge masses or not able to get

impressions and clicks on those terms.

18

what other channels are they spending on?

19

just Facebook.

20

Do we know their meta,

weekly or monthly spend?

21

approximate.

22

Yeah.

23

Weekly.

24

Let me grab it here.

25

Doing weekly, Melissa, they

are doing Tabula, right?

26

or Facebook?

27

they do like native ads

and like affiliate as well.

28

so weekly spend 9,000 John.

29

On Facebook.

30

9,000 a week.

31

And then we spent in the

last seven days, 600.

32

So we'll do.

33

640 plus, was going to say 9, 000, right?

34

Okay.

35

Do we have a CAC target for them?

36

basically we have a ROAS target, but

it's new, it would be new customers.

37

So I would say like

anything like above a 1.

38

8 to a 2 would be, they

would be really happy with.

39

Okay.

40

their current CAC is 50.

41

48 if they're not spending on any

other channels, just Meta and Google.

42

they started running P max, they did it

43

right now is 50 48, their last week, 719.

44

of the 719 are new.

45

So they have a lot more

returning than new.

46

And it looks like of the big

things was, there's probably like

47

an April sale that took place.

48

So typically they get more

returning than new every day.

49

Yes.

50

So we have to look at, here's a good

thing is we have to look at this.

51

If we don't have like performance max,

here's a good area to check in on.

52

Is looking at the marketing and then

looking at the channel report and

53

then looking at a 1st click and then

looking at like a 7 day and then

54

descending by 1st time customers.

55

We have Google paid as 13 and

23, so we're delivering almost

56

twice the amount of returning

customers than 1st time customers.

57

Now, this is also the inclusion of brand.

58

So we have 13 customers last week in

Google paid from first click perspective.

59

This is where we look at in the last

seven days as an example as to what we're

60

tracking in terms of just all purchases.

61

Now, again, we don't want to take this

as gospel, but the trends are right

62

because if we're looking at Google paid

giving us a lot of first time customers.

63

We can also see, though, that Klaviyo

Paid, no, Klaviyo Paid is driving almost

64

the amount of same first time customers,

which is interesting to think about.

65

why?

66

One of the reasons that this happens is

because they get to the site, they sign

67

up for an email, then they take advantage

of that discount, and we don't get

68

any attribution instead of Google Ads.

69

So it could be driving

a whole bunch of stuff.

70

But we don't ever see attribution for it.

71

Remember attribution, put

attribution out of your mind.

72

Now, in app attribution,

Google can do very well.

73

my most recent launch of a

campaign, I'm getting a 4.

74

25 Edmer on new customers with a 0.

75

41 percent ROAS and standard shopping.

76

It's okay.

77

Imagine Google's a hundred percent

wrong and you can't look there.

78

Now, what do we do?

79

that's what we all have to

start thinking about is.

80

Identifying that customer journey

by single points of attribution.

81

So when you see something like this,

where Klaviyo has 109 returning

82

customers, but 10 first time customers

that's beating Google in returning

83

customers, but we're beating Klaviyo

and first time customers, however.

84

There's a lot of brand here last week.

85

We had two, three sales inside

of our non brand campaign and

86

PMAX that brought probably first

time customers from brand terms.

87

It tells us that PMAX will

attribute more just inherently

88

because these are email purchasers.

89

These are email buyers.

90

Our first time customers,

primarily when you don't count

91

brand or coming from email.

92

So what is the cure?

93

That's what we have to figure out.

94

Go into the marketing,

go into the top channel.

95

Let's go last 30 days.

96

Sort descending.

97

This is first click.

98

We have 84 and Klaviyo.

99

Interesting.

100

Now they spend a whole bunch of

money on meta that don't give us

101

a lot of first click attribution.

102

That's okay.

103

We can see though that they are driving

probably more cold traffic than we are.

104

Because we do have Brandon

here and they have more first

105

than returning from a click.

106

Now let's look at last

non direct attentive.

107

Attentive is SMS.

108

It's text messaging marketing.

109

So text messages is going to be the

worst for attribution ever, because

110

that's a text link from a phone that

they got from a probably maybe different

111

device, laptop signs up for email.

112

They text them attributions gone.

113

So when we think about the customer

journey, imagine just missing as

114

soon as you bring in that new user

that comes to the site and then

115

they sign up for text messages, the

attributions out of Google's gone.

116

they're not even on the

same device anymore.

117

Or maybe.

118

Let alone least IP address,

wifi connection, et cetera.

119

So attentive and Klaviyo have

brought in more first time customers

120

this month than any other channel.

121

And these two.

122

Are a linked channel.

123

This is actually not paid.

124

that's not true.

125

But look at the volume of sales

and look at the amount of orders.

126

And look at the conversion rate.

127

Does that conversion rate

look really cold to you?

128

No, very warm.

129

So Facebook looks real cold, right?

130

that conversion rate sucks, but

they spend a lot more than us.

131

So what we're seeing here is

that this Facebook is bringing

132

probably a lot of these here.

133

So Facebook is bringing a

lot of them here because why?

134

Facebook doesn't attribute anything.

135

They do attribute more cold and

warm, but people don't just come

136

up and sign up for email addresses

in order to get their first time

137

purchase discount off of Google brand.

138

when we start to look at the flow of

traffic and we start to look at how these

139

people are coming in and just the human

nature of beings, human beings, we will

140

probably look as bad as Google does.

141

Where they spent 3, 000 in sales

and they spent what, 9, 000 a week?

142

So they spent 36, 000 to make 3, 000.

143

It's probably what our Google

looked like on cold traffic, right?

144

That's okay.

145

We have to take into the

CACMR and LTV targets.

146

If we just scoop up brand, we live and

die by how good their meta team is.

147

And please do an email blast

and SMS blast this week so we

148

can earn some ROAS company.

149

That's what PMax may be doing right now.

150

So don't necessarily look at in app ROAS.

151

That's not going to tell you something.

152

Attentive will crush Google.

153

And now you're dead in the water.

154

And that's why Google is only able

to attribute a conversion when it's a

155

branded click, because that's the point

in time that they can actually, earn that.

156

That's why it's like I entered in

my brand exclusions, but my brand

157

excluded is still getting brand sales.

158

So YouTube is good.

159

That's fine here, but the PMAX feed

only, let's see what this one we're

160

spending the most amount of money on.

161

that's, brand.

162

But we have 5 out of our 9, our brand.

163

Our other campaign was all brand.

164

So my opinion is Google is not driving

new users to sign up for attentive.

165

It's not driving new users

to sign up for clavio.

166

We're potentially getting, our 139.

167

Returning customers that

want to buy something else

168

attributed their first time.

169

Customers will come

though heavily from brand.

170

What do you want to do when

you want to buy something?

171

Google the brand.

172

So here's what I would say is start

to measure a global CAC or a global

173

and CAC just 1st and foremost, that

global and CAC right here of 50.

174

48 is our true north

star just to begin with.

175

And say, if I were to drive high quality

standard shopping traffic, which means

176

man, these search terms look like they

should be doing something most chances

177

are, they probably are, they're just

doing it in attentive or Cladio So

178

I go there for the first time ever.

179

Actually, limited time, free

shipping on all products.

180

Awesome.

181

take the quiz.

182

Are we tracking any sort

of quiz, completions?

183

Nope, we aren't anymore.

184

So this right here, for example,

could be where all of our Google

185

traffic is lost to attentive.

186

Wait, enter your email to get 10

percent off any of our Google traffic

187

that goes here and takes a quiz.

188

We will lose attribution

for we shouldn't, but we do.

189

That's why we don't trust Google.

190

I go to a page here, subscribe and save.

191

How many of our purchases are

coming into subscriptions?

192

Not that much.

193

Our online store tanked, but it's

because there was an Easter sale

194

in the time before that on Sunday.

195

So if we look at our customers, here's a

good indicator to have things that like,

196

Hey, where do these people come from?

197

If you go into the first order

date and then just open up, five,

198

it'll tell you, okay, this order

here, there's no conversion.

199

Okay.

200

Sometimes if for subscription

models, it just doesn't give

201

you any conversion thing.

202

So product sync, do we know what product

sync is, but it's like a secondary, I

203

don't know if it's like a secondary,

like landing page where he sends like

204

his native traffic or like taboola ads.

205

Cause he runs like a lot of affiliate

stuff as well, but he doesn't send it

206

straight to the website as we see it.

207

Okay.

208

Do we know what Mediago is?

209

Mediago?

210

No, I don't know what that is.

211

That's like the additional details.

212

Cora.

213

So this one was showing

like source value is Cora.

214

Source value is Mediago.

215

Source value is Mediago.

216

Source value is Mediago.

217

Source value is 38 harsh.

218

What's up?

219

Yeah.

220

So John, another thing is I've

tried like us inbound campaign

221

here, search inbound campaign.

222

Another one was a standard shopping,

which was purely to the top of the funnel

223

traffic and the convert and the search

terms were looking great at that moment.

224

And we were getting clicks.

225

We were spending good amount

of money as well, but we did

226

not getting any conversions

except search term particularly.

227

So what I did, I looked at the

old time data and what I examined,

228

we, Jake, like we have 10, 000

conversions data in the Google ads

229

account and almost 9, 500 were from.

230

So what I think it might be, or it could

be anything, which is like black box

231

thing where the account is learned in

a way that it is just only tends to get

232

conversions from Thomas specifically.

233

Is there any possibility for that?

234

Yeah, the problem is aware of the

app and their customer journey

235

went to Google in a brand name.

236

if we don't track any conversions

in app, like we don't look

237

at that there's media go.

238

I call it Mediago, but media go here.

239

We got to find out what this is.

240

That's getting all the attribution.

241

there's a source value here.

242

We got to figure out what this is

because this, for example, is this

243

interrupting that journey because

there is no conversion details.

244

It almost looks like this is

a draft order because this is

245

actually coming from product sync.

246

this is the attribution engine

that Shopify sees, which means

247

does our tag even fire on this?

248

Looks like it's a funnel.

249

product enhance, add funnels.

250

So from an ad funnel, this

could be used only by affiliate

251

marketers, this could be the engine.

252

That's what I'm saying.

253

We have to know these conversion paths.

254

We, if we look in app in Google ads,

we have to say every text message

255

is a hundred percent accurate.

256

Every email a hundred

percent accurate from us.

257

Every media go funnel we're tracking

tested 100 accurate to us If we can't

258

say yes to those three, we can't look

at google But what if he's sending

259

traffic john to this if this media goes

like a funnel so it's just separate

260

He's sending traffic to those pages

from his like native and taboola ads.

261

Like he's not sending traffic to the

actual Website like us and Facebook

262

are the only paid advertising

that are going to the website.

263

And that was, that would be my question

is, does Clavio and attentive send it

264

there to the website or to the media go?

265

I don't think so.

266

I think that is specifically

for the website.

267

What do you mean for the website?

268

I'm sorry.

269

It's not the funnel media go.

270

Like I think Clavio and SMS.

271

when someone places an order on product

sync, how did they get to product sync?

272

Do we know?

273

I think this is the funnels

we're talking about.

274

this is his, like taboola or native ads.

275

this is where they're sent to.

276

Okay.

277

Got it.

278

So no email, no funnels that we're

driving traffic to can get to media

279

sync in any way, shape or form.

280

No.

281

Okay.

282

so we'll just keep all of

these out then for now.

283

So we got

284

perform media, no

conversion, product sync.

285

Okay, we have, holy crap, online store.

286

Bing, ha!

287

Okay, Bing did something.

288

we got product sync, nothing here.

289

is this a native ad on Cora?

290

That's what it looks like to me.

291

It does.

292

And why would someone

Google that brand name?

293

You've heard of it elsewhere.

294

where?

295

Yes.

296

If we drove more cold traffic,

getting people to actually ask those

297

questions cac or hold it at scale.

298

Could be.

299

So that's what I'm saying is we have to

look at everywhere from a conversion path.

300

How does a journey get gets us?

301

We know core is places where

people go and ask questions.

302

And if they are assistance of just

saying, This is a really popular

303

SEO strategy where they get a good

high quality backlink from Cora by,

304

or, and read it by going on Reddit

and be like, does this really work?

305

And then having an employee at

the company, it's I grew six

306

feet it overnight, it's amazing.

307

And then you're like, Oh, okay.

308

So those are the things that we have to

look about is why does someone do that?

309

if I drive in the best anti wrinkle

cream and then they hit the page on

310

standard shopping and then they go

and ask questions and then Cora earns

311

that attribution, Google ads says,

shucks, we didn't do anything today.

312

So I always have to look at all those

conversion paths and then measure

313

by NCAC and that kind of stuff.

314

we're so deep in the rabbit hole now

of little bolt ons and add ons and

315

strategies and that type of stuff.

316

But the only thing that doesn't always

change is does more high quality

317

cold traffic convert, regardless of

what conversion journey they took.

318

You remember when I used to show up

the North beam and I say, Hey, this

319

spend here and those top line metrics

are the only thing that matter and

320

everything else is customer journey.

321

I used to X that out in the middle.

322

That's a good example of this here.