Learn how we boosted a client's direct traffic by an impressive 93%, increased its conversion rate by 30%, and raised its average order value (AOV) by 15% in just three months.

Regina Bellows, Executive Director of our sister agency StarterPPC, doesn't only reveal their strategies. She also underscores the significance of focusing on the Media Efficiency Ratio (MER) as relying solely on metrics in the Google Ads dashboard is no longer sufficient due to tracking challenges and the decreasing accuracy of ROAS measurements. Listen to this episode now.

This video is from StarterPPC’s YouTube channel, check it out if you want to maximize ad spend & achieve better results with a smaller budget:   

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0:00 Achieving 93% Direct Traffic Boost & 30% Conversion Rate Increase with Google Ads

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#googleads #digitalmarketing #googleadsbestpractices #ppc

Hi, everyone.

2

Regina here with starter PPC.

3

If you recently started Google ads and

you're wondering, is this actually a

4

channel I want to continue pursuing?

5

We're going to talk about how to analyze

whether or not Google ads is working

6

for you and whether it's worth it to

continue investing in for your business.

7

So the example that I'm using is a B to C

e commerce company, but it doesn't matter.

8

I think that these concepts are universal

and they apply to all industries.

9

We're just going to be looking at some

of the numbers and mostly I'm going to

10

be focusing on the ways that Google ads

affects your overall business as a whole.

11

A lot of times we're working with clients

and the clients are just looking in

12

the Google ads dashboard to see what

is the return on my ad spend, right?

13

Or what is the cost per conversion?

14

I need it to be X number.

15

That used to be an acceptable

way of analyzing Google ads.

16

It's not anymore.

17

If you guys haven't seen my other

video called ROAS is shrinking.

18

I would highly encourage

you to check it out.

19

And you know what?

20

I actually take that back.

21

That was never a way to fully

analyze how Google is affecting

22

your business the returns that

it's bringing for your business.

23

And I'm going to talk to you about why.

24

there's two reasons why looking

in the dashboard isn't enough.

25

One is according to the row as a

shrinking video you should watch.

26

Google's ability to track has been

diminishing and diminishing, and

27

it continues to diminish, right?

28

Every time somebody.

29

Sue's Google for privacy laws.

30

Google loses its ability to be able to

track users and it was never perfect.

31

Users can be dropped

when they switch devices.

32

They might click on an ad and

then a week later they might

33

buy on their husband's computer.

34

There's all sorts of things that

can go wrong with the tracking and

35

it's just getting worse and worse.

36

It used to be that if you were a

beta C e commerce company, you could

37

say, I want a three X ROAS, right?

38

I want to.

39

300 percent return, which means I want to

spend 1 on an ad and I want to get 3 back.

40

And that's going to cover my costs.

41

And I want to be able to see

that three in my dashboard.

42

And it's just not acceptable

anymore because what used to look

43

like a three in the Google ads

dashboard now looks like a two.

44

And it's just getting worse every quarter

that goes by, it seems to just lose

45

its ability to track more and more.

46

The other reason why it's not okay

to just analyze the numbers in the

47

Google ads dashboard to see what

your return is on Google is because

48

there's so many other boost effects

that Google ads has on your business.

49

And that's what we're

going to go over today.

50

So Google ads, it's vast, it's everywhere.

51

It can follow people

around the entire internet.

52

If you're spending money,

for example, in another.

53

platform like being Facebook, Amazon

ads anywhere really, and you're

54

sending users to the website, Google

will pick those users up and it will

55

blast them with remarketing ads, which

actually increases the conversion

56

rate on those other ad channels.

57

That's one thing that we're going to look

at, and there's a myriad of other effects.

58

that Google has, and that's what

we're gonna explore together.

59

So in this example, you'll see the Google

ads account is about three months old.

60

So we actually started

cost is in blue here.

61

We actually started

spending on September 20th.

62

So that's why you see the blue

going up the week of September 18th

63

a hundred dollars only that week.

64

Cause we started at the end of it.

65

And then it goes up and up from there.

66

There was a dip here.

67

I don't know why and then in December,

we're spending the most ever.

68

So we're going to analyze these

three months for this business.

69

And we're going to talk about

how the overall business has been

70

affected by the Google ads spent.

71

So I'm going to start by hopping into the

client's Shopify store where we can see,

72

for example, the overall conversion rate.

73

Which is what I just mentioned, right?

74

So Google is picking up all users

that visited the website, not just

75

users that clicked on an ad and

it's remarketing to them, right?

76

So it's doing all these reminder.

77

Image ads, which are called display ads

YouTube video ads, and it's following

78

them around on all different websites

and trying to get them to come back.

79

It's not just doing remarketing

that's causing this.

80

it also has smart bidding attached to it.

81

If that user who is In market to

buy product that you sell, right?

82

Which we know because they

were recently on the website.

83

Google will bid really

aggressively on that user.

84

And when be more likely, at least to

win the click and get a high, good

85

placement and spend more on that user

when they're then searching again.

86

let's say they clicked on a Facebook

ad two weeks ago, visited the website.

87

Google's going to pick them up.

88

And try to remarket to them.

89

But even if the remarketing has

no effect today when they're like,

90

oh, I guess I better finally buy

that gift for my mom, they're doing

91

another search like they did two weeks

ago to finally make the purchase.

92

Google's gonna go, oh my God, our

guy is now doing a search again.

93

Let's win this click and it's

gonna a bit more aggressively

94

for that click and try to win.

95

That conversion.

96

And even if the conversion doesn't show

up in Google because, they clicked on a

97

Facebook ad and they Google's tracking

isn't very reliable these days, it's

98

going to increase the chance of the

conversion happening and then Facebook.

99

From it's click two weeks ago is

going to say got a conversion, right?

100

Because it's going to look back 30 days

and it's going to say they interacted

101

with a Facebook ad two weeks ago.

102

I guess we got a conversion.

103

So that conversion rate on

Facebook is going to be boosted.

104

That's just one small example, also

we're going to get into this in

105

general, but here's the stat, right?

106

So right now I'm.

107

Comparing the entire date range that

Google was running compared to the

108

previous period, and you can see a 30

percent increase in conversion rate.

109

That little Green number right there.

110

That's huge.

111

You guys, 30 percent increase

in conversion rate for the store

112

as a whole on average, right?

113

That's for all channels on average.

114

I guess that's it for this metric.

115

So let's turn to the next tab over

where I've gone over to the analytics

116

tab in Shopify I'm comparing this state

range to the previous period, right?

117

So Google ads versus no

Google ads before it.

118

And here we can see that the average

order value has actually gone up by 15%.

119

People on average are

spending 15 percent more.

120

their purchase than they were

before we were running Google ads.

121

How can that happen?

122

Google is sending people to the website

who have a higher intent to buy.

123

So whereas before a larger percentage

of the stores traffic was just

124

people that found you on organic.

125

Maybe they were clicking

through your Instagram page.

126

They're not on this shopping

network looking for things to buy.

127

So this is going to increase

the average order value.

128

Google is good at finding cold leads

who are in market to buy your product.

129

So what happens is Google

spends more money on people that

130

have a higher purchase intent.

131

it's able to get those people

at the top of the page that

132

have their wallet in hand.

133

And they're willing to look through

the shopping ads because they know

134

they're going to buy something, right?

135

So those people have a

higher purchase intent.

136

And the reason why these are

just more dedicated purchasers.

137

They know what they want and

they're willing to pay for it.

138

So 15 percent average

order value increase.

139

Hi there.

140

Quick interruption.

141

Do you know the main thing that

prevents small business owners from

142

getting their Google ads account into

a position to grow and scale budget?

143

A lot of businesses, especially

those that are just starting

144

out, have limited budgets.

145

And so because of this, they're turned

away by most ad agencies because most ad

146

agencies have minimum budget thresholds

that they're willing to work with.

147

So what happens is the business owners

end up learning Google ads themselves.

148

And the problem with that is

that most of the advice online is

149

geared towards larger accounts.

150

And the advice doesn't have any of those

strategies or tricks that can kickstart

151

the algorithm into giving a small

account a leg up over larger competitors.

152

So it often just doesn't work

and the business just ends up

153

losing money month over month.

154

If this sounds familiar,

Starter PPC can help.

155

We offer Google Ads management services

that are designed for accounts that

156

have between 1, 000 and 5, 000 budgets.

157

Because all of our clients are just

starting out, we've come up with ways to

158

keep our management fees significantly

lower than most agencies, because

159

we know that every dollar saved on

management fees just goes towards

160

the ad budget, which is going to help

the algorithm gather speed and power.

161

So if you're serious about growing your

business, and you'd like a team of Google

162

ads experts to help you without breaking

the bank, check us out at starter PPC.

163

com.

164

Okay.

165

Back to the video.

166

Usually we actually usually see a

returning customer rate increase.

167

right here.

168

In this case, there really isn't any,

there's just a 1 percent increase.

169

I suspect we'll start to see this

as time goes on because it takes

170

users some time to come back and buy.

171

And we've only been running

the ads for 90 days.

172

And I also think that this

particular product is not prone

173

to repeat orders too much at all.

174

So I think that Google doesn't have

a ton of effect on it, but that whole

175

targeting cold user is Who are in

market thing is usually what causes

176

the returning customer rate to go up.

177

So what happens is in your Google

ads, your return on ad spend is

178

going to stay consistent while

your MER, your media efficiency

179

ratio, is going to go up and up.

180

And why does that happen?

181

Because your revenue

is going up by getting.

182

Repeat purchases from users

that originally interacted with

183

an ad made a purchase, right?

184

You paid for that.

185

Click that's the row as and then they come

back later and buy from your email list

186

you didn't have to pay for that click.

187

So that's why you're NER, your

media efficiency ratio goes up

188

and up while your ROAS is supposed

to stay stagnant while you grow.

189

It should not go up.

190

If it's going up, that means

you're not growing fast enough.

191

If your ROAS is getting higher over time,

that means you can add budget because

192

you're leaving conversions on the table,

The market is ripe for you to spend

193

more money if your ROAS is going up.

194

So again, your MER should go

up with repeat orders going

195

up, but your ROAS should not.

196

I think this is interesting

sales by source.

197

So the Facebook the current time

window is in dark blue and the old

198

time window is in light blue and

you can see that there's more sales.

199

From Facebook and Instagram than there

were before we were running Google ads.

200

I don't know whether this particular

business increased their spend on Facebook

201

ads and that could be affecting this.

202

But oftentimes we will see boosts in sales

because of that whole conversion rate

203

increase phenomenon that I mentioned.

204

And by the way, if you're not already

aware of this and you're running

205

Facebook ads, I Google's conversion

metric will do the 30 day look back

206

based on clicks and attribute the sale.

207

If somebody converted 30 days after

they clicked, but it also bundles in

208

a second metric that a lot of people

don't know about, which is the 24

209

hour view through conversion rate.

210

What does that mean?

211

That means if you're running Facebook

ads and your ad scrolls past someone

212

on their Instagram feed or their

Facebook feed, and they don't.

213

Click on it.

214

purchase happens within 24 hours, right?

215

Without the click, Google will go

ahead and include that conversion and

216

attribute it to that ad that scrolled

past them on the feed without a click.

217

someone interacting with the Google

ad within 24 hours because they

218

never even clicked on Facebook.

219

And so Facebook does this and it pumps

up the Facebook numbers a little bit.

220

So just something to keep in mind.

221

Okay.

222

This is huge.

223

This next one is huge.

224

So direct traffic.

225

Direct traffic is up by 93%, you guys.

226

Direct traffic has nearly doubled

since we have started Google Ads.

227

Now, why does this happen, It doesn't

seem realistic that someone would just

228

wake up one day and be like, I'm going

to type in a URL and go directly to this

229

URL that I've never been to before and

buy something That's not happening.

230

It's just being attributed

as direct traffic.

231

Why?

232

Because Shopify cannot see

that they interacted with an ad

233

because the tracking was dropped.

234

The tracking is not very reliable

and probably it was dropped in

235

Google ads dashboard as well.

236

Although the tracking is slightly

different for Google's algorithm

237

versus Shopify's algorithm.

238

So I think Google's slightly

better at keeping track of

239

those users and tracking them.

240

But we will see this in analytics, which

is a whole third type of tracking, right?

241

93 percent increase in direct

traffic, a huge percentage of that

242

can be attributed to people that

interacted with the Google ads.

243

And oftentimes people who see an ad, they

also, they never click sometimes, right?

244

They see the ad, they see the ad

again, and then they think, what

245

was the name of that product?

246

I'm going to go buy it.

247

And they type it in and they click on it.

248

This also boosts the search.

249

Like organic search, right?

250

That same phenomenon, they type it

into Google, they open a new tab

251

cause they don't want to click on

an ad cause they're in the middle of

252

replying to their grandma on Facebook.

253

And so they open a new tab

and they just search for it.

254

And then Shopify says it's organic search.

255

So a 65 percent increase in organic

search is also affected by the fact

256

that we're now running Google ads.

257

I'm showing the percent increase.

258

We've got the total number of engaged

sessions going up by 166 percent and

259

not all of that was attributed in paid

page social and paid search, right?

260

Some of it was unassigned.

261

What is unassigned?

262

Where does that come from?

263

Why did that go up by 486 percent

487 organic search up by 193 percent

264

according to Google Analytics, even

higher than Shopify's attribution direct

265

traffic is up by 17 percent organic

social is somehow up referral traffic,

266

which I just lump into direct traffic

because Sometimes the Google Analytics

267

thinks it's referral if the link has

something attached to the end of it,

268

even though it's really just direct

somebody clicked on the link somewhere.

269

I consider this part of direct

and that's up by 129 percent

270

from the previous period.

271

So this is wild.

272

You guys there are a lot of.

273

Complimentary metrics There

are positive tailwinds that Google

274

ads has that affects your sales.

275

That affects your overall business

and your overall marketing.

276

And this is why we are so focused on the

MER metric to look at your total revenue

277

and divide that by your total media spend.

278

don't look at just the ROAS inside

of the Google ads dashboard because

279

our goal is to grow your business.

280

And we know that it's nearly impossible

to tell, Down to a tee, how effective

281

Google is over other channels.

282

If you want to do that, there are cross

channel attribution tracking softwares

283

out there, but the pricing on those right

now are out of reach of small businesses.

284

Unfortunately, they tend

to be really pricey.

285

And they're complex to get

started with because it's got

286

so much analytics in there.

287

So what we do at starter PPC to combat

this is we try to help the business

288

grow regardless, We track Murr and

we say, okay, if you're Murr is cover

289

your overhead and still make a profit,

then you might as well push for growth.

290

So we keep track of that every 30 days.

291

And if the past 30 days was

enough to justify pushing for

292

growth, then we push for growth.

293

If it wasn't, then we wait,

we hold off and we optimize.

294

And we don't try to grow because

we know that growth is the

295

easiest way to gain more profit.

296

Because you'll have volume of sales

and each sale has that profit in it.

297

So you'll have more profit when

you have more sales in theory.

298

that is our focus here at starter PPC.

299

And I wanted to show you guys this cause

I think it's also fascinating to see how

300

Google ads can have the biggest impact

ever on All businesses really, because

301

it's just so vast and it's everywhere.

302

Bye.