April, 3 2024
5 traps of advertising campaigns
Marketing
How to cut costs and make a profit
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An effective advertising campaign is key to the success of any business, not only to attract new customers, but also to significantly increase profits. However, despite the enviable prospects, companies are faced with excessive costs and minimal return on investment in advertising. This is often due to a number of missteps, ranging from poor targeting to poorly designed offers. In this article, we'll look at common campaign mistakes and offer strategies for avoiding them.
TRAP 1: INSUFFICIENT TESTING
Marketing requires constant improvement. Creating a website, newsletter, or ad is just the beginning. Due to increasing customer demands and active competition, it is important to formulate and test new hypotheses to improve the quality of user interaction.
A/B testing, or split testing, allows you to test hypotheses for product improvement by evaluating the impact of changes in design, copy, and pricing on sales and other key metrics.
A/B testing, or split testing, allows you to test hypotheses for product improvement by evaluating the impact of changes in design, copy, and pricing on sales and other key metrics.
In this process, users are divided into two groups: one sees the original version (A) and the other sees the modified version (B). By analyzing the data, the best variant is determined. In practice, only 1 out of 8 A/B tests leads to meaningful results.
A/B testing goals
- Increase conversion by isolating the product attributes most appealing to customers.
- Enhance user experience by exposing adjustments that improve product interaction.
- Refine campaign effectiveness by identifying successful promotion channels.
- Lower the risk of loss by conducting tests on small segments before wide-scale implementation.
To help you navigate these tasks and stay on budget, here are some common mistakes marketers make during the launch process.
Top 3 testing mistakes
1. Insufficient sample size. Running an A/B test with a small sample size can lead to statistically unreliable results that don't reflect the behavior of the target audience.
2. Too many changes in one test. By testing multiple changes at once, it is difficult to determine which change affected the result. It is recommended to change only one element at a time.
3. Ignoring the context of the test. External factors such as seasonality, time of day, audience behavior, and cultural values can skew test results and lead to incorrect conclusions.
2. Too many changes in one test. By testing multiple changes at once, it is difficult to determine which change affected the result. It is recommended to change only one element at a time.
3. Ignoring the context of the test. External factors such as seasonality, time of day, audience behavior, and cultural values can skew test results and lead to incorrect conclusions.
«It's critical to keep a close eye on the performance of the landing page and its ability to capture leads. Even with targeted traffic, a landing page that doesn't work properly can hinder the collection of leads, resulting in another mistake», — Ivan Rud, CMO of Keitaro.
Tools for A/B testing
Effective split testing requires a sample of participants, which becomes a challenge when they are spread across different regions or countries. In such cases, online tools are useful to simplify the process and reduce the risk of errors:
- VWO allows you to perform not only A/B tests, but also multivariate tests and tests for specific audience segments. Thanks to the availability of visual and code editors, the platform is suitable for users with different levels of technical skills.
- Optimizely — this tool is widely known for its user-friendly interface and flexibility. A special feature is its ability to handle large volumes of traffic and provide detailed analysis of the results.
Many companies have achieved impressive results and increased sales thanks to A/B testing. For example, US IT company WorkZone increased the number of potential customers by 34% by introducing testimonials. The change was first tested on a small sample and then rolled out to the entire site.
TRAP 2: IGNORING ANALYTICS
Analytics play an important role in evaluating advertising campaigns, helping to understand how consumers respond to ads and products. This allows marketers to better target budgets to increase ROI, brand awareness, and customer loyalty.
Conversion Rate (CR) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) stand out as key metrics. CR reflects the percentage of site visitors who take a targeted action, indicating a campaign's ability to drive action. CAC measures the cost of acquiring a new customer, signaling budget expenditures. A low CAC indicates a campaign's effectiveness, while a high CAC requires a strategy review.
Conversion Rate (CR) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) stand out as key metrics. CR reflects the percentage of site visitors who take a targeted action, indicating a campaign's ability to drive action. CAC measures the cost of acquiring a new customer, signaling budget expenditures. A low CAC indicates a campaign's effectiveness, while a high CAC requires a strategy review.
«If the click-through rate (CTR) is normal but there are no leads, this may indicate either that the CTR is creating false expectations and misleading the customer, or that the creative does not match the essence of the offer. If the CTR is at a good level and leads are received, but there are no approvals, it is necessary to analyze the quality of the customers. Perhaps the reason is that the customer does not meet the requirements, is involved in fraud, or is expecting something on the landing page that is not there», — Ivan Rud, CMO of Keitaro.
How to increase conversion rates and reduce cost per customer
Digital advertisers waste more than $100 million annually, so optimizing these metrics is a key challenge for any online business. Here are some strategies that can help improve them:
1. Understand your audience. Research your audience's interests, needs, and behaviors to create targeted offers that are more relevant to them.
2. Optimize the sales funnel. Simplify the buying process by removing unnecessary steps and barriers to increase the likelihood that visitors will complete a purchase.
3. Quality content creation. Develop useful and engaging content that solves audience problems, builds brand authority, and attracts new visitors. We've already covered how to create high-quality, sales-boosting content.
4. Improve customer retention. Offer loyalty programs, customer service, and other initiatives to retain customers, since repeat sales are often cheaper than acquiring new customers. Bain & Company research shows that a 5% increase in customer loyalty can lead to a 25-95% increase in company profits.
5. Use social media and targeted advertising. Target your advertising campaigns based on audience demographics, interests, and behaviors to increase relevance.
1. Understand your audience. Research your audience's interests, needs, and behaviors to create targeted offers that are more relevant to them.
2. Optimize the sales funnel. Simplify the buying process by removing unnecessary steps and barriers to increase the likelihood that visitors will complete a purchase.
3. Quality content creation. Develop useful and engaging content that solves audience problems, builds brand authority, and attracts new visitors. We've already covered how to create high-quality, sales-boosting content.
4. Improve customer retention. Offer loyalty programs, customer service, and other initiatives to retain customers, since repeat sales are often cheaper than acquiring new customers. Bain & Company research shows that a 5% increase in customer loyalty can lead to a 25-95% increase in company profits.
5. Use social media and targeted advertising. Target your advertising campaigns based on audience demographics, interests, and behaviors to increase relevance.
Business Intelligence Tools
Behind every successful marketing campaign is a thorough analysis and several auditing tools:
Klipfolio is a cloud-based dashboard and easy-to-use reporting tool. It helps companies integrate, analyze and visualize campaign data from multiple sources in real-time.
Klipfolio is a cloud-based dashboard and easy-to-use reporting tool. It helps companies integrate, analyze and visualize campaign data from multiple sources in real-time.
MarketingCloudFX will attract potential customers to the website and increase conversion rates. The platform integrates with other tools, features CallTrackerFX and VisitorRecorderFX.
Improvely will track marketing efforts, advertising effectiveness across different platforms on one dashboard. In addition, Improvely has built-in A/B testing tool and fraudulent click monitoring.
Keitaro Tracker is an analytics tool that allows you to track conversions, analyze traffic and target audience behavior.
These strategies and tools will help optimize the customer and audience journey, leading to increased conversions and lower customer acquisition costs.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Avoiding the major pitfalls in advertising campaigns requires a thorough understanding of strategic planning and careful analysis.
In the next few days, we will present a follow-up article with a nice bonus where we will uncover the remaining pitfalls and discuss ways to reduce costs while maintaining quality and audience reach. Don't miss it!
In the next few days, we will present a follow-up article with a nice bonus where we will uncover the remaining pitfalls and discuss ways to reduce costs while maintaining quality and audience reach. Don't miss it!