More Search Engine Marketing

Staying Competitive with a Multifaceted Approach to PPC

IMPAQT Case Study: Financial

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The online market for student loan products is one of the most competitive in the financial service industry, with numerous loan providers offering a multitude of loan options. Our client was entering the market with a loan product that originally only offered one payment option, in-school interest-only payments. This type of payment option had been unpopular in the past and in-school payments carried a negative connotation when presented in ad copy.

With cost per click averaging $16 for student loan terms, the marketplace was aggressively competitive. With limited funds and high acquisition goals, our client needed to differentiate itself from competitors while clearly communicating the benefits of in-school payments over other popular loan payment options...all at the lowest cost possible.

Our client sought IMPAQT's help to increase its competitive position and differentiate itself from its competitors through Paid Search tactics. In addition, this client sought to increase online applications while staying within their budget constraints for cost per application (CPA).

Main competitors seemed to have unlimited funds to maintain the coveted top positions in the search engines on the non-brand side. How could IMPAQT help this client stand out from the competition while keeping costs in check?

Approach

IMPAQT knew that helping this client succeed meant taking more than one approach to standard PPC. In-depth analysis of our demographic of searchers the student loan business as a whole allowed us to come up with a diversified approach that competitors were not yet taking. We focused on three key strategies: user interest keyword expansion, landing page optimization, and mobile PPC advertising.

Keyword Expansion

Over time, our client exhausted keyword opportunities directly in the student loan space. Growth was needed to get an edge on competition and also to reach new users. IMPAQT's strategy involved buying terms unrelated to student loans that would appeal to our demographic. Terms such as names of TV shows, popular athletics and entertainers were included. Secondarily, we also purchased popular college names strategically selected from data provided by the client. Because these terms were considered very high in the conversion funnel, it required us to lengthen our cookie tracking timeline to provide assist value data to draw the direct connection to conversion. Through this data, we would be able to fully determine the value of the demographic terms, which by nature can take several months to result in a conversion. The results would be most evident in the peak season for student loans from May to August.

The results of the test were positive, yielding increased applications at a lower cost. As an added bonus, impressions for these campaigns are high which also provided value from a branding perspective.

Landing Page Optimization

To play off of keyword expansion efforts that included competitor loan terms, IMPAQT recommended a landing page be created comparing our client's loan product to a competitive loan product. We worked directly with our client, outlining the key attributes that should be included to maximize searcher interest as well as drive high levels of conversions. The landing page was built and testing was conducted to measure a multitude of engine and conversion metrics.

A/B testing showed that the new competitive landing pages not only had a better quality score, leading to lower cost, but also converted at a stronger rate than traditional pages. This success has prompted continued growth in landing page development for other competitive loan areas.

Mobile PPC

Mobile is one of the fastest-growing and most popular media channels among college-age students. IMPAQT therefore recommended that the client step into the mobile arena. To reach this audience, we implemented a mobile PPC effort targeted to high-end devices such as iPhones and Androids. Campaigns were segmented by device to determine which devices were the most profitable to advertise on. In addition, the campaigns utilized mobile site links to take searchers directly to the loan application. Results from these tests have proven to the client the value of a mobile marketing presence and with IMPAQT's strategic guidance, they are in the process of adding a mobile site/application process as part of the overall mobile strategy.

Results

Thanks to IMPAQT's efforts, the client saw its applications increase efficiently outside of the normal PPC campaigns while keeping CPA within its goals. Our three key strategies led to these successes:

  • While assists resulting from the demographic keywords still remain to be seen, they elevated our impression volume by 70% driving brand awareness outside of direct applications.
  • CPA was reduced by more than 40% in the competitive campaign after implementing the competitive landing page.
  • The mobile campaigns drove an additional 1% of the applications during the testing timeframe; the CPA was in line with, if not lower in some cases, than its parent PPC targeted campaign.
  • Even though we were not taking searchers to a mobile site to apply for the application, we were able to garner more than 400 additional applications outside of the regularly targeted PPC campaigns.
  • More than 25% of mobile applications came from the mobile sitelinks.

It's important to note that the close relationship forged between IMPAQT and our client was a key factor in our success. The client gave IMPAQT wide latitude to test innovative search strategies, led to successes that allow this client to stay ahead of the competition. As a direct result of IMPAQT's strategic program management, the annual Search budget has increased by 23%. Our client has stated time and again that, "search has proven to be [their] most profitable marketing channel."

 

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