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What to Do if Your Google Ads Campaign Is Not Converting on Cold Terms - Part 1
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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Transcript
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
in:
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.