Drive Online Conversion / studies

As consumers increasingly turn to their mobile phones, it is critical for businesses to understand the range of "mobile conversions" that can occur such as phone calls, store visits, or purchases on other devices. In partnership with Nielsen, Google analyzed over 6000 mobile searches and the actions that resulted, drawing precise and measurable connections between mobile searches and the online and offline conversions that they drive.

Key Findings

Rick Case Honda partnered with Car-mercial.com to produce YouTube TrueView in-stream ads encouraging vehicle trade-ins. After launching the ads, the dealership doubled the number of trade-ins from a competing make from 10 per month to 20 per month. Rick Case Honda was now earning an incremental $50,000+ for online videos that cost $0.20 - $0.30 per view. Monthly unique site visitors also increased by over 18%.

This one sheeter showcases mobile, search, display, and video data and trends for the Office Furniture & Supplies industry. It also suggests new opportunities and helpful resources for improving your business in 2013.

MSC Industrial Supply, a leading American direct marketer and distributor of products for metalworking and maintenance, distributes more than 600,000 items. MSC worked with Rosetta, an interactive agency, to find ways to drive incremental sales and expand their ad coverage. To address their extensive product offering, they used Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) which uses the natural search index of the website and generates highly relevant ads to match search queries not already covered by existing keywords.

Matt Wilkinson, director of search and media at Rosetta, shares, "There are hundreds of thousands of variations that someone could search [for MSC's more than half a million products]. Dynamic Search Ads is a way to start catching those long-tail keyword variations automatically."

With the help of DSA, Rosetta has been able to exceed ROI goals and efficiently scale MSC's online marketing. It was the ability to optimize and maintain the campaign over time that has led to significant revenue growth.

Zoro Tools, an online supplier of over 250,000 industrial products, had limited resources and a massive product assortment. They had been using Adwords all along, but was intrigued with Google Product Listing Ads (PLA) because it allowed them to advertise every product.

As Zoro Tools expanded its PLA budget, the company saw ROI for PLA rise 49%. Over the same period, conversion rates rose 17% while cost-per-acquisition fell 21%.

Zoro Tools President Yugo Kanazawa shares, "We're not in the business of keyword-bid management; we're in the business of serving customers. [Google Product Listing Ads] allows us to focus our efforts on what's most important."

Priceline.com wanted to cater to a growing global mobile device audience while increasing traffic and conversions. Priceline.com created a mobile-friendly site with current-location search, simplified content and larger buttons, and a more streamlined checkout. Using Google Mobile Ads to promote the site, Priceline.com saw these results:

• The mobile site's share of business grew 31%
• Increased the number of unique visitors by 13.9%, increased the average duration on the site by 45%, and tripled page views
• Mobile traffic increased 50% through Adwords

SpotCo, the Search Engine Marketing agency for Sister Act the Musical's website "SisterActBroadway.com", is re-inventing the Broadway marketing space. Since 29% of its ticket purchases occur online, SpotCo knew how important it was for to stand apart from ticket brokers' sites and showcase that it was the official website for the musical.

SpotCo stood out from the competition with the use of Google Media Ads, a new ad format that runs on Google.com. Media Ads are guaranteed to run in the top position on the page, and offer more real estate and messaging opportunities, including a thumbnail that can expand when clicked into HD video for full-page immersive viewing. Media Ads are sold on a fixed cost-per-click, allowing for greater budgeting certainty.

As a result, SpotCo saw a 20% increase in ticket sales from SisterActBroadway.com. On top of the improved ticket sales, SpotCo was also impressed by users' interactions with the video in the ad. 13.73% of users clicked on the ad, and it received many video plays. A true testament to show how engagement leads to an increase in ticket sales.

What do tire buyers look like today? According to this Google/Compete 2012 study, today's tire shoppers:

• Shop for regular maintenance and just 8% purchase for a particular season. They look for durability, they research on the go, and they buy within a week.
• 84% purchase in store but 46% of tire purchases involve digital engagement. Top 2 of 3 tire shopping resources are digital.
• Tire purchasers are typically the decision makers themselves. They are married, more educated, and skew only slightly male and otherwise look similar to the American population.

Download the full study to learn more about how tire shoppers use brand sites and utilize video and mobile.

How can retailers drive new customer acquisition? Google and Compete partnered to understand the digital path that can break this glass ceiling. Here's what we found:

• Apparel shoppers are undecided on brand: More than 1 in 3 are unsure of what brand or where to buy.
• Customers shop around before converting: 31% of people who bought apparel online visited more than five sites before making a purchase.
• Search is a key shopping instrument: In the 30 days leading up to conversion, 9 out of 10 conversions have been search referred.
• Top is best: Category term top ad positions are 35x more likely to drive new customer acquisition than bottom ads.