Virgin Experience Days and iCrossing boost return on investment by 34% using Dynamic Search Ads in conjunction with Remarketing Lists for Search Ads.
Approach
Used Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) to target previous visitors combination with Dynamic Search Ads (DSA) campaigns
Goals
Maximise orders and revenue at target ROI
Improve order volume on product-specific queries
Tap into valuable keywords not previously covered
Results
Combining DSA with RLSA produced a 701% increase in revenue for DSA activity, 34% increase in ROI
Compared to DSA campaigns not using RLSA, click-through rate is 281% higher, conversion rate is 230% higher and ROI is 89% higher
Virgin Experience Days offer a huge selection of participatory activities, from cream teas to skydiving. With options covering a variety of interests and locations, it's a destination for unique gifts that are easy to browse and buy, even at the last minute.
By adopting a search strategy that embraced mobile, Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) and Dynamic Search Ads (DSA), iCrossing helped Virgin Experience Days achieve substantial growth over a three-year period. When the opportunity to combine Dynamic Search Ads with remarketing techniques arose, the team quickly put this into action.
"The key objectives were to maximise orders and revenue at an acceptable ROI," explains Tobit Michael, Managing Partner at iCrossing. "The account was already successful at targeting high-volume generic keywords _ such as "ódriving experiences' _ but had gaps for lower search volume products that are frequently updated, or new products that have been added. We wanted to improve coverage and order volume on product-specific queries, and tap into valuable keywords we had not had coverage on in the past."
Using RLSA on standard search campaigns had demonstrated that those consumers who had interacted with the brand were much more likely to convert again. "We've been using remarketing to build up lists of those who have visited the site, previously converted or abandoned a basket," Tobit says. For the new remarketing campaign, iCrossing simply duplicated the existing DSA campaign and then set two target audiences using RLSA: new visitors and returning visitors.
"Using Dynamic Search Ads with remarketing has delivered some impressive results for us. Combining the scale of Dynamic Search Ad campaigns with our audience data has helped us to drive large year on year increases in revenue whilst meeting our ROI targets."
Deyna Lavery, Paid Search Strategist, iCrossing
Compared to DSA campaigns without RLSA, the new approach has delivered big wins: the click-through rate is 281% higher, conversion rate is 230% higher and ROI is 89% higher. "The huge differences in click-through rate and conversion rate mean we have been able to increase our bids and revenue whilst maintaining ROI," Tobit explains. "This has also meant we have been able to set our DSA bids more accurately based on the ROI we're actually seeing from those who haven't interacted with the brand before."
To ensure an accurate picture of performance, iCrossing conducted additional analysis. "We used Google Analytics to determine if this growth was coming at the expense of organic traffic, and we found there was little to no cannibalisation happening _ this was almost entirely incremental revenue," Tobit affirms. "In one month alone, it amounted to 20% of revenue driven from paid search, all going directly to the bottom line."
Going forward, iCrossing and Virgin Experience Days are committed to their winning formula. "We're currently at a level where 58% of all DSA revenue comes from our DSA with RLSA activity. By adding remarketing to DSA, we have seen a 701% increase in revenue for our DSA activity and a 34% increase in ROI," Tobit says. "Given the strong performance we've seen from audienceled AdWords products, we'll continue to use RLSA functionality for all future search activity."
"We're always keen to try new technologies and the team at iCrossing are great at making sure Virgin Experience Days are one step ahead of the game. The fantastic results achieved by combining Remarketing Lists for Search Ads with Dynamic Search Ads are a brilliant testament to this approach, and we couldn't be happier."
Chris Smith, Marketing Director, Virgin Experience Days
