Not all leads are created equal.
Some leads are very interested in your service, are the right "fit" and don't require much convincing.
Whilst other leads have little commercial intent, they may never return your call or they may just be trying to get a job.
In a sales context, a lead refers to contact with a potential customer, also known as a prospect (Marketo).
For Whistle Clean Australia, this was a big issue.
Too much of their Google Search Ads budget was wasted on the wrong people clicking their ads.
The majority of these 'wrong people' were actually people who were searching for a cleaning job.
Throughout our interactions with Whistle Clean and for the purposes of this Case Study, we refer to these people as 'Job Seekers'.
The problem with 'Job Seekers' is that their searches were identical to those who required Whistle Clean Australia's cleaning service.
For example, 'Job Seekers' would search for phrases such as "Office Cleaning Companies" and "Office Cleaning Providers", much like a qualified lead would.
Through a layered targeting approach, this article details how we were able to target 'Qualified Leads' and reduce what the client pays on Job Seekers and irrelevant leads from clicking their search ads.
In-Market Audiences
In-Market audiences allow an advertiser to connect with consumers who are actively researching or comparing products and services across Google Search Engines and the Google Display Network.
This provides an additional layer of targeting, in addition to what the prospect is searching.
For example, two middle-aged men could search for an 'Office Cleaning Agency' on Google and, based on their previous actions, they will be placed within a different in-market audience.
One person might have recently been on Seek, Indeed and other job provider websites. This would place a user in the 'Employment' In-Market audience.
Whilst another person might have been recently browsing Forbes, Economist and other business related websites. This user might be categorised in the 'Business Financial Services' In-Market Audience.
When observing the types of In-Market Audiences that were interacting on our Search Ads, we were quickly able to identify that most of the 'Job Seekers' were also categorised within the 'Employment' audience.
By recognising this, we were able to exclude the 'Employment' audience from our Google Search Campaign and significantly decrease the number of 'Job Seekers' clicking on our ads.
Common Characteristics Of Qualified Leads
In addition to In-Market Audiences, we looked to identify other differences between a 'Qualified Lead' and a 'Job Seeker'.
To determine this, we timestamped the day and hour of each conversion and liaised with Whistle Clean Australia to identify which leads were qualified and which weren't. This was over a 6 month timeframe.
Once each 'Qualified Lead' was highlighted, we then attempted to see the similarities, based on their search terms, demographics (age, income & gender) and their location. Below is an example of our spreadsheet.
*At the time writing this article, I am yet to find a better way to perform this type of analysis. In the future, if I find a way to automate this, I will share an update*.
Of the many data points provided by Google Ads, we were able to determine that 'Age' and 'Income' were pretty good predictors of whether a Lead was qualified or not.
Logically, it would make sense for a 'Job Seeker' to have less income than someone in management who wants their office cleaned.
But, our analysis supported this, finding that the cost per qualified lead was far less for those with higher income. In addition, the older a person was, the more likely they were a qualified lead.
Leveraging This Information In Google Ads
After 6 months of data collection and liaison with our client, we have started to develop a stronger understanding of what Whistle Clean Australia's ideal client looks like.
However, we did not allocate all of our budget to this buyer profile. Rather, we slowly increased (decreased) our bids on those who were more (less) likely to convert.
Over time, if the pattern continued to hold and our 'Qualified Leads' continued to match our client profile, we would increase our bid.
Warning - Shameless plug. If you manage paid traffic campaigns for B2B and want to focus your budget on 'Qualified Leads', please don't hesitate to get in contact with us here! - We're happy to have a chat 🙂
The Results
This analysis would not have been possible if it wasn't for Ivan and the Whistle Clean Australia team's dedication to grow and learn more about their audience.
In May 2020, the cost per 'Qualified Lead' has reduced by 30% in comparison to their previous best month.
As we continue to collect more qualified leads, the confidence in our marketing predictions will continuously increase.
Through hard work and collaboration, we have set the foundation for Whistle Clean Australia. We're all excited to see what happens next.
Ivan Tan
Owner
"We finally found solution for digital marketing. Luke, Binh and Market Ease team are honest, transparent and always their client's interest in mind. Just over a short period of time we were able to reduced our CPC by 65%, narrow our target audience and spend our advertising budget better. I'm impressed with Market Ease's ability to operate with high intelligence and industry insights. This helps business owners make better decisions to elevate their business to the next level. Thank you for the great work guys!"