Background and challenge faced

Sk:n Clinics use paid search to generate enquiries. Potential customers are directed to the website to fill in an online form to request a free consultation. However, conversion rate on mobile had been particularly low, which was largely due to the lack of a mobile specific website.

Testing the value of mobile

Net Media Planet developed a campaign to try and improve the conversion rate from mobile paid search, without a mobile specific website.

They created a click-to-call campaign where the user made only one click before being connected to an advisor. Consumers were instructed to make calls rather than visiting the website, and messaging was tailored to persuade consumers to call immediately. In addition, the campaign was run in a split test against the existing mobile campaign.

The campaign was an unqualified success. The click-to-call conversion rate was 26 times higher than the normal mobile campaign (directing consumers to the website). The enquiry to consultation conversion rate for the click to call mobile campaign was 2.2 times higher than across all search channels. This campaign demonstrated to the Sk:n team just how important mobile was to their business.

The upgrade

Following the migration to Enhanced Campaigns, the Net Media Planet team saw an opportunity to streamline the account and also take advantage of the new optimisation features available to drive paid search performance, particularly through mobile.

The approach

During campaign migration, the team used historic performance data to develop a new targeting strategy across device, time, location and demographic. They then introduced newly available optimisation features:

  • They set up bid multipliers to optimise by device. This ensured Sk:n appeared in the optimum positions on keywords, reaching their target audience at the right time and place. As a result of the previously proved importance of mobile in the conversion path, the mobile bid multipliers were set higher than the previous CPCs from the mobile specific campaigns. This was to ensure a high level of exposure on mobile devices by maintaining top positions and staying above the fold
  • They scheduled extensions to show time-specific messages, such as the opening hours of each clinic, which change daily
  • They scheduled ‘click-to-call’ extensions to show only during call centre hours to help drive more call conversions during peak converting hours
  • They added Adgroup level sitelinks to increase the CTR for the top converting keywords through more targeted ad messaging
  • They set up bid multipliers to target by demographic to efficiently reach consumers which they knew had the highest potential to convert
  • They set up bid multipliers to target by location to reach consumers in high converting areas, and lower bids in low converting areas. They were also able to use the levers to support promotions at specific clinic locations

The results

As a result of following this approach:

  • Calls increased +42% in the first month.
  • They maintained a positive bid multiplier of +86.24, with the highest multiplier applied to the location specific campaigns at +166.38
  • Conversions increased by +7% in prime locations
  • CTR also increased by +6%