Visual IQ Improves Paid Search Performance through Partnership with Synapse SEM
Overview
Company:
Visual IQ
www.visualiq.com
Industry:
Software
Headquarters:
Needham, MA
Visual IQ, the world’s leading cross channel marketing intelligence software company, offers a suite of products for marketers and agencies alike. Visual IQ’s robust website offers useful and informative content including white papers, client case studies and articles. The company hoped to leverage these resources to generate qualified sales leads and increase brand engagement. Visual IQ looked to the paid search channel to drive additional, qualified traffic to the site.
As they accumulated data within their paid search campaigns, the company recognized the need for search engine marketing experts who were familiar with advanced paid search tactics and strategies and who could bring the Visual IQ paid search campaigns to the next level. In this pursuit, Visual IQ partnered with Synapse SEM.
Testimonial
“Synapse SEM has not only increased conversion volume and reduced cost-per- conversion month-over- month, but they’ve also relentlessly pursued untapped potential and new opportunities. With exceptional data analysis skills, coupled with a strong foundation in statistics and extraordinary knowledge of the SEM industry, Synapse SEM has proven to be the right partner for our company. Their insights, attention to detail and rapid response times have made them a pleasure to work with. I highly recommend Synapse SEM to any company interested in taking their online marketing efforts to the next level.”
– Bill Muller, Chief Marketing Officer, Visual IQ
Challenges
Lack of Testing: Despite relatively strong conversion rates, there was little insight into which page attributes would yield the highest conversion rate for top converting keyword phrases.
Unqualified Traffic: Selected match types were generating unqualified traffic and competing against themselves for impressions; this lead to an inflated CPA and excess ad spend.
MSN adCenter Performance Fluctuations: Conversion volume fluctuated significantly month-over-month in MSN adCenter, causing concern regarding the quality of traffic.
Solutions
Lack of Testing: Using Google ACE, Synapse SEM launched a branded landing page test to evaluate the impact of emphasizing the three primary conversion events on the homepage. Leveraging internal statistical tools, Synapse was able to calculate the expected cost and duration of the test. The test is currently underway and both parties plan to conduct A/B tests on a regular basis moving forward.
Unqualified Traffic: Immediately upon taking over campaign management responsibilities, Synapse SEM added additional match types into the account in order to improve cost-per-conversion and gain further insights into keyword-match type level performance. Synapse also conducted an extensive negative keyword build-out using the SQR report in AdWords and other tools to improve the quality of traffic and increase conversion rate.
MSN adCenter Performance Fluctuations: Based on previous client experiences, Synapse was aware that the MSN adCenter partner sites can sometimes generate low quality traffic. As such, Synapse removed Visual IQ from the MSN adCenter partner network and monitored performance.
Results
After making several campaign changes, including those outlined above, Visual IQ’s campaign performance increased significantly. The graph below compares the month prior to Synapse SEM’s involvement to the first three months under Synapse SEM management:
In three months, Visual IQ’s conversion volume increased 91% and its CPA decreased 27% across all major conversion events. Also, when comparing the three months before Synapse SEM to the first three months of Synapse oversight, the number of online lead form submissions, Visual IQ’s most valuable conversion event, increased 13%. Synapse SEM continues to work with Visual IQ to identify and prioritize key initiatives that will help strengthen their SEM presence and drive additional qualified, revenue producing leads to their website.
