In an ideal world, the effectiveness of advertising campaigns is assessed by the size of the profit in the wallet – if it has grown, then everything is in order, if not, then everything is bad. In real life, everything is a little more complicated.
So, in any order and importance – the most common business mistakes that happen the most?
Without high-quality tracking of effective channels, it will be difficult to understand the effectiveness
1. Absence or poor quality of Google Analytics settings.
The most amazing story, which is still present on every third account.
Video clips are shot, beautiful stylish banners are drawn, copywriters write emotional, catchy ad texts, colorful landing pages, and then poof … There is no money, no result, and it is impossible to understand why, since nothing was tracked.
What worked? With what results? What are the conversion costs? In which region, at what time of day? What devices? No data, or just general click statistics that say nothing.
Basic elements to check:
- Google Analytics codes are installed on all pages of the site, and there is access to reports.
- Goals have been set and tracked for all elements of the site leading to conversion.
- Analytics and AdWords accounts are correctly linked and data exchange is taking place.
The work of each element affects the rest
2. Consistency of advertising campaigns and channels with business goals.
Each advertising campaign carries a certain DNA that must be traced in every element, and show through at all stages of the funnel. General sense, main idea, basis.
Just like in a quote attributed to Marlon Brando:
“The natives of the South Seas don’t speak English, but they have enough vocabulary to divide all Hollywood films into two categories: bang bang and smack smack.”
Accordingly, when launching an advertising campaign, it is necessary to carry out preparatory work and plan the final result to which each element of the advertising campaign is directed. Ask yourself questions until there are no more.
More sales! How much more, 10%, 50%, three times, a hundred times? For what period? What products? Which region? What is the acceptable cost of one contact, one lead, one conversion to sale? Is there the necessary infrastructure, warehouse, logistics, operators to provide? Is there a demand for such a volume? And so on and so forth.
It all starts with presenting the final picture and decomposing it step by step, to all points of interaction with a potential audience, where each step is aimed at achieving indicators.
The most important task is also not only a portrait of a client (which is the default), but also a portrait of someone who is not a client under any circumstances. This all affects negative keyword lists, targeting settings, interests, geo, and so on.
Basic elements to check:
- Have ICP (Buyer Profile)
- Have CJM (consumer travel map)
- Have a VPC (value proposition template or more familiar USP)
- Advertising campaigns have KPIs expressed in numbers.
- There are, configured and tracked milestones in user behavior.
Toys are different
3. Incorrect settings of the socio-demographic portrait.
A very common mistake of a start-up business. In fact, this is a consequence of the second point.
– “Who is your client?”
-“All!”
Consider these retail facts:
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If your point is on the second floor of a shopping center, the flow of customers drops by half.
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If people need to cross the road to your store, 70% (!) Will not do it.
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The presence of steps near the store reduces the flow of customers by 15%.
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Difficult parking or lack of it – 50% will go further.
This is not fantastic, but statistics. Which confirms that people are very lazy and there should be a significant reward for additional actions and steps. Or, at the very least, the absence of competitors in the line of sight.
It is a mistake to assume that a person who is 1200 kilometers away from you will order an ordinary wardrobe with the same ease as the one located in your area of the city. Drive to the other end of the city to wash the car, wait for three hours for sushi delivery, and so on.
The situation is the same with other profile characteristics: women and men, young people and retirees, families and unmarried people buy on the basis of different criteria, and this must also be taken into account at all points of contact.
Basic elements to check:
- Work has been done according to claim 2.
- “Demographic reports” are enabled in the resource settings
- The analysis of conversions is carried out depending on socio-demographic criteria.
Everyone has their own criteria for distinguishing
4. “Complex” audiences are not collected.
it is interesting, the vast majority are familiar with the concept of “AIDA” – first to reach the consumer so that he knows about the existence of the product, then to inform, to carry out the first conversion – to interest, and then, only then, to sell.
In practice, a huge number of campaigns are built on the last step – “sell, sell, sell!”
As a result, there is no understanding of the travel map, there is no LTV calculation, there are no basic figures for the indicators of the transition from one stage of the funnel to another, and therefore there is no information for making management decisions on traffic optimization and advertising campaigns. And it all starts with a lack of planning (n2) and, of course, incorrect settings for collecting user data (n1).
Current studies differ in the number of touches, some argue that at least 7 touches with the brand are needed, while others already write about 13. But the fact remains – very few product categories are converted into sales the first time, and therefore, it is imperative configure and track at least (!) the following types of audiences:
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All visitors for 30 days
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All visitors for 180 days
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Everyone who visited 3 pages
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Everyone who visited 4 pages
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Everyone who made a targeted conversion (lead)
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Everyone who did not complete the target conversion (lead)
and with each of them to carry out separate independent work in advertising campaigns.
If a person looked at a refrigerator, then the next time he was shown the conditions for its assembly and delivery, facts about the company, a discount on this cabinet, and not the bar counter.
If he has already bought it, then it is useless to spend money on endless display of this unfortunate cabinet for a month. Those who looked at all the options and photos of an expensive apartment in the center, who went to the “contacts” pages, but did not leave a request for a call at 23:00, should receive the strategy of the maximum cost per click, because he will have the highest probability of conversion into an application.
Basic elements to check:
- Are audiences being collected with specific metrics (Google Analytics – Resource Settings – Audiences)
- Are they transmitted correctly to Google AdWords
- Are there any remarketing campaigns
5. There is no work with the product.
Last but not least, a mistake on the business side.
This usually happens due to the combination of all of the above, lack of conversion analysis, bidding strategies based on travel map, landing page analysis, and so on.
The simplest thing to do is ask the consumer. Polls, NPS, post-sales questionnaires.
At least imagine – what questions are in his head at the moment of opening the page with the proposal:
– This is what I need?
– Is this the best thing within my budget and timeframe?
– Is it convenient and quick to buy?
– Does it meet my current needs?
– Do they answer me quickly and correctly?
etc. And if there are no answers to these questions on the product page, then the user will answer them on his own, and rest assured, not always in your favor. Not the best thing that can be done in this case is to prioritize one’s own opinion, and not objective facts.
Think about it this way, you spent a lot of money so that a person finally came to your store, and when he finally came to him, all shop windows and sellers disappeared in front of him – of course he left disappointedly and went to competitors.
Basic elements to check:
- Are bounce rates tracked?
- Is there any conversion analytics (from reach to leads, from leads to sales)
The market is a living organism, changes are constantly taking place in it – activity from competitors, search engines, changes in the behavior of consumers themselves, the economy and politics, finally.
Therefore, it is important to remember that business and advertising campaigns are not a sprint, they are a constant marathon, with endless Kaizen – continuous improvement of production, development, business processes and management, and of course all aspects of advertising campaigns.
Don’t waste your money.
