From the SMX West Conference in San Jose, California, March 21-23, 2017. SESSION: How Brands Test Their PPC Ads. PRESENTATION: How Brands Test PPC Ads - Given by Brad Geddes, @bgtheory - AdAlysis, Founder. #SMX #33B1

1. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Using Data & Creativity Together
How Brands Test
PPC Ads

2. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
What Brands Need to Know
What ad is best for
my brand name?
What ads are best
for my brand
products?
What ads are best
for returning
specific audiences?
What ads are best
for generic terms?

3. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Brand Testing Considerations
Scale:
• Are you testing
100,000 ads or 2?
Are there brand
guidelines/legal
considerations for
brand terms?
Are there
brand/legal
guidelines for
generic terms?
Are we aligning
tests/ads with
other initiatives?

4. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
What is ‘Best’?
What do you want to do? The metric you should use
Increase conversions Conversion per Impression (CPI)
Increase visitors ClickThrough Rate (CTR)
Increase engaged visitors Conversion per Impression (CPI)
Get the most revenue possible Revenue per Impression (RPI)
Improve quality scores ClickThrough Rate (CTR)

5. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Metrics for Most Brands
BrandTerms
• CPI
• CTR
Brand product
/service terms:
• CPI / RPI
GenericTerms:
• CPI / RPI
• ROAS

6. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Confidence Factors by Term Type
TermType Minimum Confidence
LongTail Keywords 90%
Mid data terms 90% – 95%
3rd Party Brands you Sell 90% (small brands) to 95% (large brands)
Top Keywords (the ones you watch daily) 95% - 99%
Your BrandTerms 99%

7. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Testing Types

8. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Single Ad Group Tests

9. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Multi-Ad Group Testing
Idea 1
Idea 2
Idea 3
Idea 4
Idea 5

10. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Example: Free & Rush Shipping Vs 24 Hour Rush
Available

11. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
That Simple Test Resulted in 115 More
Conversions/Month for a Small Account.

12. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Which Testing Type Should You Use?
Single Ad GroupTesting
• Insights within an ad group
• Best for high traffic ad groups
• Best for Brand ad groups
• Good for other ad groups after
you’ve done some multi-ad
group testing for global
insights
Multi-Ad GroupTesting
• Insights across a segment
• Best for template created ads
• Best for small data accounts
• Best for market research

13. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Before You Start

14. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
What Are You Trying to Learn?
Are consumers
price sensitive?
(discounts, prices in
ads)
Does Location
matter? (use
geographies in ads)
Does shipping
matter? (Free or
Rush shipping)
Is selection
important? (large,
exclusive, variety,
etc)
How much does
quality matter?
(cheap, luxury)
What’s your best
CTA? (Call, Shop,
Find, Discover, etc)
Should your display
URL be products,
geo, CTAs, or
something else?
Do we need to pre-
qualify clicks? (b2b
vs b2c)
etc…

15. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
How Will You Segment the Data?
BrandTerms
• By ad type (DSA,
ETA, Responsive,
etc)
• By ad group
Brand
Services/Product
Terms
• By ad type
• By campaign or ad
group (based upon
scale)
GenericTerms
• By ad type
• By campaign

16. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Create Your Testing Spreadsheet
Test TermTypeWhere AdType Metrics Coordination Hypothesis
Start
Date
End
Date Conclusion
What is
the test
name?
What term
types are
being
tested?
Where will
the test be
conducted
?
What ad
formats
are
included?
What is
the
winning
metric and
minimum
data?
Do we need
to
coordinate
with other
dpts?
What is the
hypothesis
we’re trying to
test?
What did
you learn?

17. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Example
Test
•Generic test to understand the impact of geographies in ads.
TermType
•Generic
Where
•Campaigns marked generic/service region
AdType
•ETAs
Metrics
•90% confidence
•Minimum 25,000 impressions/ad set
Coordination
•Design to create matching geographies on page headline
Hypothesis
•Our users are looking for insurance that is local to them. While our ads currently use the state per our regulations, we believe that by moving to individual city level, we can increase our
interactions with searchers
How
•We will create two headline 2s in all the ad groups for the test.
•First test: Current ads (state name)
•Second Test: Include ad customizers for city names

18. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Setup You Tests

19. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Launching Your Test
Write the ads
Pass ads to any
legal/brand
review teams
Coordinate with
any other design
departments
Create the ads in
your PPC
account
Launch your test
Make note of the
start date in your
spreadsheet

20. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Watch Your Test Results for Action
If below minimum data, wait.
• If below minimum confidence – wait
• If above minimum confidence – take action
If above minimum, calculate confidence factors
If above maximum data and a test has no results, take action
• In the case of multi-ad group testing: Replace entire string with a new pattern to test
• (optional): Use insight in other areas, such as email, landing pages, etc
Action = Pausing loser OR pausing loser & creating new
challenger

21. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Once You Have Winners
What is the insight?
Where else can the insight be used?
Landing
pages
Email CTAs or
Subject Lines
SEOTitleTags
Images for
other
networks
Etc…

22. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Recap
What do
you want
to know?
Where do
you need
that info?
What is the
scale of the
test?
What type
of test
should you
run?
Define
your
testing
criteria
Coordinate
with other
channel
Setup &
Run the
test
Make
notes of
insights &
investigate
where else
you can
use that
data.

23. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
Brad Geddes Serious about Ads & Data?
Co-Founder, Adalysis
Twitter: @bgTheory
Read our blog: Adalysis.com/blog
Test anything: Adalysis.com

24. #SMX #33B1 @bgTheory
LEARN MORE: UPCOMING @SMX EVENTS
THANK YOU!
SEE YOU AT THE NEXT #SMX