WE WON!
Earlier this year, ourย team entered into a global contestย that Google is running, puttingย us in a friendly competition againstย thousands of digital agencies around the world who are innovating new strategies and technology to push client results to new levels.
I am incredibly proud to announce that our team has won the Google Mobile Innovation Award for all of North America, and will now be facing off against the winners from each continent to take the 2017 Google World Cup*. This honorย is particularly meaningfulย to us, because we won based on theย collaboration between our LDM team’s strategy and our Dealer Inspireย technology. Check out our official announcement!
*not actually called that.
HOW WE WON
Well, we simplyย told Google about the tactics we areย already usingย toย optimize our paid search campaigns for mobile, and the resultsย our clients areย seeing from them (see tips below). What really caught their attention was how we connected our mobile campaigns with our messaging platform, Conversations, to convert leads directly from the text ads and on-site.
Click-To-Text:ย Conversations gives each dealership a unique SMS phone number, and any text sent to that number is seamlessly routed through the platform, just like any web chat is. So, since AdWords now offers a click-to-textย extension,ย we are able to leverage our technology by driving ad clicks directing into a text thread with your sales team (or our managed chat call center).
Example of Click-To-Text Ad
Texts seamlessly route through the Conversations platform and mobile app just like web chats
Web Chats:ย Conversations also spiked leads from paid search traffic that went to the website first, as over 70% of those users who opted to talk with the dealership gave information during the chat to generate a lead.
This combination of LDM strategy and Dealer Inspire technology resulted in a 32% increase in paid search leads, as well as a 24% decrease in cost per website lead. Google thought that was pretty coolย ๐.
MORE MOBILE TIPS
We also shared best practices that we have established for our paid search campaigns. Shout out to ourย Paid Search Team Leads, Cara Garvey and Buffy Bailey,ย for putting these tips together.
- Call extensions & dynamic call tracking.ย Call leads are a great way to determine the effectiveness of our paid search efforts, and we regularly utilize AdWords dynamic call tracking so we can track calls after a customer clicks through to the website. This data helps us provide budget increase recommendations while maximizing results within our clientsโ existing spends.
- Leverage mobile bid modifiers to secure top positions. Bid adjustments are an excellent way to ensure we bid appropriately for mobile. With less real estate on the phone screen compared to desktop, we bid aggressively on mobile to appear in top results so we do not miss opportunity to connect with customers.
- Enable location extensions for โdealer nearbyโ ad format. The โdealer nearbyโ format shows up for โMake + Dealerโ searches for advertisers who have location extensions enabled. It includes the name of the dealer (which directs to the website when clicked), a โDirectionsโ CTA button, and a click-to-call button. It is simple and actionable for customers, and effective for our clients.
- Clear CTAs in ad copy. We make it obvious what action we want our customers to take, whether it be calling the dealership, going in for a test drive, or browsing online inventory. Strong CTAs have directly increased our mobile CTRs, which in turn helps get more phone calls and conversions.
- Mobile-friendly landing pages. Fast load times, above-the-fold content, and visible CTA buttons are all important to making the site visit count. Dealer Inspire is an industry leader in mobile design, page speed, and UX, soย our mobile landing pages are not only eye catching, but very easy to navigate. Not only does this help improve our AdWords quality scores, but it provides a great mobile experience for our customers.
NEXT UP, WE TAKE ON THE WORLD
I want to thank all of our partners for the support and innovation that has come from our collaboration. We couldn’t have won North America without you, and I hope you’ll be rooting for us as we take on the rest of the world! Stay tuned.
