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Past years’ guides

The last 12 months have seen a huge transformation in the digital industry and thus major changes for agencies and brands alike. A combination of clients being more knowledgeable and the state of the economy has meant every penny of that all - important marketing budget is coming under constant scrutiny. The transparency of search has meant, certainly for us as an agency, that budgets are being realigned - resources for offline channels such as TV and direct marketing have been shifted into online channels, with much of it being pushed through search due to its highly measurable nature.

Furthermore, conversion attribution software has gained more prominence, with an ever-increasing number of software providers offering it. While often expensive to implement, this development has grown from the need for an advanced level of return-on-investment tracking. Previously, each online channel and the return it generated was considered independently the others, even though multiple channels may have contributed to a conversion. Consider a typical online journey of purchasing a TV:

• Search Google for 'cheap plasma TVs'
• Click on a PPC result for a price comparison website
• Find a TV in your price range and search Google for reviews
• Click on a natural result and read the reviews
• Tweet your Twitter followers asking for recommendations
• Repeat this process for a number of TVs
• Stop researching and browse otherwebsites
• See a banner advertising one of the TVs you researched
• Click on the banner and purchase

In this very real scenario, there were four channels involved: paid search, natural search, social media and display advertising. Conversion attribution allows each to be credited with a percentage of the sale value. Historically, the display campaign would have received the full credit because it was the last clicked .While conversion attribution software still has a long way to go (in terms of cost, technology and understanding) but its recent increased prominence shows we've come on leaps and bounds in terms of accurately tracking ROI and modifying online budgets accordingly. As search is becoming more complex in its tools and platforms, it has never been more important for brands to engage with specialists in their most effective channels and ensure they're transparent and measurable.

Another major change we've seen recently is the number of clients purchasing search as awhole, rather than just SEO or PPC. While cost efficiencies play a part, clients' knowledge and understanding of the two channels and their synergies has increased dramatically over the last year. As a specialist search agency, Epiphany has been using the information and data received from one channel to benefit the other for years. As client understanding has caught up, we're increasingly having conversations with clients about things like:

• Identifying gaps in SEO presence and targeting them via PPC
• Identifying expensive keywords/ad groups in paid search and targeting them via natural search
• Taking lessons from ad creative/messaging from PPC and applying them to SEO to drive up click-through rates across the board
• Positional testing – for example, with a number-one ranking in natural search, which is the best paid search position to ensure the most incremental business at the cheapest cost?
• Working to a blended cost per sale across PPC and SEO. This often enables a higher target CPA via PPC for keywords that are placed well naturally, again resulting in more incremental business
• Utilising content network placements to identify linking opportunities

The other big trend we've seen is the increased focus on conversion rate optimisation. Our service, Web Converter, is a product focused solely on squeezing every last conversion out of the visitors coming to your website. Again, this is driven by clients' needs to maximise ROI more than ever and focuses on areas such as:

• User behaviour - are users struggling to find your call to action or the information they're seeking?
• Multivariate testing - which elements of a page work better than others? This can be something as simple as changing the colour of a button or the position of an image, or as complex as redesigning an entire section of your website
• Analytics review - which pages have high bounce rates and why? Are people leaving at the same part of the conversion process?
• Technical problems - are there any technical elements such as slow page load times or browser-specific issues that are limiting the conversion possibility?
• Video tracking user sessions and user testing to pinpoint reasons for blockages in conversion paths

During the last year we've seen clients invest more in online and especially search as a keymarketing activity. Whether it's the technical details of their website and its conversion potential or the intricacies of multi-channel conversion attribution, it's all driven by a need for the greater return online marketing generates for such reasonable value. As search continues to grow in both breadth and complexity, it's vital for brands to engage with experts who can support internal teams.