Situation Overview
The Staging Co is a home staging company and airbnb/short term rental decorating agency. They were looking to grow their customer base and knew their customers were searching Google for businesses like theirs. They engaged with someone who seemed like a knowledgeable freelancer/small agency in January of 2021. In January of 2022 The Staging Co implemented a CRM (customer relationship management system), and linked it with the basic link, to Google Ads.
In this case study we will look at performance of the campaigns and the agency running them. Segmenting the performance periods to pre CRM w/old agency, post CRM w/old agency, and under management of PPC Better will help us understand the difference in results the agency and process can make. We’ll compare the campaign and agency performance based on three main categories.
- Strategy and planning.
- Execution and optimization.
- Key Performance Indicators
Period One – Previous Agency – January 2021 to September 2021
Strategy and planning
At a glance, this campaign looks like many accounts we see. The agency did a very basic setup, with only 16 keywords, 14 of which were phrase match. They used “maximize clicks” or “maximize conversions” bidding. No form fills were tracked as conversions. I wasn’t involved in planning meetings, but failing to implement conversion tracking is an unforgivable blunder in my opinion.
Execution and Optimization
The total number of changes made to the account over the 9 month period, including original campaign setup, was 183. The campaigns started out with only 5 keywords, all phrase match. The keyword list grew to only 14 over the nine month period. 33 negative keywords were added. Ad optimization was not happening very frequently with only 23 ad changes including initial setup.
Key Performance Indicators – Average over period, stated in per month for comparison
| Clicks | Cost | Leads | Cost per Click | Cost per Lead |
| 160 | $1,928 | 2 | $12.56 | $964 |
Obviously, this cost per lead is unacceptable, and it is underreported because there were form fills each month that aren’t accounted for here. The lack of data being sent to Google Ads is a significant factor in the continued ROI negative performance.
Period Two – January 2022 to September 2022
Strategy and planning
Not much changed with the strategy, except to add Click Cease. Click Cease is a software that allegedly blocks click fraud traffic. The agency spent about $3,000 into broad match, interior design keywords, which drove zero conversions. Lead form fills were still not reported to Google Ads, leaving the platform only 1.3 conversions per month to optimize with.
Execution and Optimization
There were only 133 keyword changes, about 15 changes per month, including new campaigns and negative keywords. The negative keyword “realtor” was added, which would block “home staging service for realtors” and seems counterproductive.
Key Performance Indicators – Average over period, stated in per month for comparison
| Clicks | Cost | Leads | Cost per Click | Cost per Lead |
| 205 | $1,734 | 9 | $8.45 | $192.66 |
At this point cost per lead was just under $200. At this level, the business is barely breakeven on the traffic, depending on conversion rate.
PPC Better – October 2022 to December 2022
Strategy and planning
PPC Better brought our standard keyword and bidding strategy to the table. We planned, implemented and tested robust conversion tracking for click to call, form fills, calls from ads and click to email conversions. We worked with The Staging Co team to make improvements to landing pages for conversion rate optimization, which were implemented while the campaign was in flight.
Execution and Optimization
Landing page optimizations were implemented as the creative team completed them. We made over 1,500 keyword changes, or 500 changes per month. We are now using 4x more positive keywords than the previous agency. PPC Better also implemented an extensive negative keyword lists, adding 1,127 unique negative keywords to the account.
Key Performance Indicators – Average over period, stated in per month for comparison
| Clicks | Cost | Leads | Cost per Click | Cost per Lead |
| 325 | $1,260 | 26 | $3.87 | $48 |
We were able to reduce the spend by $500/mo, increase clicks by 58%, and reduce cost per lead by 75%. At $48 cost per lead, the initiative is clearly profitable for The Staging Co.
Conclusion
PPC Better substantially improved performance for The Staging Co’s Google Ads campaigns. Improving landing pages, implementing sophisticated paid search strategies, and enhancing lead measurement were the key factors in driving performance. If you’d rather pay $50/lead for highly motivated customer traffic than $200/lead, request a free strategy session to learn more about how PPC Better can help.
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