The Top 6 Ways You can Improve Your Google Ad Performance

There is no doubt that Google Ads deliver business for millions of businesses worldwide. Daily, there are more than 63,000 searches every second. The average person uses Google 4 times a day to search something.

At R6 Digital® we work to optimise Google ads placed on behalf for our customers. We employ specialist Digital Marketeers, who know how to optimise ads for placement, reach and effectiveness, creating ad sets, targeted campaigns and research to improve performance. That’s our job.

Every heard of the saying “Tail lights”? That’s when the goods are shipped, services provided, and you have been paid. Up to that point, the sale is just talk. Digital Marketers are often criticised for “poor ad performance” or “the ads never amounted to any business” or “the leads were no good”.

When searches are made, you can bet they are made in good faith. Searchers are comparing and looking for value and generally are ready to buy – may not be today or even tomorrow, but searches results from interest.

We all know there are plenty of fish in the ocean, but how many times have you heard friends say, “We went fishing all day and caught nothing”.

Do they blame the boat, the rod or the fishing line? Generally, not.  Maybe it was the bait, maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the location, maybe it was all of those, maybe the technique maybe it’s a myriad of other things.

Same result – you come home empty handed, paid for food and beer and boat hire. Luckily, you called into the fish and chip shop and took something home!

Our goal with our guide is to help you not go empty handed when you run Google Ads.

How can you improve the effectiveness of your Google Ad performance from your perspective?

1. Get professional Help

Let’s be frank. Unless you work for a digital agency and are experienced in understanding keywords, negative keywords, keyword phrases, key word density, campaign setup, ad spend, CPC, click through rate, yep, you get it…. Choose the right agency.

2. Is your offer generic or targeted? 

When you start with google Ads, the more you target a specific product or service or offering, the more chance you have of acceptance of your offer. See our example:

Generic:

“We sell mattresses, ask us for a deal”

This ad will work but will only direct a general enquiry if you are lucky. The searcher has no idea what brands you sell.

Targeted

“Sealy Mattresses, immediate delivery, 30% off”.

This ad is targeted. Searchers looking for Sealy Mattresses, looking for a deal are likely to respond. More than likely, you sell more than one brand. You need ads for each brand that deliver search results for each brand. Matching your ad to the search is key.

Work with your digital marketer to make sure your offer is targeted.

3. Fast.

We are all an impatient lot.  You included. Everyone has walked out of a shop once in their life because they didn’t get served. Expect poor results if you take your time to respond to an enquiry from your google ads. Research shows you have to respond fast if you want to win business. There is always someone out there that will respond if you don’t.

The faster you respond, the more you show the customer you are ready and keen to help, ready and willing to do business. If you wait until the end of the day, you have little or no chance to sell that customer. They bought 5 minutes after they waited for the response you didn’t send.

There is some misconception that online enquiries can wait. When you ask for help online or enquire, you expect a fast response and so do your customers. Ensure you at least use an autoresponder, acknowledging the enquiry.

4. Check your Online Reputation

Increasingly, shoppers rely on recommendation. And not just from regular review sites. Real world 5-star reviews from customers, create testimonial strength and help consumers to choose. Your online reputation comes from service and value, your customers, if happy will provide these reviews. Ask them to review you at every chance and your 5-star rating will soon improve your ad effectiveness.

5. Don’t assume anything with customers

The devil is in the detail. Google Ads direct to your website. Can customers work out how to contact you? Do you have a clear map of your location, are your opening hours clear? Are your opening times matched to your Google business listing? Customers rely on those Listings to find you and get in contact. Have you got clear and high-quality professional images of your products? The sale you want can be lost with “cart abandonment” just because of a terrible picture or poor description. Use Video to explain your offering with clear reasons to buy from you. (Examples) Make it easy to buy from you.

6. Understand and Know your Competition 

Are you and your salespeople right up to date with product knowledge and also understand competition? Can you help your enquiry with valid comparison information? The modern online shopper is well armed with information about what they are searching for and mostly have done their homework. Be helpful, be knowledge and don’t forget to ask for the order!

Conclusion

There is no doubt we live in a competitive marketplace, online consumers looking to buy are on your website right now. Are you ready to help them? Online buyers don’t shop with the same boundaries that old school shoppers do. They search at night, on the weekends, in the toilet, on the plane, in the shops, in their lunch breaks, even during work time.

Be ready to respond, make sure your offering is competitive and be ready to change. Expect that a lead or enquiry is real and will lead to business. Assuming someone who took the effort to contact you, is a tyre kicker is sales disaster 101.

Your response to your enquiries and the speed that you respond will determine of your google Ads work or not. There is no silver bullet here!