Customer Acquisition: Improved PLA Bidding Helps Business Supply Build Out its Customer Base
Online office supply retailer Business Supply saw increases in revenue, conversions, return on investment and customer acquisition thanks to a newly managed Google Product Listing Ad (PLA) program it launched this past spring.
Like many retailers, Business Supply used the free Google Product Search (GPS) in the past to promote its inventory online and drive direct sales. But when GPS became a paid service called Google Shopping in 2012, and it began supporting PLAs, Business Supply turned to search marketing firm Chacka Marketing and its digital marketing provider Kenshoo for guidance. With the help of Chacka Marketing and Kenshoo, Business Supply began to better manage, track and optimize PLAs.
Chacka Marketing, for example, counseled Business Supply on PLA best practices such as maintaining clean data feeds and developing an advanced bidding strategy. In addition, Kenshoo's PLA bid algorithim tool helped Business Supply make better bidding decisions since it clusters product targets based on historical performance. As a result, PLA revenue per click can be forecasted before setting the appropriate bids to reach campaign objectives.
Within two weeks of implementing Kenshoo's custom PLA bid algorithm tool this past May, Business Supply saw an 18.7 percent increase in new customers from its PLA campaigns compared to the two weeks prior.
"It's worth pointing out that this is truly impressive given that the post-period included a national holiday [Memorial Day], when sales tend to be very low for business-to-business," says Brad Justus, e-commerce manager at Business Supply.
Business supply also achieved the following improved performance metrics as a result of its newly managed PLA program:
- 29 percent increase in conversions;
- 37 percent increase in revenue; and
- 18 percent ROI increase.
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