Businesses often store large pools of information about their customers, whether taken down in notes by service techs or stored in back-end databases. Unfortunately, this data doesn’t always see the light of day in the marketing department or with a PPC agency.
Any information you can glean from customers can be immensely valuable to inform PPC management strategies.
In this article, we’ll cover four key areas of customer data to apply in your campaigns.
Service & Sales Data
If a client can categorize service jobs or sales into high-level categories, you can compare volume and revenue to determine which areas are most effective. In turn, this data should inform the allocation of PPC budget.
High search volume, and even high inquiry volume, may not necessarily result in revenue. For instance, a furniture store may see a lot of search volume for sofas but receive significantly higher revenue for bedroom sets. A full picture of the products with the highest return on investment can inform which keywords may be worth increasing bids on.
For service-industry clients, notes describing work completed can be helpful to brainstorm additional keywords. For instance, an HVAC company may leave notes in a customer database about what was done on a service call. By reading through these notes, you may identify potential categories that aren’t currently represented in what you’re bidding on. You may be focusing on terms like “new furnace” or “air conditioning installation” but realize that a lot of people are requesting duct cleaning, which in turn leads to upselling more expensive services.
Customer Surveys
Asking the opinion of customers certainly lends many potential benefits to a business, including valuable data to inform marketing efforts. First, find out the key reasons why a current customer would choose to use a certain product or service as opposed to its competitors. These reasons can help inform PPC keywords and ad copy.
For instance, 24/7 access to customer support may be the biggest selling factor cited for a web hosting company. Customers feel a peace of mind knowing that if their website goes down in the off hours they can reach someone to help with their issue. In turn, you could test mentioning “24/7 Customer Support” in an ad headline or callout extension.
Online Reviews
Similarly to surveys, online reviews help to provide real-world writeups about why customers chose (or didn’t choose) a business. While AdWords has sunsetted review extensions, you can still utilize reviews in other ways. Look for brief quotes that could be featured in ad copy (if they wouldn’t work in a search ad, try using them on Facebook!).
Also, as with surveys, identify the reasons why people chose to work with a business. Look for pain points that were solved and work these into keywords and ad copy. For instance, an individual may talk about how they always had trouble driving at night before ordering a set of glasses with an anti-glare coating from an online eyewear store. You could then test bidding on phrases like “reducing glare at night.”
Data on Return Customers
For many businesses, first-time purchases only represent a small fraction of long-term revenue. They’re dependent on people coming back to make future purchases or staying on a subscription plan. Ultimately, focusing on lifetime value provides far more strategic return than focusing on generating one-off purchases.
Data revealing how often customers come back to make purchases, how long they remain subscribed, and what factors led to these decisions can help to inform marketing strategy. When a company relies heavily on return business, tactics like remarketing (both display and search) and customer list targeting can be immensely effective when properly performed.
Use Your Customer Data!
Start pulling any customer information you can access and look for ways to improve your campaigns! Customer data can help to inform everything from keywords to ad copy to targeting strategies.
How are you utilizing customer information in your PPC management? Share in the comments below!
