“We ensured that the mobile strategy was positioned correctly; we could see that mobile traffic was growing at a rapid rate in 2015 but was still delivering cheaper CPCs than desktop and tablet. Through cross-device testing we could see that overall conversions were improving when we pushed mobile bids so we made sure we made the most of the mobile opportunity,” Ian said.
A crucial strategy that came into place in 2015 was using the technology that ClickThrough’s bid management system Kenshoo provides. Kenshoo Portfolio Optimisation, which is a sophisticated automated bidding system, was put live during the summer of 2015 and was set up to drive as many conversions as possible for the Halfords Autocentre budget. The PPC team also made sure that budget was being placed correctly to support the right products in line with the clients’ goals.
The Results
The aim was to maintain budget. However, 20% less budget ended up being placed in non-brand PPC activity while Halfords Autocentre saw revenue actually increase by 3%.
Impressively, the non-brand activity saw an 11% increase in traffic as a combination of long tail keywords and Kenshoo bidding technology lowered the cost per click by nearly 30% year on year.
Keyword expansion across the account boosted performance with some product categories seeing as much as double the revenue as a year ago.