A Guide to Using the IRP PPC Advanced Keyword Bank and Advert Manager with Finch

This article provides an outline of the areas that should be optimised when working with a client on the Finch / IRP Platform.

To get the most out of the software for your clients there are a few key areas that we will discuss in terms of your focus on how to optimise the system. The software itself is very comprehensive and can deliver rapid growth in PPC effectiveness — if implemented correctly.

Some background knowledge in PPC and the bidding strategy of Finch is beneficial before starting any optimisation. It would be recommended that you consult with a PPC Consultant in Export Technologies or Finch before commencing any optimisation project as there could be a negative impact on the account’s performance if it is not correctly set up and optimised. This article provides a general overview of the optimisation process and further reading into the functionality of the software is recommended via the documentation.

Some results from implementation

The context of this article is that we conducted a series of optimisation implementations on a Finch account using the IRP software. All areas detailed in this article were touched upon, however the overall effects were as follows:

Phase 1 — The initial optimisation we carried out was primarily on the PPC model titles. This area is discussed in the Data section below. Around 2300 model titles were adjusted and new attribute combinations were added. This work increased the keywords from around 12,500 to 25,000. We finished the initial work at the end of September 2016. The results of this work saw the revenue via Google PPC increase from £27,716 in September to £39,669 in October. This trend had continued increasing through to the end of the year as you can see from the graph below:

The average sales for this account per month were £23,846 over the first nine months of the year. If we project this figure for the rest of the last three months of the year, the total would be £71,538. The actual last three months delivered £130,723 — a difference of £59,185 extra in revenue through the optimisation process.

Phase 2 — In this phase we have just started to roll out newly-optimised campaigns. We have managed to increase the bank of keywords to approximately 101,000 keywords. As of January 2017 the figure is £49,853. If we compare this to the previous year, it was an increase of 130%.

The core sections of the software and data that need to be optimised to deliver this type of impact are outlined in the rest of this article. There are various combinations of work to be carried out that will deliver the results in growth, but the positive thing is that improvements in any of the areas will have incremental benefits to the campaign.

Finch

As a Service Provider, Finch works with clients on an individual basis. They aim to get clients to work to a CPA model, however they will often be taking on a client based on the recommendation of an Export Technologies Account Manager — so this should help them establish a good working relationship with the clients from the beginning.

Another thing to know about how Finch and the software operates is the fact that the bid strategy of the software is grounded in the ‘Conversion Value’ of a keyword. What this means is that the revenue that a particular keyword delivers causes the system to increase or decrease the bids on that keyword based on the value it delivers. There are many other factors in this process but in essence this is at the core of the software. So while we are optimising the other areas that this article addresses, we need to keep in mind these core principles.

Next we will provide an overview of each of the sections and how they impact the overall success of the account.

Data

The work really all starts here. The power of the software comes into its own only when it is fed the correct data. The optimisation of the data on your client’s site is at the core of the potential success of the campaigns. The way in which the software combines different data sets to generate new keywords is where things get exciting. Take the following example:

• Brand: Nike
• Model PPC Keyword: Air Max Thea
• Category: Shoes
• Gender: Womens

All of the data above, along with other attributes, can be combined to deliver potentially hundreds of keywords. As we will explain in the next section, we can see how this would create several variations from those single words. The key tip in this section is to ensure that your data is valid within each of the following areas: Brand, Category, Model Name, Attribute values. This will sometimes be where the biggest impact can be made in generating more revenue, often in a short space of time, as demonstrated in the earlier example.

Keywords

The keywords are generated by applying the campaign criteria that is present after a campaign is set up. The campaign can be edited at any point to ensure the best optimisation of the keywords and adverts. The ultimate goal of the keyword section is to produce profitable, searchable keywords that adhere to the principles of the Conversion Value model. In short, the better the quality of the keywords the better your AdWords campaigns will perform. There are extensive ways in which keywords can be produced by combining multiple datasets to produce new keyword combinations. The standard keyword formats that are used in adverts are as follows:

• Brand
• Brand Category
• Brand Model
• Category Only
• Model Only
• Attribute Brand Category
• Attribute Category

When you take into consideration the Nike example in the previous section, the keywords produced for adverts would be as follows:

• Brand: Nike
• Brand Category: Nike Shoes
• Brand Model: Nike Air Max Thea
• Category Only: Shoes
• Model Only: Air Max Thea
• Attribute Brand Category: Womens Nike Shoes
• Attribute Category: Womens Shoes

Not all adverts and keywords are effective when they are output in all the formats above, which is why the combination of keywords is so important. The depth of research that is carried out will also help with the optimisation — the better the quality of the keywords for each section of optimisation.

Campaigns

The IRP software makes campaigns very customisable. You can target a range of criteria depending on your client’s goals and needs; what you set in the campaign can then be replicated to product new campaigns. This means that you could potentially create a single optimised campaign that then can be adjusted to suit new scenarios. A few scenarios could be:

• Having a fully-optimised English-speaking campaign, replicating it and targeting a specific language within the same target country.
• Copying an English-speaking campaign that has brand restrictions; this often happens with larger companies who have specific brand-selling restrictions.
• Using multiple currencies for the same campaign setup. In this case you may have a well-optimised UK campaign that you now want to target in the USA; changing the target countries and currency can quickly transfer this campaign to the new target destination.

There are extensive options which can be referred to in the documentation of the software, however the possibilities that are opened up to clients via this software are truly game changing.

Adverts

Another of the powerful features is the ability to create various types of adverts to include in your AdWords campaigns. Once you have generated all your keywords, the templates you create are then populated based on the type of keyword. As an example, you can create multiple ads for model keywords which could be displayed with different sales copy. The default ads that are set up are:

• Brand
• Brand Category
• Brand Model
• Category Only
• Model Only
• Attribute Brand Category
• Attribute Category

Custom adverts are also available, where specific lists of keywords can be added to an ad set. This can be useful for non-product adverts that can drive other seasonal marketing messages.

Google AdWords

Generally speaking, the Export Technologies PPC Consultant and Finch will customise and optimise the AdWords account for clients. This is not really a setup requirement for most Account Managers to be concerned with, however it is good to have a broad overview of the whole process and it would be useful to have an understanding of how Google AdWords operate so that you can track progress overall.

The one other thing to mention on this topic are the updates that enable Bing to copy Google AdWord campaigns across with the click of a button. This is a powerful addition to the Bing ad management interface and allows for highly-optimised campaigns to be sent to the Bing network.

Further improvements to client campaigns

As with all elements of Digital Marketing, continuous monitoring should be conducted on a monthly basis. The key with the Finch software is to have a good overview of the core principles. This is best illustrated when clients add new non-optimised products to their catalogue. The software will automatically pick up these products and generate keywords and adverts, so close communication with the client on the best practises outlined here and through the documentation is where the successes will continue.

I hope this article has helped broaden your understanding and knowledge of this powerful piece of the IRP. Truly the benefits of implementing an optimisation program are evident from the results.