How Hat World boosted conversion rates 71% through better search marketing
Until Hat World changed its keyword management strategy in March, shoppers searching the web for “baseball cap” might find Hat World within the first 200 listings on Google. Now the retailer is routinely ranked fourth for that term. And by July, its costs of pay-per-click in paid search had declined 31%, and overall sales conversion rates were up 71%, Karen Weber, director of e-commerce, tells InternetRetailer.com.
Hat World was directly managing 500 keywords through Overture under its old system, but then switched to an outsourced program with iProspect.com Inc. that manages 13,000 keywords on both Overture and Google. The surge in the volume of managed keywords, combined with the use of a better selection of keywords, led to a 4,991% increase in search result click-throughs, Weber says.
The iProspect program covers three areas: management of the keyword bidding as part of its pay-per-click service; a paid inclusion program to assure that Hat World is indexed by major search engines; and site optimization for improving natural search results, such as by making sure product pages highlight words consumers are likely to search on. The combined program has helped Hat World’s HatWorld.com and Lids.com appear high in natural search rankings as well as high in paid search listings, Weber says.
“We’re buying the right keywords, and writing better descriptions to go with those keywords,” Weber says, noting that Hat World realized a 157% return on ad spending from March through July.
The program has also freed up Weber to spend more time on other matters. “Before, I didn’t have enough time to manage the Overture service with 500 keywords,” Weber says. “Now, with 13,000 keywords, I’m given more time to analyze our site and figure out how to better meet customers’ needs.” She adds that Hat World will be announcing improvements to its site later this fall.
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