Growing search conversions and ROI with the optimal keyword mix
Gift retailer RedEnvelope Inc. has grown its online sales volume from search by 400% since last year with tighter management of its keyword program and the ongoing testing of different landing pages and search messaging, Myles Felsing, director of online marketing, tells InternetRetailer.com.
Three and a half years ago, RedEnvelope managed its own keyword program of about 250 keywords; today that number has grown to about 3,000. RedEnvelope now works with Performics on search marketing and keyword bid management. Felsing says the company works to grow conversions from search by keeping the top general keywords while digging deeper into more specific variations of those keywords.
“It’s a balancing act,” says Felsing, who adds that RedEnvelope uses Performics’ reports on CPC keyword performance as well as its counsel to refine the list “It’s an ongoing process of identifying new keywords to add and keywords that are not carrying their weight.” He notes that while product-specific keywords have a higher conversion rate—upwards of four times that of general keywords—it’s the general keywords that drive traffic.
“We have identified ROI expectations by keyword bucket – for example, the birthday keyword bucket of “unique birthday gifts, “birthday gifts for him,” “birthday gifts for her,” etc.—and we manage to that ROI by bucket. By balancing we meet our ROI expectations,” says Felsing.
RedEnvelope also works with Performics on testing the effectiveness of different search landing pages within the site, as well as search messaging. “Later this year we’ll be testing a free-with-hurdles shipping offer,” says Felsing. “In the past, we’ve seen a bump in conversions when we message the offer in the copy.”
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