PPC - Pay Per Click Management

The last PPC campaign I analysed in the ‘Analyse A Real PPC Campaign’ series was from BT Mobile, who had an effective search advert, albeit the fact that they were ranked the lowest of the paid search results. The landing page was significantly poor, with many areas of improvement to get a conversion from the web user. Continuing the mobile sector, here is an analysis of a PPC campaign from Giff Gaff.

To view Giff Gaff’s PPC search advert, I had to type into Google search UK, ‘sim only plans’:
Straight away, uSwitch‘s advert is the one that will gain the most exposure, from being the top of paid search results as well as expanding the size of the advert using site link extensions. However, Giff Gaff are ranked second, which is still a competitive place to be for PPC. It is common for the first advert to be disregarded by some web users due to them having ‘advertising block’. The CTR of adverts tends to decrease the lower the ranking is for the advert. Therefore, it can be seen that second is much better than third and fourth ranking, still.

Looking at the advert itself, it has some good points associated to it:

• The title starts by addressing exactly what the web user searched for, increasing the contextuality from the perspective of the web user.
• The end of the title contains the URL to Giff Gaff, helping to promote direct traffic.
• The power word ‘Free’ is used throughout the advert, both in the title and description of the advert. This is a good implementation of power word since people always like anything relating to free.
• The description and site link extension outlines the plans that Giff Gaff offer. The fact these are included makes clear that there are proud of the cost of their plans, which is made clear from looking at the prices of other competitors.

After clicking on the above advert, I came to the following landing page:

This is a great example of how a landing page has been optimized to get the conversion they want through further enticement to the web user:

• The background image is colorful yet minimalist, keeping the attention to the content on the page whilst looking ‘fun’ and ‘tropical’.
• The largest text on the page is a call to action ‘Order your free SIM to get started’. From being the largest font, the web user will likely read this first, increasing the likelihood of the web user fulfilling such a request.
• Below the call to action, Giff Gaff use the rule of three to entice web users into a plan that suits all. By displaying the three packages they offer with extra colours, it makes clear how simple the network are, as well as the transparency of packages Giff Gaff offer.
• The conversion on this page is a lead capture to order a SIM. This is made clear through the form to fill in, which is half displayed above the fold so the web user knows how to get a SIM if they should so want one.