The last PPC campaign I analysed in the ‘Analyse A Real PPC Campaign’ series was from Expedia, who had ranked number one in paid search results, potentially, due to the fact that the last advert was a Google lead capture for flights. As well as this, the landing page was well designed and clear to look at as a hybrid between a lead capture and click through landing page.
With many people going on their summer holidays soon, it is that time of year that people will start to exchange currencies in preparations for their holidays. With this, here is an analysis of a PPC campaign from the Post Office.
To view the Post Office’s PPC search advert, I had to type into Google search UK, ‘buy euros’:
I cannot believe the low competition there is for such a crucial keyword. I understand that the Brexit process of the UK leaving the EU and the fact the last general election in the UK ended in a hung parliament would have caused the sterling to weaken considerably against the Euro. But, is that enough for people to be turned off buying euros?
What is interesting is that the Post Office actually rank #4 organically, which goes to show that they decided to implement a PPC campaign to outrank their competition above them organically. This includes Tesco Bank and two comparison websites for currency exchange – possibly the exchange rate of the Post Office is not very good when compared to competitors so they tried to take the traffic before they compare the Post Office exchange rate to others?
Looking at the advert itself, it wants to come across as a very up-to-date advert, since the exchange rate can change quite a lot in a day, let alone a week. This is addressed both by outlining the exchange rate for the sterling to Euro and stating when it was last updated. Once this has been addressed, the end of the title is all about the brand awareness of the Post Office domain whilst the description includes more reasons to use the Post Office. A location ad extension has also been used which will please some web users, who particularly would like to exchange their currencies in person if it is thousands of pounds. So, all in all, this is a good search advert.
After clicking on the above advert, I came to the following landing page:
It is clear from the lead capture for currency exchange to the right that this is a lead capture page, with also the aim to convince web users to use the Post Office. This is done by:
- Using the ‘rule of three’ to the left to give three reasons to use the Post Office.
- Making clear at the bottom left that recieved awards from the British Travel Awards.
- From addressing those that want to pick up their money in person with a ‘Click & Collect’ button in the bottom left.
Although it is a good landing page, I feel the orange background does not really go well with the theme design. As well as this, the lead capture could have taken more space above the fold to give more exposure to gaining the lead that Post Office are aiming for. Therefore, although this is a good landing page, there are still areas of improvement.
