Don't Measure Paid Search Using Only Last-Touch
I’ve heard this similar statement a few times over the past couple of months:
“Paid search used to drive great performance for us, but over the past year or two it’s really fallen off and we can’t seem to turn it around.”
This is a shift that I’ve worked with my own clients to address over the past year and change, but a few new businesses have reached out recently looking for an audit of their Google Ads account because they’ve been dealing with this issue. The audit request is usually focused on checking campaign structure, conversion tracking, keywords, etc… but based on my experience this is rarely the issue.
Sure, sometimes campaign setups can be lacking, but more often than not I find that the bigger issue is that marketing programs haven’t adjusted to recent changes in search behavior.
Just a few years ago, the only way to learn more about a potential vendor was to reach out and speak with their team. The presence of trustworthy, third party review sources wasn’t as prevalent as it is today. As a result, even nonbrand paid search was a great way to drive direct response leads. When someone searched for “marketing email tool” the best source of information for a Mailchimp or HubSpot was their sales team.
This has changed.
The decentralization of information allows potential buyers to conduct research about a purchase before they ever speak to a sales team. Trusted third party sources like Reddit, social media, and peer community groups enable this type of behavior. Additionally, a volatile economy pushes buyers to be more thorough in their research and vetting process to ensure they’re making the best decision they can with their dollars.
Even “high intent” nonbrand keywords have moved to an earlier stage in the buyer journey. Before, these keywords were great at generating direct response leads, but now buyers use them in their discovery phase. This happens well before a searcher is ready to actually speak to a sales team.
While all this theory and speculation is great, there is actually data to support this hypothesis (outside of what I’ve analyzed from my own clients).
According to Statisa, monthly Reddit visits have exploded over the past two years.
This suggests that people are turning to communities like Reddit more frequently to learn about genuine product/service experiences before reaching out to a sales team.
There’s also the HockeyStack benchmark report which shares how it took the average B2B business 71 touchpoints to generate a lead.
Yes, I understand that this report caused a bit of a stir, but when looking at this data simply as observed behavior, the takeaway can be clear. Buyers usually interact with a brand multiple times before they fill out a form.
Lastly, a recent study from Wynter found that 54% of B2B buyers begin their process with a category search to identify possible vendors. Key word: begin. Buyers don’t end their process with a search, then fill out a lead form. While “marketing email tool” might be relevant, and would have even helped to drive an endless supply of leads a few years ago, this search now happens before people go to places like Reddit or Exit Five.
Given all of this, the solution I usually recommend to B2B marketing teams is to focus on three areas:
Each of those topics require more in-depth consideration before running ahead and implementing any changes, but I’ve seen that the combination of those items helps to improve overall paid media performance.
Have questions, considerations, or critiques? I’d love to hear them, just comment on this post!
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