Resolving High CPA Challenges in Gust's Non-Brand Campaigns
Gust Launch, a product offered by Gust, serves as a comprehensive platform that offers essential services to support startup founders in the United States during the process of incorporating their companies. These services encompass startup legal assistance, fundraising guidance, and governance setup. In an effort to address elevated Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) concerns within their Google Ads campaigns spanning from 2018 to 2020, Gust forged a partnership with Firon Marketing in late 2021 to devise and implement effective solutions.
Issue
While Gust’s brand campaigns exhibited satisfactory performance over the preceding year, the non-brand campaign faced consistent challenges with a high CPA. This elevated CPA was impeding the effectiveness of their digital advertising initiatives and necessitated corrective action to align with Gust’s goals and targets.
Resolution
Firon Marketing initiated a comprehensive strategy to optimize Gust’s Google Ads campaign and reduce the high CPAs. The strategy encompassed the following essential components:
Full Non-Brand Campaign Evaluation: Firon conducted a thorough assessment of the non-brand campaign to identify areas for improvement and optimization opportunities.
Refined Ad Placements: Overly broad placements, such as Display and Search Partners, were excluded from the Search campaign to ensure that ads were displayed exclusively on highly relevant platforms.
Keyword Optimization: Instead of relying on broad match keywords, Firon transitioned to using phrase and/or exact match keywords. This precision ensured that the campaign targeted only the most pertinent search queries.
Mitigating Brand Competition: Brand name mentions were eliminated from the non-brand campaign to prevent competition between the two campaign types and resource cannibalization.
Enhanced Ad Grouping: Similar keywords were consolidated into relevant ad groups, facilitating more effective management and optimization.
Maximized Ad Creatives: Responsive search ads were enhanced by optimizing headlines and descriptions, with dynamic keyword insertion used to tailor ad content to user queries.
Outcomes
The implementation of this strategy yielded substantial and favorable results for Gust. A comparison of overall performance from the time Firon Marketing began managing their accounts in the last quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of 2023 (Oct 1, 2021, to Sep 30, 2023) with the period of the highest CPA experienced by the account from the second quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2020 (Apr 1, 2018, to Mar 31, 2020) resulted in the following achievements:
Click Increase: Overall clicks increased by 132% (from 23.5K to 54.5K).
Cost per click Reduction & Higher Click-Through Rates: Cost per click metrics decreased by 66% due to the targeting of more relevant keywords, resulting in a 50% increase in overall click-through rates.
CPA Reduction: The most notable accomplishment was a 40% decrease in the account’s CPA, accompanied by a 33% increase in conversions during this period.
The successful execution of Firon Marketing’s strategy not only improved performance metrics but also demonstrated a clear alignment with Gust’s objectives. By addressing the high CPA issue in the non-brand campaign, Gust enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of its digital advertising efforts, leading to increased clicks, reduced costs, and improved campaign ROI. This case study underscores the positive impact of data-driven optimization and strategic decision-making in achieving marketing success for Gust.
