Say “I Do” to Measuring Microconversions

Planning a wedding can be a time-consuming and stressful experience for a couple and it all starts with the first big decision: choosing a venue. With so much riding on this decision, is it fair that we, as PPC marketers, ask web users to click on an ad, come to the website, and book an appointment right on the spot? Of course not. 

We know that couples are going to look at multiple venues before making their final decision. So instead of trying to get a user to convert on their first visit, micro-conversions – like email captures – help us convert those leads down the line. Read on to find out how we changed our goals to micro-conversions for a local wedding venue client – and the impact it had on conversions. 

Make a Good First Impression

Brides and grooms are in research mode when they start with Google to search for venues. So first thing’s first: we need a strong landing page with the information the couple wants to see: photos of the venue, room options, number of guests the venue accommodates, etc. Then when you have the couple imagining their big day taking place at your venue, hit them with a call to action button. Instead of opening up a page that details the packages, the user is prompted to first fill out a form.

Upon submission of the short form, the user is taken to the PDF with detailed wedding packages.

Previously the call to action was to submit a longer form to book an appointment to tour the venue, which gave us a conversion rate below 1%. Switching from a direct lead generation strategy to a micro-conversions goal increased our conversion rate to 11%. Our client has still captured the user’s contact information, and can now follow up to discuss details like timing for the wedding and setting them up with an appointment to tour the venue. 

But wait, there’s more. Now that we’re growing the client’s email list, what can we do with it?

Keep the Attention on You

• Dedicated Search Campaign with Customer Match Audience. Customer Match is a powerful Google Ads targeting method that allows you to upload an email list for audience targeting. These brides and grooms are in your funnel now, so make sure you stay in front of them as they continue their search. Create a duplicate keyword search campaign that only targets your customer match audience (exclude the audience from your original campaign to ensure there’s no overlap or double dipping). Decide on a dedicated budget, and set bids 30 – 50% higher than your original campaign. Send them to a different landing page that asks for more information and highlights calls to action for scheduling a tour of the venue or calling for more information. 

• Gmail Campaign. Remind these users of your venue when they’re checking their email. Make sure your headline is compelling enough to get the user to expand the ad, and inside, show off some more stunning photos of your venue. Again, send them to a new landing page that asks for more information and encourages them to schedule a tour of the venue. 

• Remarketing. Bring those Customer Match audience members back to the website again by running remarketing ads. Make your Customer Match remarketing different than normal remarketing ads. Using different ad copy and a promotion works great here. You can also direct your Customer Match audience members to a new landing page that asks for more information to push them even further down the funnel. Again, provide options to schedule and appointment or call from this landing page.

• Social Media. Upload your email list as a custom audience to your social media marketing campaigns and run the same strategies across your social channels. Leverage stunning photography to ensure these users stop scrolling.

• Similar Audiences. Using your Customer Match list, Google Ads will create a Similar Audience to help you reach new users who Google believes are similar to your list. These are great for branding and prospecting through the display network, or layering on as audiences in your search campaigns. Facebook does the same thing with Lookalike Audiences, which you can use to expand your reach to users who haven’t been to your site before, but whose behaviors match those of your existing audience. 

Conclusion

If you are experiencing a low conversion rate and you have a long sales process, consider tracking soft goals and implementing micro-conversions. Any information captured could be the first step in leading the user down the sales funnel to conversion. From there, you can use the information captured from your micro-conversions to implement new marketing strategies at a highly interested, high conversion potential audience. You’ll be on your way to a happily ever after.