With value-based bidding, you can get more control over Smart Bidding and maximize your ROI. If you're looking for ways to update your PPC optimization, you've almost certainly come across value-based bidding (VBB). This strategy requires teaching Google and Microsoft's AI systems which conversions are most important to you. By integrating automated bidding and ad types like responsive search advertisements, ad platforms may prioritize bringing you more of the highest conversions and dramatically boost the results from your ad spend (RSAs).
VBB can help successful marketers enhance their results, as well as advertisers who have tried and failed with PPC because the quality of the conversions were poor or purchasers made too many returns.
The principle behind value-based bidding is that automated bids should be determined by the value of the clicks and conversions that ensue. This is similar to the concept of bid management in general. However, rather than manipulating CPCs or objectives like tROAS or tCPA, this goal is achieved by teaching the machine the true worth of conversions.
VBB is critical in PPC in 2022 because automation is now the typical way new campaigns run, and giving automation weak or incomplete goals risks generating a vicious loop that leads to poor campaign results.
One issue arises when marketers provide the ad engines with only a partial understanding of their objectives. Is the conversion they're reporting to Google the conversion that matters to the company's CFO, or is it merely an intermediary objective that was easier to put up?
It's similar to a social problem you might have. When you engage someone to work on your PPC team, you can only expect exceptional results if you tell them what you want. If you instruct your new teammate to obtain as many leads as possible on the landing page, don't be surprised if they aren't all from the most trustworthy sources.
If, on the other hand, you tell your coworker that the leads generated on the landing page will be forwarded to the sales team, and that they should be properly qualified, they will most likely adjust how they generate leads, and the quality will improve. If you inform them they'll be graded not just on the number of leads they generate, but also on how many of those leads become paying customers, the outcomes are sure to improve.
When it comes to teaching the computer the worth of your conversions, there are two levels of sophistication. First, let's look at the more advanced and exact way. We will teach the machine what happened in the weeks following the original conversion event for every click or order.
Offline conversion imports (OCI), the most advanced approach of teaching the ad engines what you value, rely on capturing the gclid or msclkid, running it through your CRM, and then feeding it back to the ad engines within 90 days as the value of the 'conversion' becomes more evident.
Instead of grabbing the engine's click ID, e-commerce marketers might submit their own unique order ID with the conversion. Advertisers can restate values to the ad engine within 55 days when the real value of the sale becomes obvious. To learn how this works, look up conversion value modifications.
If you haven't implemented one of the three techniques above, it's most likely not because you weren't aware of them, but because your team's technological limitations have made it difficult to do so. So let's take a look at a new, easier way to optimize PPC using your conversion statistics.
It's called Conversion Value Rules, and it allows you to instruct Google how to value distinct conversions depending on a common criteria such as location, device, or audience. While not as exact as the other ways, it is a far simpler way to train the computer to prioritize the conversions that are most important to you.
Sources:
Seiden, K., 2022. How to make a GA4 landing page report in 10 easy steps. [online] Search Engine Land. Available at: <https://searchengineland.com/make-ga4-landing-page-report-385133> [Accessed 12 May 2022].