Aquire PPC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m Head of Digital at MuscleFood

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aquire PPC, and what were your goals?

We hired Aquire to take over our PPC campaign during our efforts to recruit a new in-house Head of PPC. We tasked them with maintaining our current performance, making reactive optimisations based on seasonality and demand, and improving spending efficiency.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I was familiar with Aquire after having worked with Dan in the past and knowing the quality of his strategy and having experienced his successes first hand.

Given the scale of our campaign and the monthly spend involved, we weren’t in a position to take a punt on an unknown agency and leave performance to chance, especially with our busiest period approaching. I know Aquire is more than accustomed to getting the incredible performance and a great ROI from high-spend campaigns, so it was an easy decision for me.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

Aquire conducted a thorough audit of our entire PPC setup, inspecting the structure of each Campaign and Ad Group as they went. Straight away in month 1, they made a number of ‘quick win’ adjustments which led to a huge increase in conversions (27%!) all while reducing our average cost per acquisition from £6.71 to £6.01.

From month 2 onwards, Aquire was able to make a reactive shift in their approach while we made a temporary 51% reduction to our PPC budget, all while maintaining great performance. They took the opportunity to restructure our account, identify and eliminate wastage, meaning additional budget to direct into more profitable areas of the campaign. They identified impressively underperforming areas and cut back where appropriate.

A lot of spend was being put into display ads which seemingly wasn’t an effective way to spend the budget. This budget was cut and re-invested in high performing search campaigns and Google Shopping. They also utilized Google’s Smart Bidding campaigns. Instead of using Max Conversions with Target CPA or eCPC, they moved to Max Conversions with Target ROAS bid strategies to maximize revenue.

As a result, our campaign saw only a 12% reduction in conversions after we more than halved the PPC budget, which is extremely impressive.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked mostly with Dan, who project managed our entire campaign as well as making optimisations and changes directly within our account (pending internal approval).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Increased conversions by 27% while decreasing CPA from £6.71 to £6.01 Salvaged a 51% reduction in PPC budget, leading to a reduction in PPC conversions of only 12%.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Aquire were incredibly vocal and communicative during our campaign. We had daily reports and updates from Dan about our previous day’s spending, performance and any reactive changes and tweaks made. We had 100% transparency on the work done and reasoning for all adjustments.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

As mentioned above, within just 2 months of working together they increased conversions by 27% while decreasing CPA, and made a 51% reduction in our PPC budget, leading to a reduction in PPC conversions of only 12%. Anyone who understands the world of PPC will know that this is extremely impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None - the service has been far above average in every respect.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the internal digital marketing manager at Scan Computers. I manage and measure the effectiveness of external agencies and suppliers such as Aquire.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aquire PPC, and what were your goals?

We hired Aquire to completely overhaul our PPC campaign, we knew that we weren’t getting the most from our campaign and wanted to reduce cost per acquisition before increasing our budget.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Aquire was referred to us by another large UK brand – we were looking for a verified expert to handle the project and didn’t want to cold-approach an agency. Dan’s knowledge and experience was far superior to agencies that we dealt with in the past, and we were very impressed with his proposed strategy and work ethic.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

The campaign started with a full audit of our existing account, including every campaign, ad group and ad that we currently had running. Aquire also reviewed all keywords and products we were targeting and they were able to quickly identify underperforming areas that were sapping budget away from high-performing areas of our campaign.

Once these initial issues were rectified, we saw an immediate reduction in cost per acquisition, and with ongoing testing and improvements from there on, we have seen further improvements, showing a total reduction in CPA of over 60% which considering our monthly PPC budget, is a monumental improvement. Once our campaign was leaner, we were then able to re-invest the savings we had made back into the campaign, targeting new keywords, products and campaign types while scaling our reach on existing high-performing campaigns and ad groups.

Acquire worked directly with myself and our sales team to determine where to allocate budget in terms of stock availability, profitability and supplier discounts, and also implemented Dynamic Search ads which have worked extremely well for us.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked directly with Dan, the owner of Aquire, who oversaw, implemented and project managed the entire strategy from start to finish.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

60% reduction in cost per acquisition, 35% increase in orders, daily performance report along with commentary and any recommendations on strategy changes. Dan’s recommendations for changes and optimisation to our ad copy has also had a direct impact on our click-through rate, increasing the % of the traffic we receive from search.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We received an impressive level of accountability and daily communication from Aquire (including weekends and holidays). We’ve used agencies previously who only report monthly, meaning any ‘reactive’ strategy changes have been almost impossible.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their standards and level of personal accountability are extremely impressive, especially for the price. Compared to other agencies whose fees are normally extremely high for a project of this size, Aquire work for a fixed monthly fee meaning there’s no incentive for them to keep our spend unnecessarily high because they’re not charging on a ‘% of budget’ basis.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

There’s nothing I would say they need to improve on in all honestly, we’ve used several agencies in the past and Aquire have by far gotten us the best results, shown the most initiative and enthusiasm and were also considerably cheaper.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Managing Director of a specialist SEO agency in Manchester city centre. We specialise purely in organic search marketing only.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Aquire PPC, and what were your goals?

We were growing as a business and had the capacity to take on new clients in the coming months. We hired Aquire PPC as a specialist PPC agency after a glowing referral because we wanted our campaign to be set up and managed by an expert from day 1. We had a limited budget upon launch, so budget wastage and irrelevant traffic was not an option for us, again which is why we turned to an expert agency.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We contacted Aquire after receiving a glowing referral from a business acquaintance who had seen huge success after using their PPC services. We did receive proposals from 2 other agencies to ensure we had a fair idea of price range and deliverables and to be honest not only was Aquire's the most thorough proposal, but also the most reasonably priced as they work for a fixed fee rather than a % of our PPC budget.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and campaigns.

We started with an initial discovery phase with Dan, who took the time to understand our business, the kind of customers we were (are just as importantly, were not) looking for, and helped us refine a list of launch keywords that would target specifically that audience. Dan set up, refined and managed two PPC campaigns for us, one focused locally around the radius of our business to bring in local clients, and another focused nationally to bring in clients from further afield.

Both campaigns had a limited budget to work with upon launch, with a look to increase spending based on performance and ROI (which we have since increased 3 separate times). I should also mention that Aquire designed, created and also added a bespoke landing page to our website for the PPC traffic to land on. This was because the page itself was designed purely with conversion rate in mind, driving a higher % of the overall clicks to our contact form and creating active leads.

The conversion rate on this landing page was considerably higher than that on our existing website pages, and we have since implemented principles taken from that layout across the rest of the website.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked mostly with 2 team members, although the majority of our deliverables were managed, delivered and communicated by Dan. This is also what gave them the edge over other agencies who sent proposals - we'd be dealing directly with the PPC expert who's doing the work, rather than a junior-level account manager who give high-level feedback.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

As we didn't have an existing PPC account before Aquire set ours up, we don't have any figures on uplift, however, the campaign delivered around 5 qualified leads per week that we were able to put into our internal sales pipeline (converting a good % into active clients). Since launch, we have increased our spend and catchment area, so the frequency of leads has increased, and the quality has remained consistent.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The level of communication and accountability I've received from them is unlike anything I've experienced before, especially at this price point. I receive daily updates on campaign performance and spending, along with commentary on changes made throughout each week. Changes and tasks are actioned quickly and clearly, and I've never once felt like a situation arose that the agency was unable to resolve or advise on.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

It's a combination between the price and the level of accountability they offer. Frankly after our initial contact with the team I expected the management fees to be considerably more expensive, and then once work started I couldn't belive the value we were receiving for our fairly conservative spend.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

At this time there's literally nothing I can think of that's been of concern for me. It's just been one pleasant surprise after another.