Metric Theory

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of e-commerce at a 3D art and marketplace company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Metric Theory?

We wanted to gain new customers and keep customers from going dormant. We wanted to reduce the amount of churn that we had with our customers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Metric Theory helps to guide our advertising strategies, which includes ideation, creation, execution, and reporting. Since last year, we’ve been doing a variety of tests with them where we or they come up with an idea that we want to see, and then we try it to see if it’s going to be successful. 

Their work is Google Ads focused, using search, display, discovery, YouTube, and Gmail. In any given month, we run 10–15 different tests, everything from creative and content to different audiences to new product offerings or specific betas. We then measure the results from that and see f it’s something that we want to continue doing.

What is the team composition?

We have an account manager, as well as an analyst. At various times, they also pull in additional resources.

How did you come to work with Metric Theory?

I inherited them as a vendor when I came into the role. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend between $85,000–$100,000 per month on advertising, and we pay them 10% of that.

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with them in June 2019, but we’ve been a customer of theirs for longer than that. Our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I’ve never seen such good results as we’ve had with them. Especially this year during COVID-19, we’ve been able to take advantage of some really unique opportunities in our space. Our cost per acquisition is a fourth of what it was when we started, which is just a dramatic improvement.

Metric Theory has been willing to try our ideas and we’ve been willing to try theirs. Even though not everything works, we’ve had many successes, and the results speak for themselves. Their service is phenomenal.

How did Metric Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is excellent. When we first started working with them, there was no one to guide the strategy on either side, so it didn’t go well. Metric Theory then got us a better manager and figured out our needs, and we’ve had a great relationship since then.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One thing that I appreciate about them is that I don’t have to follow up with them; they always follow up with me and let me know if things are working.

Metric Theory doesn’t have so many clients to the point where they aren’t able to respond to us. Additionally, they’ve helped us be innovative because they recognized that that’s what we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not at the moment. If anything, originally they were only reporting on the things that were going well, so we requested that they report on the concerns as well. Metric Theory was willing to change that, which I appreciated. That upfront transparency led to additional trust.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We keep a project dashboard that we report back on every week, and that has been hugely successful because we also put all of our results as links on that dashboard so we can go back at any time. Having that running library of what has worked and what hasn't can be really helpful.

Setting expectations is also really important. When I became the account manager from our side, I had very different expectations than what they had previously dealt with. For example, initially, they were reached out to once a quarter, but I wanted a much better cadence. Metric Theory really rose to that challenge.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I oversee paid marketing for a fast-growing beauty ecommerce startup.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Metric Theory?

Metric Theory ran execution and strategy for google channels, focusing on paid search and shopping.

What were your goals for this project?

Taking over from another agency, we needed to restructure a lot of our account so that it was clearer to measure and optimize. In addition our goals for these channels were MoM and YoY revenue growth to support overall business growth.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Metric Theory was a recommendation from our google team, and we vetted a few other agencies. Metric Theory's strategic and tactical knowledge was apparent, and their account review was very thorough. The fees were also reasonable. These were main factors in choosing Metric Theory.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Metric Theory started by doing an account review across all channels (search, shopping, display, discovery, youtube) identifying main pain points and growth areas. They reviewed this with us to determine what the highest priorities were. From here, a big part of the initial work was restructuring our accounts in a phased approach while not negatively impacting performance. They continued to manage campaigns across accounts including launches for new products, testing for better measurement (incrementality), and testing across creative and copy. They provided thorough weekly reporting to analyze trends in comparison to other channels and our business as a whole.

What was the team composition?

We worked closely with the account director and her team, and also had involvement with leadership including the CEO, who spent time getting to know our business and how to best help. The team size was scaled down when we moved towards having them only manage search and shopping.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The account restructure was very successful and made it much more manageable for us to view performance and optimize. Previously, we were not launching during promotions and this was a big unlock that Metric Theory helped us with across channels that drove incremental revenue. As a whole, google was one of the top channels in terms of YoY revenue and ROAS growth.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was effective, they were very responsive via email and slack and the weekly meetings were run efficiently and productively. The relationship was collaborative and they brought new ideas to the table as well as received feedback well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The entire team had very strong strategic and tactical knowledge of the google channels, which seems like a foundational need but we have found this lacking in other agencies. Their strategic and tactical knowledge exceeded most other agencies I've worked with. They were reliable, with strong project management and were very aligned with our business goals. We never had any issues with misaligned motives between agency and our company which can be common. They did a good job looking at the business as a whole and asking the right questions to gain insights from other channels, rather than only being zoomed into one channel.

Are there any areas for improvement?

More facetime and relationship building as well as long-term planning to coincide with our business planning. There could have been more done to proactively come up with testing roadmaps and out-of-the-box ideas. Caveat here was it was a shorter-term partnership which was less conducive for these things.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing and analytics manager for Maisonette, a children’s products company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Metric Theory?

We needed help with paid ads and digital strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Metric Theory handles our paid search, paid social, and e-management, and they manage our paid media budget and execution. They set up our campaign structure on the various platforms we use, and they help establish targeting to meet our goals. They also support creative and copy efforts.

They’re managing Google, Bing, Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest. Occasionally, they make one-off efforts on other channels. For instance, we did a connected TV test with them in Q4, and I’m sure they will continue to do so going forward.

What is the team composition?

I work with Sarunas (Associate Director, Paid Search, Metric Theory) on a daily basis. Our higher-level account director is Megan (Associate Director, Account Services, Metric Theory). We have a more extended team of 4–5 people that work full-time.

How did you come to work with Metric Theory?

I wasn’t part of the process.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $300,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve increased our ad spend by 20–30% compared to where we were at in the first half of the year. Metric Theory has been a really effective partner in scaling up ad spend in Q4 and also being able to scale down after the holidays. We quadrupled our ad spend from when we started working with them in July.

How did Metric Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

Metric Theory is extremely responsive. They’re on a dedicated channel within our internal Slack, and they respond quickly if we ever have questions. Using various Google Docs and Sheets allows us to have a pretty transparent relationship.

We have weekly performance reviews, during which we take one-and-a-half to two hours to go through our different channels. We discuss what’s working and what’s not working, and we work together on what sorts of assets they will need to execute on those channels. We go back and forth on Google Drive about how many assets we should give them and what they need to succeed. We do the same thing on copy and targeting; they submit what they think is going to be effective, and we review and approve it. For targeting, they might ask for a certain audience or customer list, and we’ll give them what they need to succeed. During Q4, we had 15-minute status check-ins on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in addition to our weekly performance reviews.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been extremely supportive and effective in allocating some extra resources when we need it and making sure that everything gets done. When we were short staffed on our creative side in Q4, they helped cut up some videos for us. There was an additional charge for that, but it was within market value and really useful in helping us achieve our goals. We’ve gone through a lot of agencies; having somebody we can be transparent with and rely on has been a breath of fresh air.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have a pretty hefty retainer with them, and that’s the number one thing that could improve. To this point, we’ve gotten great value, as budgets are lower. Having such a big retainer takes a chunk out every month. Besides that, they’ve been a great partner for us.

Give them as much creative freedom and independence in the account to do what they please. They’re on the forefront of innovation and always know what’s coming up next.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Costa Del Mar, which is a sunglass brand located in Daytona Beach, Florida. EssilorLuxottica is our parent company, which is a new, publicly-traded company that manages the primary players in the optical industry on a global scale. I'm the Vice President of Direct-to-Consumer. My responsibility is to manage our direct-to-consumer businesses, primarily our e-commerce site.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Metric Theory?

We engaged with Metric Theory in September of 2018 to transition away from a previous paid media provider. Our team was looking for a partner that could help us on a national level. We were working with more of a boutique solution and outgrew their capacity over time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started out our relationship with a short project, to see if they were an ideal partner. Early on, we noticed synergy, so we decided to continue working with them. Their first major task with us was customer retention on our e-commerce site. We wanted to ensure that those who already knew our brand continued their journey with us. They worked through both search and social channels to address the problem.

When we felt that we had the bottom of the funnel secure, we started working on acquisition together. That's really been the primary focus for us for the past nine months. We've collaborated in examining our analytics to develop social media campaigns to drive customers to our brand.

What is the team composition?

We have two principal points of contact, one focusing on search and the other on social media. Aside from them, there's roughly seven people working on our account, adding to the project in a variety of different ways. And they've done a tremendous job with maximizing the opportunities in shopping.

How did you come to work with Metric Theory?

Our company is part of a larger group, so I have colleagues frankly around the world working on similar projects. It was natural to reach out to that network and explain my situation. Because of our recent growth, we were ready to move to a next-level service provider.

I reached out to a couple of folks in the United States, and Metric Theory was the name that surfaced. One of our sister brands has been working with them for a long time. So, we were able to get a solid recommendation on Metric Theory ahead of time, which really kicked the whole thing off.

How much have you invested with them?

We started with a budget of about $2,000,000 in year one. Year two will be about $3,500,000. We're just experiencing such a solid return on ad spend that meets our strategic goals. We've formed a strong partnership that's working incredibly well, producing a clear return on investment.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2018, and our collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We're most concerned with the types of users interacting with our brand. A lot of focus is on branded terms, acquisition, and customer retention. So, we're a little less interested in impressions and more focused on users. We're also looking for a strong return on investment through both search and social. Over time, we started investing more of our budget in social media marketing, which is a testament to how effective Metric Theory is in that area. 

In our most competitive paid media season, we're seeing search ROAS between 4.5x–9x and social ROAS at almost 4x. It's incredible. We have a strong, compelling brand, so that's helpful. However, their work has been critical to hitting these numbers.

We're seeing 20%–25% growth year over year and strong conversions as a result. Lately, we've been pushing our upper-end of investments in ad spend because we're seeing such strong returns with them.

How did Metric Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a solid project management structure. First of all, they have dedicated teams that are focused on our account at all times. We have 24/7 access to analytics dashboards. They're also really involved in our business, able to reach into our Jira workflows to obtain whatever assets they need. In that respect, they've become part of our business. 

We have bi-weekly calls to make sure that the data is consistent and accurate, ensuring that we understand the effectiveness of channels. They're deeply invested in us, and we have consistent communication with them. So, it's very smooth.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're truly a national brand, so they have a strong presence and significant workforce across the country. That brings us closer to our target markets. They're not too heavily focused on one demographic or region. Their diverse knowledge of the market enriches our partnership.

They work directly with Google and with Facebook to make sure that they're able to stay on top of the changing market. That gives us confidence that we can manage and monitor our accounts as the market changes. The geographical diversity and their strong links to the media providers are really important parts of what Metric Theory does.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We've been very satisfied with these guys. I can't really think of anything that I would describe as a shortcoming right now for Metric Theory. These guys have really delivered. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Your partner will work better with you if they're more integrated into your operations. We made the decision to include them in our meetings and discussions from the start. Our team also makes sure to respond to and listen to the data they're bringing into the conversation. We strategically brought a very smart group of people to the table, so it was critical to foster a close relationship to get the most out of the partnership.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner and founder at Dissent Pins, an online retail company. We sell enamel pins, jewelry, stickers, and patches.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Metric Theory?

Our Facebook ads stopped being effective this past year. We spent several months trying to solve the problem with another firm, but we couldn’t make our ads profitable. We ended up hiring Metric Theory in the summer of 2019.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve created all paid campaigns, providing the content, but receiving feedback from me. I have weekly calls with Tia (Account Manager – Paid Social, Metric Theory), where she walks me through what they’re testing with new audiences. They also give me feedback on how we can improve our site. While we go back and forth with the content, Tia does a majority of the copywriting.

What is the team composition?

I work closely with Tia and Noah (Account Director, Metric Theory).

How did you come to work with Metric Theory?

I interviewed four or five different firms but chose Metric Theory for a few reasons. Since we were having trouble getting attention from Facebook, I wanted a company that was big enough to have a representative in place that we could regularly be in contact with. I was also looking for a company that would do whatever work they needed to and figures out what would work for us.

For every company, I interviewed and had long conversations with their clients. I had the most confidence going forward with Metric Theory.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, I would say we’ve invested between $50,000–$100,000. We spend between $5,000–$10,000 each month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Metric Theory in June 2019, and we’ve signed on with them through April of next year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We were in a bad place when we started, but we set goals from the beginning that we reached when we expected to. We’ve made steady improvements when it comes to Facebook. Our ROI started within the .9–1 range. We reached 1.5, which was the goal, within a few months. In the last couple of months, the ROI has been closer to 2.1.

The team at Metric Theory continues delivering an excellent performance. We recently resigned for another six months based on their work in the first four. I expect this to be a continuing relationship. Tia is great at finding the right formula when it comes to testing. She knows what isn’t working and ramps up on the tests that are doing well.

How did Metric Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team consistently meets deadlines. Their communication is a high point with me. They’re extremely clear and proactive. Tia remains calm, even when we have issues with Facebook, which can be a challenge. I appreciate that approach a lot. Noah sometimes jumps on the calls with Tia.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m happy with them. We’ve been pretty demanding of what we want them to do, but they’ve continued to be a great partner to us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing, in particular, I wish they’ve done differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I believe every company’s needs are unique. Since we’re a small company, we lack a few resources. We needed a team that could take the material we had and run with it. Metric Theory has done an excellent job. For the amount of money we spend on Facebook and our revenue, they’ve been able to help us figure out how to do a lot with a little.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We sell thermometers in the food industry. I assist with day-to-day digital marketing activities, including strategy, email, SEM, social and overall e-commerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Metric Theory?

We started with SEM and added paid social in the last year.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to meet a specific ROAS over time.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I was not involved in the process, but from what I understand, someone on our side had a personal connection internally with someone at Metric Theory.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They did SEM and paid social as an extension of our team.

What was the team composition?

We had an account manager for SEM and an account manager for paid social. I believe there are multiple hands in the account, but our account manager does a great job of owning her role.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We've been able to capitalize on a ton of revenue we missed out on. It’s so valuable to have someone who is working with multiple industries to give some insight on tweaks we can make. While I can't share specific numbers, we were getting a 10-to-1 overall ROAS. They've done a great job.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

They are great at communicating and, at times, overcommunicating. We’ve established a really effective workflow with them, and our weekly calls are always insightful.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I find it impressive how they take our concerns seriously. They want to answer our questions and they are willing to tell us when they don’t know something. They research those questions and get back to us.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would say we are getting to a point where it feels like we have maxed out on the return and now need to optimize better. I’m ready to refresh our campaigns in order to continue testing different ways of product promotion.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of growth marketing at Periscope Data. We are a business intelligence tool specializing in data visualization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Metric Theory?

When I was hired in September 2018, I decided that our incumbent digital agency was not providing the desired results. Our CPL (cost per lead) was too high, and we received low-quality leads that were not converting down the funnel.

We hired Metric Theory to manage our substantial budget for paid digital advertising. We wanted to spend our money more efficiently and find more qualified leads.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Metric Theory coordinated an overhaul of how our Google Ads were arranged. They also created new target audiences and standardized how we tracked our campaign effectiveness. Our reporting structure is more refined now, and we have a clearer path for how we map our customer journeys.

We rely on Metric Theory to manage our paid advertising presence on the Google Display Network, which includes display ads and search marketing. They also run our paid social media marketing (SMM) on LinkedIn and Facebook. Further, we are breaking into paid advertising on Bing and Reddit. We’ve introduced targeted ads because we hadn’t done those before. Metric Theory conducts A/B testing for certain ads, and I take those results to our creative team to help drive new versions when necessary.

We’ve recently converted to a marketing-qualified lead (MQL) model as opposed to a raw leads number goal. We’re a startup, and our strategy changes a lot, so everybody has to be nimble. When we made that change, Metric Theory didn’t flinch. They pivoted quickly with us, and they reorganized all of our programs to maximize the most efficient CPL.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with several members of their team in various capacities. Geneva (Senior Manager of Digital Strategy, Metric Theory) serves as our primary account lead. Zach (Senior Account Manager, Metric Theory) is our SEM channel manager, and Jeff (Account Manager, Metric Theory) handles our social channels. They've also assigned a number of support analysts across social and search channels. Finally, Brittany (Senior Director of Account Services) is our executive sponsor.

How did you come to work with Metric Theory?

Once I assumed my position, a colleague and I found Metric Theory through an online search and a vetting process of their reviews. We considered two other agencies, but it was clear through our research that Metric Theory was widely regarded as the top firm. During our interview with their team, we learned that we would have an expert assigned to each digital channel. We preferred that over scenarios offered by other vendors, which seemed to have jacks of all trades running the campaigns. Given how much money we were spending, we wanted a specialist in charge of each pipeline.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $20,000–$25,000 per month on their agency fee. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in October 2018 and remains ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Our channel efficiency has increased, and we’re spending our money smarter. We are much more sophisticated in the full customer journey that we’ve created in our paid advertising. For example, we were previously spending a lot of money on a display ad for a free trial offer. That ad received a lot of clicks, but it was mostly spam leads that didn’t convert. With Metric Theory, we’ve shifted most of that spend and put it into channels that we’ve identified as more profitable, such as paid search.

How did Metric Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

We have an hour-long call each week, and they send a detailed agenda before that meeting. It always runs smoothly, and they’re quick to reply to any thoughts we send their way afterward. I’ve never had a single issue.

They came to our office in January 2019 for a two-hour in-person meeting where they presented on what we’ve been doing, how we’ve changed, and how they see us growing in the future. They’re an inspiring team, they have great ideas, and they’re experts at what they do.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate that everyone is an expert in their own lane, but they can all see the bigger picture together. And they're very good at communicating that to me. Rarely do I understand the methods of paid ad agencies, but they explain all of the technical things in a very approachable way.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it’s been such a dream to have them. I would love more in-person meetings, but they’re not local, so I understand why we can’t do that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Due to our company’s Salesforce restrictions, I can't give Metric Theory access to our system. I have to pull a report each week, but it’s not live data. I think Metric Theory would be even more valuable if I, or a prospective client, could give them access to Salesforce or their chosen reporting tool. That way, Metric Theory’s team can manipulate the data in real time and make changes on the fly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior director of marketing at One Park Financial. We provide funding for small businesses and help them connect with funders across the United States.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Metric Theory?

In my role, I needed to build a team to handle our digital marketing strategy, particularly PPC. I knew I wasn't going to be able to find talent to bring in-house initially, so I reached out to Metric Theory.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their objective was to take control of our existing PPC program and scale it into higher spend. They did a good job of restructuring our campaigns and getting us to a healthy level.

What is the team composition?

We worked exclusively with Joel (Director of Account Services, Metric Theory).

How did you come to work with Metric Theory?

I was familiar with Metric Theory from when I worked at a different company. We had productive conversations at that time, but we never got to work together. I reopened the discussion once I assumed my current role. They set themselves apart from other agencies I had been vetting by doing a tremendous amount of research on our company and industry. By the time we got started, they were already well-informed about our process.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July–December 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They managed to grow our spend twofold while maintaining profitability. Joel did an impressive job of finding opportunities we had not yet explored. We scaled our spend very efficiently, and we scaled our business, in large part because of the spend they were managing.

How did Metric Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

Joel was incredible. We communicated every day through Slack, and we had a weekly phone call to discuss our reports. He was pretty immersed in our business. If it hadn’t been for Joel, I wouldn’t have a lot to say about Metric Theory. Joel made the difference.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The real-time customer service was very advantageous. If we needed changes in the morning or late at night, Joel would be there. He felt more like an employee as opposed to an external vendor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were lucky to have Joel, but I think he could have benefitted from having more resources on his end. He handled a lot of work by himself.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest about the way you wish to work. We had that conversation early, and they assigned the proper account manager. I wouldn’t call myself an easy client, and I couldn’t be happier with the service we received.   

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief growth officer for a sports group management app.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Metric Theory?

Many people are used to organizing their sports organization through email, so one of our biggest initial challenges was getting the word out about the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They do all the media buying and paid advertising strategy for us. We don't have someone internally on the team managing advertising, so we rely heavily on Metric Theory. They do everything from helping us figure out our ad strategy to monitoring the return on ad spend.

The biggest thing we've done with them is the analytics. We have a complex business: we have both B2B and B2C, and we have many crossover campaigns to reach both groups of customers. There’s a long conversion cycle, so it takes time to determine the value of each customer, but we always recalculate return on ad spend at a keyword or ad campaign level. Metric Theory did a lot of work to determine that calculation for us, so now we can better simultaneously target our B2B and B2C customers.

What is the team composition?

On our team, we have an Apple search expert, a YouTube expert, a Facebook expert, and our project manager, who does most of the Google and Bing work himself.

How did you come to work with Metric Theory?

We'd been working with a firm that had been recommended to us, and really liked working with the team there. When they left to start their own firm, we migrated to their new company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2016, but we added paid social in January 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Paid advertising allows us to initiate a viral cycle, and Metric’s work has significantly improved our performance. Year-over-year, we’ve seen a 300% increase in B2B leads, a 193% increase in direct YouTube B2B leads, and an 84% increase in AdWords mobile conversions.

How did Metric Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

Our account manager is superb; he does a nice job organizing people and our initiatives across our various channels. We have a real-time return on ad spend analytics with Facebook and Google to stay updated on metrics, and biweekly calls to discuss strategy and project overview.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have a very complex analytics requirement and I know other agencies wouldn't invest the amount of time Metric does. They approach our analytics needs proactively, exemplifying their willingness to partner with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It can be difficult to provide the variety and quality of work we need without specializing in a particular area. Metric does a nice job of covering our paid social, and on search they go very deep, but that's the challenge of having a broad agency that covers lots of categories-- it's impossible to specialize in everything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I've found the most important thing is to figure out at the outset of the project how you're going to measure success. If I were to start this again, I would choose to invest the time up front to figure out tracking, how to interpret metrics, and how to decide which campaigns work well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the senior director of digital marketing and marketing operations at a field service management software company. We sell solutions to help companies create revenue from their service organizations and optimize their field technicians to be more efficient. We operate primarily off of inbound leads. A good portion of our business comes from marketing and a good portion of our marketing pipeline comes from our website and online advertising.

My team is responsible for all online demand generation. This includes customer marketing strategy emails and customer support as well as operations, which involves routing scoring performance reports for the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Metric Theory?

With Metric Theory, we have been building out our long tail keyword campaigns. Historically, we bid on-brand and on some core product capabilities. We had very limited exposure, and only in North America. Metric Theory helped expand our list of keywords in North America and in several other languages around the world: French, Spanish, Italian, German, and British English. In those regions, we've also expanded into industry keywords because we're now part of GE. GE sells into eight major industries that we're now selling into by proxy.

Finally, we’re working with Metric Theory on getting higher-quality leads. We moved upmarket at the end of 2015 and no longer sell to small businesses. We've been actively working on adjusting the messaging on the landing pages, copy, keywords, and negatives to highlight the fact that we only sell to enterprises and not small business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Metric Theory focuses on paid search, so they've been doing a great deal of keyword research. We take our learnings from paid search and apply them to organic searches to see where the quality traffic is coming from and what we should be ranking for. Their work is focused on SEM, display remarketing, and YouTube. We're also branching into LinkedIn and other social advertising as well.

What is the team dynamic? 

They're like an extension of our team as opposed to an agency that you meet with once a week and don't hear from again.

How did you come to work with Metric Theory?

I worked with Metric Theory at my previous company from 2014 onward. They were a smaller company then. We loved their focus on data analysis and digging into the numbers.

When I started in my current position, We were working with an agency that didn't have the same search marketing philosophy as me. We were spending a lot of money on LinkedIn - too much, I thought - and not very much on Google. We couldn't come to a consensus on how to make things work. So I brought in Metric Theory and they evaluated our account.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Metric Theory made improvements right away. They found a lot of areas to optimize and they had a good plan for how we could expand accounting and make it international, which everybody on the team loved. 

We're seeing an improved percentage of traffic coming from online advertising. The sourced pipeline is the one that everybody looks at. If the website is our number one source for the pipeline, other kinds are number two or three, which it's never been before. We have 15 different lead sources, and it used to hover around 8 or 9.

In June, they ran an analysis and told us that 6 out of 10 web conversions originated from search engines. Whether or not they directly registered with an advertisement, they came back and they registered on the website, so the website is seeing a lift as well. That's what we were hoping, but it's a leap of faith when you expand the keywords as much as we have this year.

In addition, we've seen increased leads and high-quality leads, or HQLs. 

How did Metric Theory perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a weekly standing meeting with the team where we communicate what’s happening and what we are seeing in terms of conversions. We also look at Salesforce data and see how things trickle down into high-quality leads and opportunities. If something's broken or doesn't look right and they're seeing a drop or a spike, they let us know within the day, either by calling or e-mailing us. Instead of just cost-per-lead or cost-per-click, we're looking at cost per-high-quality lead or cost-per-opportunity. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their focus on data. Some agencies share the number of conversions and cost-per-click on a weekly basis, but don't tell you how competitors are doing week by week.

Metric Theory digs into the data and comes up with great analyses. It feels like they're only focused on our accounting. They're constantly coming up with ideas for new keywords and new campaigns as if they were looking at our website every day and trying to figure out what we could be ranking for but aren't. I haven't seen this constant focus and analysis from other agencies. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were happy we made the jump over to Metric Theory and don't have any plans to change. We're even talking about expanding into some of the paid social channels.