CPC Strategy

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We’re an e-commerce company. We’ve been around since 2002.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the director of IT [information technology] and marketing, so I’m in charge of everything marketing for the e-commerce and everything IT related.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with CPC Strategy?

They manage all of our comparison shopping engines as well as our PLAs [product listing ads]. They’ve been a strong partner for us giving exposure to our online store as well as of our product catalog.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

We send them a product catalog and they manage bids for all of our products. They’re very helpful when we have questions on SEO [search engine optimization] or other related things.

What was your process for selecting CPC Strategy with which to work?

I wasn’t involved in that. We’ve been with them since 2009.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was from $50,000 to $200,000

When was the work completed?

It’s ongoing work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

They drove more than 3,000 sales for us last year. It’s a substantial amount of traffic and revenue that they drive for us.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

They bring in a lot of business for us. We absolutely love working with them. They bring in expertise to an area where we really don’t have any. They can leverage their knowledge being this is their primary business. They get deals for us that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do. 

Is there anything unique or special about CPC Strategy that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?

We expect an answer now. We don’t want to wait when we have questions. They’re always extremely responsive. I feel like they’re always available. It’s almost like they are in the office with us. That is hugely important to us. We are very seasonal, so if the weather changes, we need to add comments quickly. They’re always open and transparent with us. 

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

Trust them. They know what they’re doing. They have a ton of experience. They’ve got a proven track record. I would listen to their advice.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

We really don’t have any complaints. We love the work that they do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We produce binding equipment.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m vice president of marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with CPC Strategy?

We used them for shopping engines as well as big PLAs [product listing ads].

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They do all of my PLA feeds. They also do custom feeds like strands and some of the retargeting feeds for me. They do feed management, feed generation, and feed optimization as well as the actual bit management and engine management for all of the major shopping engines.

What was your process for selecting CPC Strategy with which to work?

I’ve been here 12 years and we’ve gone different directions with it through the years. I used to do a lot of the feed work myself. CPC Strategy came along and showed me they could save me more money than it would cost me every month the first month in order to pay for their services. 

That’s how I got started with them. At one point when PLAs became a paid thing, I moved my PLA business away from CPC Strategy and gave it to my text ad management company. They did a crappy job with it, and I felt like it could be better. I gave it back to CPC Strategy, and they managed to double my business and cut my costs.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was around $200,000 per year

When was the work completed?

We’ve been with them two and a half years. It’s ongoing work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

I look at return on ad spend. I look at how it is performing versus paid text ads. I’m looking at the number of transactions on a weekly basis. I look on an ROI [return on investment] basis and on a volume basis. I have metrics set up in ranges that I’m looking at. It varies from week to week. Some of the channels fluctuate wildly. 

Google is consistent but Shopping.com can be crazy in terms of variance. We’re looking at what the overall ROI is for the channel, and they gave me a week-to-week report that shows me the number of transactions, the amount of spend, and the ROI on all the different channels. I can make sure I don’t have any major problems with a single channel and that my overall campaign goals are being met. I’m not in my accounts hardly ever. I’m looking at the big picture from them. 

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Yes. They perform well overall.

Is there anything unique or special about CPC Strategy that really makes them stand out compared to other business partners?

I get good attention from pretty high up people inside the organization. I don’t know how that compares. I know the founder and the co-founder is my account manager. Even though they’ve gotten to be a fairly big company, I feel like I get good service from the people who have a vested interest in making things happen. 

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

Make sure your analytics are really solid, that you understand your attribution and that you know exactly how to count wins and losses because they can try to achieve for you what you want, but you need to be able to measure and show them what you want. Don’t be afraid to push them for volume. One thing I’ve heard from them is that they’re always trying to measure to what metrics you want. Sometimes, there’s volume left on the table doing that. Remember that they are going to try to be conservative to hit your goals. You need to push them to be more aggressive. 

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or that you might do differently?

There have been a couple of mistakes during the last couple of years. We run promotional campaigns on PLAs, and it expired once. I saw the impact on my business right away. That’s my only negative. There’s been two or three of those mistakes during the past two years.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

The company is a furniture company with brick-and-mortar stores as well as an online store. We have 12 locations. The business has been around for 60 years, and has been online for the last seven years.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the director of e-commerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with CPC Strategy?

They have provided all digital marketing soup to nuts – everything we need.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They manage our shopping engines like Google shopping. They also manage a lot of our cost-per-click campaigns, like Google and Bing campaigns as well as remarketing efforts and video ads through YouTube. They don’t do blogging or social media as we have a team in-house that does all that.

What was your process for selecting CPC Strategy with which to work?

They were referred to me by a peer in the e-commerce business. He highly recommended them. I wasn’t happy with who I was using for my shopping feeds, so I figured I’d give them a try, and they turned out to be great.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

It was more than $1 million.

What is the status of the project?

We’ve been working with them for seven years, and we don’t have any plans to stop.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics, metrics, or general feedback from the project?

I’ve been doing e-commerce for 20 years, and they are hands-down the best agency I’ve ever worked with. They know what they’re doing. They’re Google certified, and they have a good business and good people.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They always get me the ROI [return on investment] that I want, and they keep my spend on budget. They’re just good at what they do, and they communicate well. I can contact them easily by phone, text, or instant messaging. CPC Strategy uses all of the standard automated systems, but they also add in that human element. They actually have a human touch on campaigns. If I call, my guy answers the phone. If I email him, he emails me back. I can get in touch with him easily, and I love that. That’s hard to find. I’ve visited their office a couple times, and it’s a good environment. They’re friendly people, and they’re hungry. They stay up to date with the latest trends.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

One thing I wish they had is a dashboard I could log into and see the different things I’m doing with them. I think that would be cool for reporting mechanisms. That’s just a minor thing, but they do provide robust reporting on whatever intervals I want.

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

Communicate with them as much as possible about what you want, what metrics you’re trying to get. Communicate a lot, and you’ll get your results.