Docklin Digital

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a multi-channel pharmacy with both brick-and-mortar and Ecommerce stores. I’m in charge of traffic acquisition and digital sales through multiple traffic channels, including SEM, SEO, and Affiliate Social. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Docklin Digital?

The overall and biggest challenge was to accelerate the revenue growth from the SEM channel and at the same time meet our ROAS goals. The secondary and indirect challenges were to maximize the potential of mobile traffic, Google Shopping, and multichannel sales (both digital and offline sales in physical pharmacies).

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Docklin has complete ownership of every aspect of the SEM channel. Everything from creating the strategy and coming up with solutions to tracking and reporting. We communicate daily, and have weekly check-ins, monthly meetings, and quarterly business reviews. We set the quarterly goals but Docklin has full mandate to do whatever they think is necessary to meet these goals. 

Docklin implemented a number of solutions to help us accelerate the revenue growth from SEM and at the same time meet our ROAS goals: 

In Q4 2017, Docklin implemented a new structure for Google Shopping that they built themselves as a part of their tech stack. It’s a rather complicated structure, involving more than 15 scripts. But in short, they use a combination of scripts, campaign priorities and negative keyword sculpturing.

Between December 2016 and April 2017, Docklin rebuilt our campaign structure for SEM. Previously, we had many large ad groups with multiple keywords which made relevance between keyword, ad copy, and landing page a challenge. We also didn’t have a thorough strategy regarding match types and keyword sculpturing. Docklin corrected this and implemented a new strategy, which included an automated approach to negative and positive search term optimization.

Finally, since we are a multi-channel player, it’s important that we not only use the SEM channel in order to maximize online sales but also sales in our physical pharmacies. Docklin has helped us with this and boosted offline sales from SEM. Their solution was to incorporate Google’s tracking of “Store Visits” to our conversion mix and apply automated bidding which looks at conversions both on and offline. 

What is the team composition?

The team at Docklin includes our team lead (an ex-Googler), one SEM account manager and one person who is in charge of creating custom scripts and technical tracking implementations. 

How did you come to work with Docklin Digital?

My predecessor used to work at an agency where she was in close contact with our current team lead at Docklin. Since my predecessor was working at an agency, she knew every “trick in the book,” and found that Docklin was the best agency out there. They take an ambitious approach to SEM, invest in SEM tech, and work closely with us in order to maximize results.

We liked Docklin’s operational focus and ideas in regards to the following challenges: automation and tech solutions to some important but repetitive SEM tasks such as keyword mining, bidding, AB-test of ads etc.; maximizing mobile revenue; Google Shopping; and combining SEM with sales in physical pharmacies.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2016 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Between January 10 and May 14, revenue from Google Shopping has increased by 45% and ROAS has increased by 92% compared to the previous period (September 7-January 9). It’s important to keep in mind that the reference period here is Q4 2017 which is our strongest quarter, because of Black Weekend. Still, Google Shopping has increased this much. 

In 2017 offline revenue increased by 84% compared to 2016 and in my opinion, it’s very much due to Docklin's multichannel strategy, incorporating offline conversions into our attribution model and applying automated bidding. 

Finally, the new campaign structure has had the biggest impact for us as a company and a major driver for our overall growth.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

We share several collaborative sheets on Google drive. Reporting and dashboard management has been completely automated through Google Data Studio. Docklin has also managed to upload cost data from non-Google traffic sources to Google Analytics which makes the dashboards in Google Data Studio very rich and comprehensive.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're data and tech-driven approach to SEM in combination with how closely they work with us. They are always available, answer quickly, and manage to maintain a very proactive approach. Very often, they propose a solution to problems or issues that internally, we didn't notice. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I must say that I’m extremely happy with our collaboration and can’t think of any clear areas of improvement. Usually, with suppliers, proactivity becomes a problem. However, this has not been the case at all with Docklin.

Any advice for potential customers?

It's important to work closely with Docklin and share as much data as possible so their team can leverage that data to boost SEM.