Search & Gather

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

The success of the collaboration depends on the metrics that I’m accountable to, namely click-through rates, conversion rates, and CPA, and this is also how I measure Search & Gather.

They were very thoughtful in terms of structuring the accounts, particularly Facebook Ads. They were looking at the numbers on a daily basis, sometimes multiple times per day, and working to optimize our messages and improve our click-through rate. Ultimately, that drove our CPA down.

How did Search & Gather perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re amazing. I personally love Amanda. She’s always open to communicate and collaborate. They always meet their deadlines, worked late, and went above and beyond to meet some tight schedules. They’ve done a magnificent job. We have weekly meetings via Google Hangouts, and we chat almost daily via Slack. I have a Slack channel just for them.  They give me weekly and monthly reports.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s their passion for making this project successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can always improve their creative asset design. Search & Gather has an amazing performance marketing team, and they know their marketing channels well from a technical standpoint, but they could improve the graphic design aspect of things. I’ve personally seen an improvement here over the past 14 months, but there’s still more room for improvement.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to have weekly meetings and to leverage a communication platform that gives them easy accessibility.

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

They focus on hitting our ROAS (return on ad spend) and revenue goals.  Their team’s transparent about campaign outcomes, which makes the relationship strong. We have also received a ton of great feedback on the brochure.

How did Search & Gather perform from a project management standpoint?

They set up accounts that provide me with full insights into the backend of social + search ads. Their team also gives weekly high-level reports. They’re very responsive in their communications. If their team needs to look into a question, they will tell us an appropriate timeframe of when they’ll get back to us. They don’t avoid any questions. Search & Gather's also proactive about trying new strategies and making recommendations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been working with the same team members since the beginning of our relationship with Search & Gather, which has been great.

They’re ready for anything. Their team takes on projects based on what they think will be best for us. They’re with us every step of the way in terms of our growth. Their insights into digital marketing trends are very helpful. I can’t say enough good things about working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t say there’s anything for them to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them like a partner. Give them as much information as possible. Be direct about the results you want, and they’ll readily answer them with a plan.

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

Search & Gather essentially makes each project easier. Whereas before we might’ve struggled to hit our targets using the sources we had, they’ve helped us to meet our targets quicker. Their team also helps us to reduce costs.

How did Search & Gather perform from a project management standpoint?

Search & Gather leans into an iterative approach in managing a project. Their team’s thoughtful along the way. They don’t come to the table and push a standard approach.

They’re responsive and keep to deadlines. Their team’s rational in their recommendations for spending our budget. They help us to best spend our budget on targeting an audience.

They’re true partners, so we don’t see them as a vendor. It’s easy and enjoyable to work with their team. Search & Gather goes the extra step on almost every project with us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their work ethic stands out to us. They also care about doing good work. It’s hard to find people who are passionate like them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing stands out. For an agency like them, it’s important to stay up to date on the latest methods, which they do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

First and foremost, give them a try. I understand that new approaches can be difficult to sell to clients, but I advise you to give them a try at least once.

This isn't an issue with them but be clear with your expectations. Be as detailed as possible because the more details you give them, the more creative they can be in their process.

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

Because our product is niche, our cost per lead is relatively high compared to other targets in the market that we’re targeting. That being said, within the first month, Search & Gather was able to cut down our Facebook cost per lead by more than 50%. When we added Google Ads, we saw dramatic improvements there as well. 

Even with other projects, like with the call scheduling on the landing page, they’ve been able to improve our connection rate from 25% to 35%. We’ve also seen a significant improvement in the quality of the leads, which means that the higher volume is translating into a positive impact on our business. With our previous agency, we were paying double and getting probably half the value.

How did Search & Gather perform from a project management standpoint?

Search & Gather works as hard as we do, seemingly at all hours of the day. They’re always willing to jump on a call to clarify, and they have a holistic view of the lead generation process. 

Our previous agency just managed our budget and ad spend; they relied on us to develop creative and handle our Salesforce backend. We also had to create and manage our own landing pages. Having Search & Gather has been a huge improvement from that. They’ve been able to integrate everything well through Salesforce, often pulling reports to show us the results of their testing.

We use email to stay in contact, and I always get a response right away, no matter the time. We have a weekly meeting cadence, and usually at least one additional call per week. Search & Gather is always willing to go above and beyond, much more so than our previous provider. For example, right now, have our project manager Amanda working with our chatbot provider to fill in gaps from a technical perspective. We would’ve never gotten that from our other agency.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very aware that our next challenge will be improving lead quality, and they’re constantly coming up with experiments and recommendations. Their ability to move quickly and solve problems has been extremely beneficial. Most other agencies don’t have that kind of proactive, dedicated approach.

I love the fact that I can offload core responsibilities to their team because it frees me up to do more strategic work. For example, I used to handle all of our manual reporting myself, and I found myself always updating our previous provider about A/B test results and landing page edits. We faced a ton of incongruencies because it was so hard to keep everyone aligned with the overall strategy.

With Search & Gather, I don’t have to worry about any of that. They do creative work in-house, they A/B test their copy, they test their landing pages, and they’re always optimizing towards our sales goals. I save so much time by working with them, and they move even quicker than I anticipated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve only worked with one other agency, so it’s hard to compare, but I think they could benefit from understanding our backend and our organic rankings as well. Granted, we only hired them to do paid ads, but organic leads are a part of that overall strategy. That’s just a suggestion though; I have no complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take advantage of how hard they work. Search & Gather has the capacity to give you high returns within a short timeline. Let them handled the basics, and you’ll be freed up to work on strategy. If you trust them and give them a clear direction, they’ll deliver excellent work for you.