You’ve invested some money in your PPC campaign and that’s great. It’s awesome that you’ve recognized the advantages of this marketing strategy since it can be extremely effective.

However, that’s just the start. You need to know if your PPC campaign is actually working or not since your ROI (return on investment) depends on it.

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1.     But wait… What is a successful PPC campaign?

I’m glad you’ve asked. Well, it depends on what your goal was in the first place. For example, if conversions found via PPC ads resulted in the bigger profit, and that’s what you’ve wanted, then the campaign worked.

Or, if you were set on spreading brand awareness, look at the number of clicks. At last, if your goal was to get more people on your website, analyse your website metrics.

Either way, if your landing page is no good, your PPC campaign simply won’t work.

Imagine: you want to expand your business and open up a restaurant in Chicago. You could hire a company doing web development in Chicago to make the best landing page for your PPC campaign. That way, when people click on it, they will be immediately drawn to your restaurant.

But don’t forget that these things take time. Although a PPC campaign works quicker than SEO, you still need to be patient when it comes to results.

Now, let’s get to the chase and see how you can measure the success of your campaign and maximize your investment.

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2.     The number of clicks and impressions.

Ask yourself if your landing page is getting enough clicks and impressions. Of course, that number will depend on your budget, but you should still keep track of it. If you notice that you’re not getting clicks and impressions, consider adding more keywords. That way, more people will be able to find you.

3.     What is your CTR?

CTR refers to the clickthrough rate. It is calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of people that have seen your ad (impressions). Aside from the obvious, there is another reason why CTR is important.

Google uses CTR to determine the quality score. CTR is different for every industry, which is why you should do your research before you make any conclusions.

4.     And what about your quality score?

Google defines quality score as a “diagnostic tool meant to give you a sense of how well your ad quality compares to other advertisers.” You can calculate it by taking into account the following three components:

• Expected CTR
• Ad relevance
• Landing page experience.

Ad relevance shows if your keywords match your ads, while the landing page experience determines “the quality of the experience that a customer has while they are on your website”.

You should make sure to maximize your quality score if you want to achieve the full effect of the PPC campaign.

5.     Is your ad in the top 3 positions on the page?

I’m pretty sure you’ve heard the joke: the best place to hide a dead body is page 2 of Google. Trust me, there’s a grain of truth in every joke, so do something.

Not being in the top 3 positions can affect your CTR. To fix this problem and get a better CTR, increase your bids.

6.     Work on your conversion rate.

Conversion rate tells you how many people that clicked actually converted. You can check the number of conversions by using the “conversion tracker” in Google Ads and see how well your campaign is doing. Obviously, the conversion rate should be as high as possible.

7.     Watch out for your bounce rate.

Bounce rate represents the percentage of people that click on the landing page but then leave without converting or seeing the rest of the website.

Now, a high bounce rate doesn’t necessarily mean that your campaign has gone south. But, if the success of your campaign depends on users viewing more than the landing page, it’s not good. In that case, the problem could be in the keywords you’re using. Changing them might help.

Also, check out your landing page because sometimes the landing page is simply not “attractive” enough to make the users convert.

8.     Don’t forget about assisted conversions.

A lot of people forget about the importance of checking the number of their assisted conversions. Assisted conversions report in Google ads points to “the number of conversions your advertising assisted.” Let me give you an example. Imagine someone wanting to buy a new TV. Your ad pops up, and the user clicks to check out your offer. He saves the link to the landing page in his bookmarks and then leaves your website to see what else is out there. After some time, he comes back to your website to buy the TV he initially saw.

In our example, the first click wasn’t the one that made the user convert, but the second. The number of the first clicks that later on resulted in conversion are called assisted conversions. So, before you decide that your campaign failed based solely on the number of conversions, check out the number of assisted conversions.

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9.     What is the average session duration?

Average session duration can tell a lot. First, see if the average session duration for those that come to your website by PPC is lower or higher than the entire average session duration.

Usually, 2-3 minutes is considered to be a good average session duration.

Note that loner session duration indicates more engagement, which is something you should be aiming for.

10.     How are your sales doing?

In the end, it all comes down to the number of sales. Compare the number of sales before the PPC campaign and after. If the sales have not increased, then something must be wrong with either the campaign or the website.

However, that’s not all. You need to have an ROI because otherwise, you’re just spending more and more without earning enough to cover the expenses. If you notice that ROI is not high enough, try adjusting your campaign a bit.

11.     Conduct A/B tests.

Doing A/B testing will help you optimize your campaign. Your headlines should be catchy and concise and the body text on the page should lead the user to the desired outcome. Of course, the right keywords are extremely important as well.

By doing this, you will increase your quality score and attract more customers to your landing page.

12.     Cost per acquisition (CPA).

While conversion rate and clickthrough rate matter, the story doesn’t end there. It’s important to get the idea about the bigger picture, which is what cost per acquisition does.

Cost per acquisition tells you what the total cost of acquiring a new customer is. There is a difference between CPA and CPC because CPC is just the cost of the click while CPA is more than that.

When you decide to make a campaign, you invest some time in it. You hire people to search for the best keywords for your campaign. You might even invest in web design to get your site to look better. So, suddenly you’ll notice that the PPC campaign costs a bit more than you’ve initially thought.

Conclusion: calculate your CPA to know how much you’re actually spending.

13.       Lifetime value (LTV)

Customer lifetime value shows how much you’re earning from an average customer during your entire business relationship. You may be wondering how LTV comes into play when talking about PPC. Well, isn’t your goal to keep those new customers that you acquire by PPC campaign? A good PPC campaign is one that increases customer LTV.

Now, you have to keep in mind that seeing changes in LTV takes some time. You won’t be able to see how your PPC affected customer LTV so quickly, but that doesn’t mean that you should analyze it.

14.     What if I realize that the campaign is failing?

It’s rare to see a professional PPC management company fail at a campaign, but it still happens. So, how do you fix it?

Well, if you notice that you’re not getting enough profit from the campaign, think about your target audience. Sometimes the lack of profit comes from mistargeting the users. If that is the case, do more research on the appropriate keywords. It’s also helpful to check metrics on target markets.

There is also one more pretty common problem, and it’s called “wasted spend.” Wasted spend refers to the number of users that click on your ad but then leave and don’t convert. If you notice this happening, try reviewing your keywords. What once worked doesn’t mean it still does.

15.     My PPC campaign is working. Do I need to stop it at some point?

If your PPC campaign is doing well, you don’t have to stop it at all. However, that is entirely up to you. If you stop getting the results at any point, you can quit the campaign and find another way to achieve your goal.

Author Bio:

Travis Dillard is a business consultant and an organizational psychologist based in Arlington, Texas. Passionate about marketing, social networks, and business in general. In his spare time, he writes a lot about new business strategies and digital marketing for DigitalStrategyOne.