Christi is the Search Evangelist at Microsoft in Seattle, Washington. Christi is passionate about digital and has spent her career helping businesses solve their marketing challenges and goals through studying and analyzing data to develop actionable insights and strategies.Prior to joining the team at BingAds within Microsoft, Christi has worked both at agencies and in-house at Point It, PointMarc, Expedia, Harry & David, and at MSN, Bing, Windows teams at Microsoft.
4. EVOLUTION OF PAID SEARCH TARGETING
Keywords
Geographic
Day Parting
Device
Demographic
DSA
RLSA
Similar / Lookalike
Customer Match
RLSA for Shopping
In-Market Audiences
Custom Audiences
SOPHISTICATIO
N
Basic
Advanced
7. THE BASICS: TRACKING TAGGING
BING’S UET & GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Implementation:
Bing Unified Event
Tracking (UET) &
Google Analytics
Don’t have Google
Analytics? Use the
AdWords Remarketing
Tag
10. THE BASICS: BID ONLY vs TARGET & BID
BID ONLY
• Testing & Learning on Audiences
• Increase bids to reach a specific Audience
BID &
TARGET
• Matching audiences w/keywords, messages and content
• Matching and optimizing audiences to different goals
11. THE BASICS: DECIDING BETWEEN BID ONLY or
TARGET & BID
Which audience
setting should you
use?
Is this a new
audience or layer
of audiences?
Are you testing
the performance?
Yes
No
Recommend: Bid Only
Adds +/- bid modifier to selected audience
• Test & Learn on new audience combinations
• Focus on bid modifier to increase or
decrease reach on top of existing keyword
targeting.
Are you matching the
messaging and/or
landing page to the
audience?
No
Yes
Recommend: Target & Bid
Restricts and narrows the reach of ads based on
meeting ALL audience criteria.
• Match your keyword targeting, messaging
and landing pages to your audience and the
audience strategy.
• Optimize your bid modifiers to meet CPA
targets
• Create a prioritized hierarchy of audience
targets. Layer audiences by excluding them
as you move down the hierarchy.
Do you have a
different ( / )
CPA value for the
audience?
No
No
Are you targeting
different or more
generic
keywords?
Yes Yes
No
12. WHAT ARE FIRST PARTY & THIRD PARTY
AUDIENCES
Data you collect about your audience:
• Website Data
• Email / Customer Data
Used for:
• Remarketing Lists for Search Ads
(RLSA)
• RLSA for Shopping
• Dynamic Search Ads (DSA)
• Custom Audiences
Data from other sources, i.e. Bing
used for:
• In-Market Audiences
• Similar / Lookalike Audiences
13. LAYERING AUDIENCES - BID ONLY
Campaig
n
Audienc
e
+ Bid only modifier
Increases bids for this set of users
14. LAYERING AUDIENCES – TARGET & BID
+% modifier
Only reach this overlapping set of audience + keywords (and targeting settings)
22. SEGMENTATION: THE ART & SCIENCE OF
DEFINING AND IDENTIFYING YOUR TARGET
AUDIENCE
• WHO – Are they?
• WHAT – Are their pain points?
• WHERE – Do they go for information?
• WHICH – Devices do they use (and
when)?
• WHEN – Do they realize their need?
• HOW – Do they interact with you?
• WHY – Do they pull the trigger to
convert?
Use the Audience Audit Questions in Appendix!
23. YOUR IDEAL CUSTOMER
Personas
Customer
Decision
Journey
Online
Behaviors &
Actions
Conversions
SEGMENTATION: THE ART & SCIENCE OF
DEFINING AND IDENTIFYING YOUR TARGET
AUDIENCE
• Conversions – Analytics & CRM tools
• Online Behaviors & Actions – Analytics
• Customer Decision Journey – Analytics & CRM
tools
• Personas – Social data, Analytics
• Ideal Customer – analysis done by you!
24. SEGMENTATION – SO MANY WAYS TO
SEGMENT!
Environment
Variables+ IP address
+ Country of origin
+ Time zone
+ Device type
+ Operating system
+ Browser type
+ Screen resolution
Temporal
Variables
+ Time of day
+ Day of week
+ Recency
+ Frequency
Referrer
Variables+ Referring domain
+ Campaign ID
+ Affiliate
+ PPC
+ Natural search
+ Direct/bookmark
+ Social graph/login
Offline Variables
+ CRM
+ Loyalty
+ Call center
+ 3rd-party data
Online Behavior
Variables
+ Customer / Prospect
+ New/return visitor
+ Time on site
+ Pathing
+ Previous product
interests
+ Video engagement
+ Searches
+ Previous online
purchases
+ Previous campaign
exposure
+ Category affinity
+ Display ad engagement
25. FIRST PARTY DATA IS MORE THEN WEBSITE
ACTIONS
SEARCH
DISPLAY
EMAILS
FACEBOOK
LINKEDIN
Create segmented audience lists
based on the URL tracking
parameters from your existing
marketing campaigns.
30. YOU’VE DEFINED YOUR AUDIENCE – AND WHAT
TO DO WITH IT, NOW WHAT?
STRATEGE
RY
31. STRATEGIES BASED ON YOUR AUDIENCE
Strategy #1
Acquire New
customers by
aggressively
bidding on upper
funnel non-brand
keywords
Strategy #2
Promote free 14-
day trial
subscription
Strategy #3
Re-engage
customers who
abandoned their
shopping cart
during the final
phase of ordering
Strategy #4
Cross-sell
products based on
purchase history
32. WHAT’S IMPORTANT FOR EACH AUDIENCE?
New Site Visitors
Content
Downloaded /
Requested
Cart
Abandoners
Converters
GOAL
:
Awareness &
Engagement
Demo/Free
Trial
Sign up for Free Trial Cross-Sell / Up
Sell
Negative AudienceOffers / PromosFree 14Branding
Message
:
33. HOW DO THE AUDIENCE INTERACT OR LAYER
TOGETHER?
New
Visitors
Content
Downloads
Cart
Abandoners
Loyal
Customers
Sign Up
For Free
Trial
Oops, did you forget to buy?
Promo Offer + Trial
34. HOW DO THE AUDIENCE INTERACT OR LAYER
TOGETHER?
New
Site Visitors
Cart
Abandoners
Content
Downloaders
Converters
Highest Priority Lowest Priority
Why prioritize? So you can layer positive & negative audiences!
35. HOW DO THE AUDIENCE INTERACT OR LAYER
TOGETHER?
Highest Priority Lowest Priority
Exclude Audiences as you move from Highest to Lowest Priority
New Visitors
Content
Downloaded /
Requested
Cart
Abandoners
Converters /
Customers
Product Page
Viewed
-Converters -Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Content Downloads
-Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Content Downloads
-Product Pages Viewed
36. HOW DO THE AUDIENCE INTERACT OR LAYER
TOGETHER?
Highest Priority Lowest Priority
New Visitors
Content
Downloaded /
Requested
Cart
Abandoners
Converters /
Customers
Product Page
Viewed
-Converters -Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Content Downloads
-Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Content Downloads
-Product Pages Viewed
By Adding Negative Audiences (Audience
Exclusion) you can hone in and reach very
specific audiences, such as net-new visitors.
Otherwise, you might only be able to reach all
“Site Visitors”
37. HOW DO THE AUDIENCE INTERACT OR LAYER
TOGETHER?
Highest Priority Lowest Priority
New Visitors
Content
Downloaded /
Requested
Cart
Abandoners
Converters /
Customers
Product Page
Viewed
-Converters -Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Content Downloads
-Converters
-Cart Abandoners
-Content Downloads
-Product Pages Viewed
So what do you do with these Audience?
Layer it on top of your brand campaigns!
38. LAYERING & SHAPING AUDIENCES GIVES YOU
THE MOST FLEXIBILITY FOR TARGETING
GO DO’s:
• Complete an Audience Development Strategy
• Create documentation on your Audiences
• Be consistent with naming conventions
• Who is the audience and what actions/behaviors are you targeting?
• What is the desired next step or outcome for this audience (when applicable)
• What messaging or LP’s should you serve to the audience
• How do you prioritize this audience?
• Create your strategy and plan for how you can layer audiences together
(positive and negative) to move consumers across the purchase journey.
39. GO –DO’s
• Audit your Audiences Lists
• Audit your Strategy
• Document your strategy and targets – so you can audit them
later!
• Audit your Remarketing Campaign Settings
42. SEGMENTATION: PERSONAS
❑ Who are your target personas?
❑ What are the characteristics of your target personas?
• Age, Gender, Location, Martial Status Education, Job Title, Income, etc….
❑ What are their interests and likes?
❑ What devices do they use?
❑ What actions signify that someone is part of your persona groups?
❑ What motivates this persona to take action?
❑ What is their pain point?
❑ Who isn’t your target audience/persona? (and their characteristics, behaviors,
interests)
43. SEGMENTATION: BUYERS JOURNEY
❑ What is the length of your typical purchase journey?
❑ Is there a specific timing window you need to reach consumers during their
purchase journey?
❑ How long do consumers spend researching your products/services before
purchasing?
❑ How long do consumer spend on your site researching and comparing
products?
❑ How frequently do visitors return to your website during the purchase
journey?
❑ How frequently do visitors return to your website after the conversion event?
❑ Are there pages on your website that would help identify which stage in the
purchase journey the consumer is in?
44. SEGMENTATION: SITE ACTIONS
❑ What are the actions you want consumers to take on your website?
❑ What do you consider a short website visit?
❑ What do you consider a long website visit?
❑ Are there pages on your site that would indicate that someone is already a
customer?
❑ Are there pages on your site that would indicate that someone is more likely to
convert?
❑ Are there pages on your site that would indicate that someone is not your ideal
customer?
❑ Are there pages on your site that would indicate that someone wants to cancel a
service or return a product?
❑ Are there pages on your site that would indicate that someone is not happy or
satisified with your company?
45. SEGMENTATION: CONVERSION DATA
❑ What are your conversion actions?
❑ What is your average purchase/order size?
❑ What is your lifetime value (LTV) of a customer?
❑ How frequently do customers make purchases on your website? ( in a week,
month, year, once in a lifetime?
❑ How many of your customers are return customers?
❑ Do you know which customers return purchases/orders?
❑ What identifies your best customers?
❑ What identifies your less then ideal customers?
❑ Which customers convert predominately during sales or promotions?
❑ Are there customers that you don’t want to reengage?
47. TAGGING & IMPLEMENTATION
❑ Is your website tagged with the Google Analytics or the Adwords remarketing pixel?
❑ Is your website tagged with Bing Ads UET pixel across all pages?
❑ Are you pixels generating cookie data?
48. LIST MANAGEMENT
❑ Are you consistent with audience list naming conventions?
❑ Are each of your remarketing lists large enough to support 1000 cookies?
❑ Are each of your remarketing lists assigned to at least one account/campaign/ad
group?
❑ What level are you deploying your audiences? (Account, Campaign, Ad Group)
❑ Are you audience lists growing, shrinking, or stagnant?
❑ Do you have audience lists created for each of your existing marketing channels?
(based on their analytics tagging)
❑ Do you have lists created based on social media targeting information?
❑Demographics, Income, Company, Job Titles, Personal Interests/Likes, etc.
❑ Are you targeting relevant In-Market audiences on Bing?
❑ Are you targeting custom audiences through a DMP on Bing?
49. TARGETING
❑ Are you prioritizing audience lists?
❑ Are you layering audiences?
❑Are your audiences competing with each other? i.e. targeting same users with
different use cases, i.e. upsell, cross sell, net-new users
❑ Are you excluding audiences?
❑ Are you excluding audiences based on priority?
❑ Do you have a bid modifier set for each audience list?
❑ Do you have positive bid modifiers set-up in ad groups and campaigns where you
are trying to lift performance?
❑ Do you have negative bid modifiers to exclude certain audiences from specific
campaigns and ad groups?
50. TARGETING SETTINGS
❑ Are you using Bid & Target or Bid Only?
❑ For ad groups and campaigns with Bid & Target:
❑Is your ad copy customized based on the audience segment?
❑Is your landing page customized based on the audience segment?
❑Do you have a separate bid strategy based on the audience segment?
❑Are you expanding your lists to target upper funnel keywords based on
list inclusions and exclusions?
❑Do you have negative keywords in addition to audience exclusion to
segment keywords?
❑ For ad groups and campaigns with Bid Only:
❑Do you have a separate bid strategy based on the audience segment?
❑Are you monitoring performance to move from Test & Learn to
optimization?
51. TARGETING PERFORMANCE
❑ Are you monitoring audience performance on a regular and consistent basis?
❑ Are your audiences performing the way you intended them to?
❑ Are you regularly optimizing & auditing audiences:
❑ i.e. Bids, Device, Negative Audiences, Negative Keywords, etc.
Hinweis der Redaktion
Key Objective:
For the last 10 years search marketers have been obsessed with keywords. Remarketing is driving a change and a shift moving from keyword centric campaigns that focused on products to people-centric campaigns that are focused on people and actions.
It’s a mentality shift where keywords still play an important role in search, but adding a layer of targeting that focuses on activity and actions of the consumer.
Key Objective:
Search has evolved and gotten much more sophisticated since it first launched. There are more targeting options and choices then ever before. This is also allowing us to move from a keyword centric campaign structure to one that focuses on the customer, and helping to move the customer along and through the purchase path and keeping them engaged throughout their purchase decision journey.
Key Objective:
Which is why with remarketing it’s important to think about and understand the process that goes into developing, optimizing and maintaining an audience strategy.
Many marketers skip the early phases of developing their marketing strategy, they go straight into creating an audience and layering it on top of a campaign. Today, we’re going to talk about how powerful your remarketing campaigns can be when you’ve developed an audience targeting strategy and audience communication strategy.
But before we get started with developing your audience strategy, we want to start with some basics. I want to make sure that we’re all on the same page with the beginning point of remarketing campaigns.
Key Message:
UET is the one code snippet to rule them all, this will enable all event tracking and remarketing audiences.
Key Message:
You have to have at least 1000 cookies in an audience list to be able to enable it within Bing. If you segment your audience strategy too much, you run the risk of not reaching the minimums (and having a ba-jillion audience lists can be very confusing to manage unless they are well documented.)
Key Message: The default membership duration for cookies on Bing is 30 days, however when you set-up your remarketing audience list in the UI you can edit and select the membership duration date range.
I recommend looking at the length of your average purchase cycle and setting the default to a similar time frame.
For instance, if I was a car dealer and my average customer spends 4 months (120 days) researching and investigating their purchase prior to making it, then I’d want to have a cookie duration of at least 120 days. Similarly, if I’m a hotel chain whose look to book window is 10 days, then I might choose a shorter 10-14 day membership duration window.
I’m not going to get into the basics of setting up your audience lists in the UI. It’s fairly straight forward and well documented. However, I do want to explain the settings of Bid Only and Target & Bid because there has been some confusion about which setting to use and why.
I’m the camp that believes that unless you are testing an audience, you should always use Bid & Target because it gives you the most flexibility (in my opinion) to match your audience to the keyword, message, landing page content and bidding strategy or CPA target. Bid Only just allows you to increase or decrease bids to reach or exclude a specific audience.
Are you struggling with understanding the differences? We created this handy flow chart to help you decide. Now, it’s based off of my opinion and my recommendation, so take it with a grain of salt. But if you really want to unleash the power of customizing your search campaigns to reach a specific audience and help move that audience along their purchase path, you’ll need to use Target and Bid.
So, what is the most important audience to develop? Yours.
Very few marketers start developing a remarketing strategy by documenting and defining their audiences. Instead, they start with a specific scenario they are trying to solve with a remarketing campaign, such as trying to re-engage cart abandoners, cross-selling products and services or re-engaging previous customers who might not understand their full business offering.
In my opinion, while this strategy does work, it’s not the most effective way to utilize remarketing. You’re starting with the problem and trying to build a solution instead of starting with a customer-centric view and with all of the possibilities that remarketing has to offer.
Just because you think you know who your audience is, it doesn’t mean you’re right. Your hunch might start you down the right path, but to really get to know your ideal and target customers, you’ll want to analyze the available information from your CRM system and analytics account. Use this data to identify key insights about your customers, the actions they take, and what makes them YOUR ideal customer — or not.
Instead of starting with a handful of scenarios where you could create audience segments, I want you to instead start to think about your customers and look at two things: QUESTIONS AND DATA.
Start with a set of questions to help you segment your audiences, and with access to data from your analytics platform and database/CRM to get transaction insights. Then, armed with data, you can look at the potential audience pools to determine if you have the minimum 1,000-cookie base to activate an audience list.
Think of this as an opportunity to really get to know your customers, your website, your purchase path [also known as customer decision journey], and how you should adjust your marketing to reach the customers based on their pain points and where they are within that purchase journey.
Just remember there are a bajillion ways you can segment your customers. Don’t get into the scenario of PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS and DEATH BY DATA
You want to keep your audience list segmentation manageable and use it!
Key Objective:
Your onsite behavior and first party data can be so much more than actions on the website. If you are running social media campaigns, then most likely your social team has an audience targeting strategy that is identifying audiences at a granular level. Become friends with your marketing counterparts to learn how they set-up their campaign tracking and tagging, because you might have hidden gems within their tagging structure that you can use to create hyper targeted search campaigns.
Not every customer is your target customer.
For example, I love the children’s brand Hannah Anderson – I have bought maybe 10-15 zip-up sleepers for my son. BUT I only buy them at the outlet store when there is a clearance sale. The margin Hannah Anderson get’s from me is very low along with my LTV. I am an unwanted or undesirable customer when they are paying to acquire me.
How can you define your unwanted paid search customers?
Now that we’ve talked about the questions you can ask… what do you do with it?
DOCUMENT IT.
Here is an example of a spreadsheet I was using to track the Audience Development Questionairre questions, the answers and how I think I’d create my audience.
What’s even crazier, is that I then took it one step further… and started to create a naming hierarchy for my audiences… and a try to determine how I’d use the audience from an inclusion and exclusion standpoint. Would I layer it with other audience lists to create highly segmented and targeted campaigns? What are my objectives behind creating that audience. Will I stick with the standard or default Membership Duration or based on how I’m planning on using my audience should I change to a longer or shorter duration windows.
All of this was done and documented BEFORE I created my audiences in the search engines.
This is how you go from questions and planning to developing a strategy.