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Running a Profitable Pay Per Call Campaign Start to Finish | April 2016 (30)

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Hey guys, I wanted to do this case study/walk through of running a pay per call campaign offer which was started in March 2016 and optimized to the results shown in April 2016 (and currently still running). I strongly believe Pay per call is the future of affiliate marketing – it has given me a new channel of income. Let's Get On With This!

THE BACKGROUND
I get a lot of questions of how long it takes to be successful with pay per call (for some reason people think it’s a get rich quick scheme – ITS NOT!) So instead of me preaching the same message over and over again – I figured a walk-through of one of my new offers I am running showing the processes I took to make it successful - persistence and patience has its long term rewards. I did set this up as a newbie (not as a experience pay per call marketer - to show you the difference) So many people give up when they are so close - not only in pay per call, but in many things in life I find.



THE FACTS:

• Date range of this case study/walk through: Last week of March 2016 to end of April 2016
• Marketing Type: Pay Per Call
• Offer: Appliance Repair
• Geo: USA – Select 39 States only. Not USA Wide (I wish).
• Conversion Time (how long they need to be on the call to count as a conversion): 60 seconds
• Payout: $7.50
• Hours open: Mon-Fri 8am-11pm, Sat-Sun 9am-8pm

MY ASSETS:

• Landing Page – Wordpress landing page
• Ads – Google Call Only Ads ( I show results from BING as well if your interested, just the calls/profit though just cause I am too lazy to do all the screen grabs etc.)
• Call Tracking – Invoca

THE STORY
Ok I am going to try to keep this to the point, and not too wordy. Also remember I set this up like a newbie would. Just to show you the impact it makes not starting the right way.

I setup 2 landing pages in wordpress for which to drive the BING and Google ads too (one source to each page – I just duplicated the page). I did this to ensure I have clean tracking to conversion by where I am spending money. Since I displayed different 1-800 # on each page. I did all the optimizations etc which I shown in pay per call exposed. I then did market research and came up with a keyword list of approx. 225 keywords and 5 basic negative keywords. All based on broad match modified setup (+keyword +keyword). Every time I launch a new campaign, I set my personal expectation to lose money in the first week or so. Because I am paying for DATA not results just yet. I need to know WHAT PEOPLE are actually looking for – WHAT IS THAT CUSTOMERS INTENT? This will allow me to find niche keywords people are not bidding on. For example everyone is bidding on +emergency +plumber (super pricey), what about +Emergency +plumber +near +me (believe it or not, this is used a lot!) remember people talk to google like its human – so think this way in your search strategy.

WEEK 1 – March 25 2016 – March 31 2016 (last week of March)
*Sorry about the big watermarks. I had a few people stealing my images*



Ok here are the results of 225 keywords and neg list. Remember the first week or 2 is made up so I can learn more about what people are searching for.

THE RESULTS: (all $ is in Canadian)

• Daily budget: $30
• Impressions: 3263 impressions
• Clicks: 17 clicks
• Conversions: 2 ($15 in sales)
• Cost per conversion: $88 (ouch!)
• CTR: 0.52%
• CPC: $10.38
• Avg CPC: $10.38
• Ad Cost: $176.47

THE LEARNINGS:

• Need to up the daily budget to get more impressions – not enough data. I was losing impression share due to budget. (many people make this mistake – making the daily budget too small makes you lose the impression share war. Doesn’t matter how good your ads/keywords are – no one will see it.)
• Increase CTR – build more ads, remove some Keywords (btw my quality score is 6/10 – needs to improve)
• Reduce CPC – Good lord $10, removed high priced keywords, added many of the search terms found in the search terms report from those high CPC keywords along with others.
• Also increase negative keywords list.

Overall need to optimize the keywords more to get more eyeballs and relevant clicks. I took the next couple of weeks to optimize weekly into April.

Here are the results from all of April.
*Sorry about the big watermarks. I had a few people stealing my images*



THE RESULTS - Very happy with the results so far. So what happened over the weeks:

• Reduced keywords from 225+ down to 65 core keywords, again mainly only 12 of them are bringing in the major conversions, so I can still optimize this. But its too soon yet.
• Increase budget to $86/day (you see chart below - the spike on the 4th, that was that. I should have done it sooner – oh well.)
• Increased impressions slightly to 11,771 (since I reduced the keywords, it did reduce impressions.) But if you compare the drastic drop in keywords vs the increase in impressions – it’s a lot from less keywords.
• I got 832 clicks
• CPC is down to $1.23 (from $10 –because I got rid of the high cpc words)
• CTR is up to 7% (expected with Call Only on a urgent service like appliance repair – so this is good, not amazing)
• Cost per conversion down to $3.17
• Conversions: 321 according to Google (actual was 315 – which is why I don’t really use the google data on this part – I check the call tracking of Invoca)

SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!

Here is the image of the call tracking platform. Showing ACTUAL conversions (sometimes the google conversion tracking is not accurate with pay per call, the invoca tracking is.)



LEGEND:

• Blue line is conversions rate %
• Green bars are Google Calls
• Yellow bars are Bing Calls.

THE OVERALL RESULTS
Overall you see both Google ads and Bing Ads convert almost the same, the BING is slightly more profitable due to cheaper CPCs and my killer landing page. (I am only mentioning BING cause its in the image, just to show you BING also works for Pay per Call)

ONLY GOOGLE PERFORMANCE:

• Google Call Only Ad Spend total: $1,021 Canadian
• Revenue Total: $2047 USD = $2625.30 CDN.
• Profit Total: $1604.30 CDN

BING + GOOGLE PERFORMANCE:

• Ad Spend total: Google $1,021 + BING $950 = $1971 CDN
• Revenue Total: $3334.50 USD = $4275.50 CDN
• Profit Total: $2304.50 CDN

FINAL THOUGHTS
I think one more month of optimizing and I can let this run on its own with no more optimization. Then move onto the next campaign offer. My whole goal is to make money, but have more free time as well.

Ok so this wasn’t as short as I thought LOL… But I hope this inspires those that are struggling with pay per call right now – to know with hard work it’s a goldmine! Just be smart and strategic in your thinking. Also I hope this will inspire those "debating" about trying to run pay per call offers. Post below if you have questions. Thanks guys!

PS: As you may know PAY PER CALL EXPOSED is my site. Everything I walked you through is the based off the learnings I show/teach in my pay per call course.

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Raj with reference to the call only ads how much relevance are the landing pages you mentioned? Especially with regards to the different phone numbers you have on each lander for tracking? So this is call only ads vs mobile targeted with call extensions to reinforce the intent on purchase with lander ?

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Call only use the landing page for verification of phone number, and also in QS i believe. But the weighting on landing pages for search ads with extensions has a much heavier weight on the lander - due to the ad actually clicking there. Unlike call only - people cannot click to the site, only a phone number. But i still focus on good landers on Call only because you want to ensure your always doing your best for the QS regardless how much or little it helps. Since this is all a guessing game - why risk it?

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Great share Raj. Quick question - are those campaigns considered whitehat by Google? Would I risk losing my adwords account?

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Totally white hat. I have run MANY campaigns and never lost my account due to my pay per call campaigns. I did get my account suspended for a affiliate offer i ran 7 years ago (amateur move!) - learned my lesson.

Again just like any campaign, you still need to abide by the TOS regardless pay per call or not.

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Hey Raj. General question here, how long have you found the average pay per call campaign to last before dying?

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Very good question! This is what i love about pay per call - the offers are rarely short lived. I have many that have been running for 1+ years.. even until today. But if you want me to average it out, i would say at least 7-8 months life. On the average. Again depends on the network.

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PPCall is not that said easy. I have applied all your methods and tactics of your course (PPCall Exposed) but still impossible to break even after nearly 3 months. I have lost nearly $2k now(spent $3k and earned back $1100). Adwords is too expensive and very competitive now. I feel very discouraged but I won't give up. Some successful ppcall marketers said that you must have a big budget if you want to succeed with PPC (at least 5k to test).

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hi Hangman, just like any affiliate marketing tactic, it takes time. i am glad your not giving up. Why not change up your sources to cheaper CPCs since you have been making money, and know more now than before. Try out BING (using all the extensions) or Facebook (using the process i showed in my course)... even offline.. dont just stick to one source if its not working for you. Like anything finding that angle, that set of KWs at the price you want is the goal.

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Interesting post Raj thank you.

Have you (or anyone else) managed to integrate Voluum tracking for your campaigns in Adwords? I am just getting started with Pay Per Call and have small
Bing campaign that is working okay and I have Voluum tracking in place and working fine. However, when I try to replicate this
in Google adwords I am getting all sorts of errors. Such as 'inaccurate keyword url' etc. I am running it as a Google Call Only campaign. Would I better
off trying it as a standard campaign with a call extension?

Thanks in advance,

Mark

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Thanks for the post, Raj! I'm curious, what are some of your qualifiers for that original 225 keyword list? Are you looking for a max CPC? Average searches? Etc.?

Also, is there an average minimum daily budget you'd suggest? I noticed on the second screenshot it was $86, is there any type of reasoning behind that or is it just the average you'd usually use?

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So I do a TON of organic pay per call traffic using nationwide lead generation networks (hundreds of locations ranking for thousands of keywords), but have yet to get into the paid game, so am trying to understand how everything works with keyword bidding, etc.

I take it just like organic SEO, the more long-tail keywords (ie - subjects with geographic specific modifiers like city, state and postal code) are much easier to rank higher for in the ad placements. Would that be a nice way of getting the CPC of your ads down, especially if you used a lot of geo-specific content on the landing pages themselves? Wouldn't be too hard to build out those types of ads using spreadsheets and upload to the Adwords Editor (from my little understanding of how the ad building process works).

Also from your experience Raj, how much would CPC go down on like a term that the avg bid was $10 / click, if your QS was 9 or 10?

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I love organic traffic pay per call - i have few like that as well, but i find the conversion is not as high as paid (but that makes sense though - at least organic is free!)

The long tail search words do some out with cheaper cpcs, and with relevant landing page like you mentioned will help a solid QS retuning in some better cpcs.. but your cpc is not low from the start, as time passes, and you have a good QS, you will notice your impressions will increase, then you can decrease your cpcs and monitor the results..i have a few campaigns where i decrease cpcs down a few dollars while maintaining my impressions/ad rank.. (keep QS high of course)...

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Awesome. About how long on average does it take for those impressions to increase / you to drop the CPCs? Just figuring out ways how to hack and shortcut the learning curve.

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All depends on the niche to be honest, because some have higher demand, making it easier to "notice" impression change. But i would say 1 week, its not always instant.

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Hi Raj,

I'd like to know the answer to the questions Ametzgus has asked... Thanks!

"Thanks for the post, Raj! I'm curious, what are some of your qualifiers for that original 225 keyword list? Are you looking for a max CPC? Average searches? Etc.?

Also, is there an average minimum daily budget you'd suggest? I noticed on the second screenshot it was $86, is there any type of reasoning behind that or is it just the average you'd usually use?"

Barbara

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Sorry for the delay,

the way i pick kws varies for each niche so thats tough, but i do look at google trends, as well as SEM RUSH tool which shows me the volume and competition (i also "borrow" their keywords - meaning even the company i am promoting for in many cases their SEM sucks, so its easy to beat them at their own game.. and reap big rewards. But i also target cities/state/zips sometimes - again depends on niche..

as for daily budget (i get this a lot) a legal offer will have a higher daily budget than a appliance repair offer..but a range of $30-$50/day to start is solid. the optimize and scale the bitch up!

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Hi Raj, I follow your course and wonder what type of keyword you are using in Bing campaign?
I just start my pay per call campaign in Bing & Adwords yesterday with "broad match modifier".
I see some impression in adwords but 0 impression in Bing.
For Bing, should I change keyword type? just curious what to do in Bing. Thanks

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Hi, @islander , Broad match modifier is the best to use in both Bing and Adwords. It will give you reach, while maintaining some control of the visibility your ads get. So i wouldn't change that. But if you imported your ads from adwords INTO bing, and was using CALL ONLY, you should check your ads. I seen this mess up a few times. Also you will have no extensions. make sure to always MAXIMIZE your extensions in Bing (and google search ads) to ensure you help your QS/CTR. Also Bing does has less volume than google. But you should be getting impressions if you are bidding competitively, and have good ad rank. If you are confident you are doing everything right - you may want to take a look at this new service i am offering (which came at a request of a few customers) which is a CAMPAIGN REVIEW service http://paypercallexposed.com/campaign-review-service/ , where I go through everything your doing - and give you notes on everything to fix in ads, and your landing page. Good luck!

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Thank you Raj, i will contact you for service soon when i am ready

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Hey Raj, thanks a lot for the case study. I tried to setup my guide for Bing only but the ad just sent all the clicks to my lp! Even with bid at 0.05 and mobile bid adjusted by 900%

My lp must not be very good because the ctr was 0, you can take a look: http://lp.cheapcheapflightsng.us

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hi,

- How many impressions are you getting?
- as well are using all the extensions i talk about in my course (not sure if you purchased my pay per call course?)
- i would also add more content to that site, to make it look more legit..
- how is the quality score? this will impact your impressions and ad placement.
- i assume your ad rank/placement is 3+

Raj

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1) https://gyazo.com/954eaa0dad75d66e384de7436d0ed6f5
2) These are the extensions i'm using: https://gyazo.com/db0d68ed3bf3b00bfd7dd961267c12d5 and https://gyazo.com/c10bc9b5a611fa872524fcec86167904, but as you can see, they're getting no impressions. I'm unsure why. (I can't afford the $300 for your course right now . But I definitely will get it when I have the money!)
4) The quality score is about 7 to 10 on the adgroups that got clicks.
5) Whew, not sure what that is!

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Well my course is actually $229 with the STM members discount (let me know if you want a discount code)

but onto what you sent me... well impressions seem decent, as well your extensions. Have you looked at the click report to see if this is all desktop - which it looks like it is, or tablet? problem is neither can make calls. Lastly how is the search term report to ensure the clicks you are getting are VERY relevant to your offer. You maybe getting clicks to something you dont offer, which is why no calls as well?

As well ad rank is the placement of your ad.. this is an example of what i was asking: http://c86og3avv551mqtcy2adcf845a.wp...le_AdWords.png


Raj

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Hey Raj,

Loved reading through this thread. So informative! Sort of an extrapolation on iamatilla's popular Pay Per Call case study. I have two questions about campaign structure if you (or anyone!) has some time to elaborate.

1) How aggressively do you bid during the data aggregation phase relative to the payout of the offer?
2) Why do you (and a lot of other marketers) broad match +every +word +in +the +phrase? isn't that essentially phrase match with minor variants and wouldn't that restrict volume a lot? Wouldn't 'cheap +plumber' make more sense than '+cheap +plumber' in terms of acquiring data?

I am running a campaign with a similar amount of initial keywords as you with very aggressive bidding and only 2 keywords are generating more than 100 impressions/day.

Thanks Raj!

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Thanks for the kind words - here are my thoughts ....

1) usually 50%-60% of the payout - really my mindset is not to be profitable in the first few weeks, as i could be limiting my impressions/reach by not really knowing the market yet - that only comes with experimenting. So if you limited yourself from day 1 - you wont have the correct or enough data i find.

2) Broad match modifiier gives you the REACH of normal broadmatch, but also keeps some control to ensure you dont get irrelevant clicks..also helps without having to build a exhaustive negative terms list.. you should build one, but this will help quality. Using this method it ensures all the words in your phrase are in the search terms the user has put in.

As for your low impressions, what is your ad position? what is your quality score? how high is your daily budget to the your cpc? all these account for reach.

Raj

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Thanks for such a quick and considerate reply.

Clicks and Impressions shot up today. Sometimes I feel like AdWords ads take a day or two to "settle in" and start being shown more often.

I have a 3.0 AVG position and a 3-5/10 quality score. Expected Click Through Rate and Ad Relevance are usually below average. Threw in some new ads with more direct mentions of my top performing keywords. Uncertain as to how to get the ECTR up.

Budget was $150/Day and CPC is $8 on a $21 payout. Getting about 25 clicks per day.

Gained a lot more data today and I think there's stuff I can learn from, thinking of starting a new campaign broken out from some of the more popular keywords.

Thanks for the help Raj. Can you PM me the discount code? Think I'm gonna bite the bullet!

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That is great news! And yes when you make changes in adwords, depending on age of account it does take a few days for it take effect and as it equalizes the changes and payment changes.

I will pm you a discount code now. Thanks
Raj

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This is really great! I've been struggling trying to bring my CPC down. I'm a newb so I'm still trying to get over the fear of losing a lot in the beginning. It was frustrating to see the CPC be higher than the payout. I thought if I just bid lower than the payout that I could be profitable. Obviously, I'm barely getting any impressions. Wish me luck. I will be making adjustments on my account.

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Hey @rajpatel do you have any recommendations on do's and don'ts for landing pages for Bing since Bing doesn't have call only options?

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