If you’re an agency with Google Partner status, I’m sure you’re familiar with the relentless push from your Google rep to adopt the latest and greatest product innovations and automated bid strategies into your campaign plan. If you’re like me, you’re also sometimes hesitant to do so. After-all, you work hard investing time and energy into getting performance just where your client needs it to be. And let’s be honest, we’ve been burned in the past.
Thankfully, this was not the case when it came to launching our first TrueView for Action YouTube campaign. In fact, far from it.
What is TrueView for Action?
TrueView for Action is a relatively new product by Google designed to drive leads and conversions via YouTube using the skippable In-Stream ad format. It helps by adding prominent Calls-To-Action (CTA’s), headline text overlays and an end screen to your video ads. These features help to increase engagement with your ads and drive users to your website, where they can explore your product or service, share their contact information and take other actions valuable to your business. [1]
Typically, YouTube campaigns work on a Cost-Per-View (CPV) bid strategy which is a form of manual bidding. TV4A uses the Target CPA (Cost-Per-Acquisition) bid strategy. An automated bid strategy that utilises Googles robust machine learning algorithms to adjust bids on the fly, targeting highly valuable users based on millions of signals.
It’s this bid strategy though, that lead to the very tentative adoption of the format, having suffered poor performance in several of our search campaigns after Googles insistence that we change to Target CPA. How glad I was to see how far this strategy has come since our early attempts. Here’s what happened…
Results? We smashed conversion targets!
Prior to the changeup, we were lucky to get any direct conversions using the standard in-stream format. Content with a high volume of Views, solid View Rates and generating the awareness we so desired. But get ready, below I compare two identical campaigns (IE same video, same landing page, same audiences) and each with one months worth of data. The only difference being that the original was the standard InStream format and the other TrV4A. (Believe it or not, also with half the budget).
- CONVERSIONS
- InStr: 8
- TrV4A: 557 (Yes, you read that right)
- CPA
- InStr: $412.60
- TrV4A: $2.94
| InStr | TrV4A | |
|---|---|---|
| SPEND | $3,000 | $1,500 |
| CONVERSIONS | 8 | 557 |
| CPA | $412.60 | $2.94 |
| CONV. RATE | 0.01% | 0.80% |
| TRAFFIC | 273 | 2,708 |
| CTR | 0.11% | 1.76% |
| VIEWS | 118,923 | 48,167 |
| VIEW RATE | 48.75% | 31.37% |
| CPV | $0.03 | $0.03 |
Needless to say, we were pretty happy with the results. “But Ryan, aren’t you concerned about the drop in views and view rate?”. Great question! But absolutely not.
The drop in views was understandable, we only had half the budget to work with so I expected as much. As for the view rate, there was a moment of concern, if not curiosity, but then I remembered that the end game of any digital marketing strategy is to achieve and improve upon your clients business goals and drive profit. I believe TrV4A did just that and then some.
If it means hitting a more qualified audience with high conversion potential, then I’m more than happy to have fewer eyeballs on ads. You don’t get to the king without sacrificing a few pawns after all.
Need some creative inspiration?
Check out 2020’s number one TrueView For Action Video Ad to see how quality creative content is done.
Looking for serious results and a digital marketing strategy that stands above the rest? Get in touch with Bliss for a consultation and hear how we can help your business grow!
References
[1] https://support.google.com/google-ads/topic/6224863?hl=en
