In this post you will learn:
- YouTube video ads can do more than get views: start combining video ads with conversion tracking.
- Data and advertising are closely linked. Before committing a large ad budget, use data engineering to connect each stage of the marketing funnel with conversion actions, so you can measure performance more fully.
In an age when video is king, making a video that conveys a brand’s emotional appeal and running it as a video ad has become a common way for marketers to build their brands. But when planning a video budget, you have surely been asked (or asked yourself): beyond high view rates, will this large video ad budget make consumers do anything else because of my video? Do video ads help drive conversions? Today, in 2019, marketing strategies for brands on YouTube should become smarter too. By using data engineering and the ad system in a “test, learn, execute” model, every campaign can have the potential to contribute to sales. Here we briefly share three steps drawn from a recent project with a major local hair transplant brand. Whatever the market, video ads can be approached in a different way (if it works for the relatively niche hair transplant market, it is certainly worth trying in other sectors).
The client was already a leading brand in Taiwan’s hair transplant industry and had long favoured video ads to communicate its brand value. But after spending a large budget, it only got view counts and view-rate metrics, which made it hard to judge whether the video ads did anything in the consideration stage beyond sparking interest. So we helped the client set up a series of consideration-stage goals, from micro-conversions to mid-conversions to final conversions. This set its YouTube ads apart from the old stereotype that running them only gets you views: data metrics could now also measure the consideration signals that video ads generate.
It was previously assumed that the people most concerned about hair loss were mostly middle-aged men. But through this project, running the ads and interpreting the data, we helped the clinic discover a new customer group. It is also worth noting that not only did views exceed the forecast, but as the video ads took effect, performance from micro-conversions to mid-conversions showed that the video ads helped consumers move into the consideration stage. Here is how we used video to increase potential customers’ consideration of the brand and its services.
Step 1. Build a complete data funnel to measure what consumers do on site after watching
Don’t stop at a single ad performance report, and don’t overlook the “micro-conversion” of each viewer who visits the site. Moving from brand awareness to choosing a brand is a process of repeated, layered communication that nudges audiences step by step towards the final goal (for example, before completing an online purchase on an e-commerce site, a consumer may carry out a hundred different actions on the site before ordering). So you need to define the conversions at each stage clearly to measure fully how the video campaign drives conversions.
Once you have other metrics, you will find that audience groups with good view rates sometimes perform worse at visiting the site or completing micro-conversions than groups with average view rates. Assessing funnel metrics helps marketers see how far an ad’s influence extends across overall performance, rather than looking at a single performance metric in isolation.
Step 2. Test with a small budget before peak season to find the audiences who engage most
Running video ads on a small budget in the low season shows how the video is being watched, and also gives deeper insights. You can find the audiences with strong results in both viewing and conversion engagement, and then plan how to get the best results once the budget increases in peak season (this optimises delivery, and the client also adapted its video content to connect better with these audiences). After testing in the low season, the client found that other, unexpected audiences also had better micro-conversion performance. This finding gave the client ideas for its video communication strategy, and of course helped the later large-budget campaign perform even better.
Step 3. Video is not just about views: use machine learning to track conversions
Smart Bidding’s predictions can help identify the consumers most likely to convert and reach the audiences who engage most. Over the four months we ran YouTube video ads for this client, it was not only views that built up. The accumulated conversion signals also let machine learning identify consumers likely to complete more conversions, their purchasing behaviour, interest tags and search terms, and find the target customers most likely to interact with the website or convert, raising the conversion rate. When you first try this bidding approach with video ads, it takes some patience (at first it is very tempting to step in). After about two weeks of learning, you will find that both the accumulated data and performance against conversion goals are good.
Among Google’s ad types, YouTube video ads are the ones marketers are least likely to link to performance beyond views. No one doubts their ability to promote a brand, but there are some questions over whether they really help increase consideration or, more advanced still, tracked conversions. Try combining video ads with a data funnel. This will help you measure the overall impact of your campaigns on your brand.
If you are interested in any of the above, let CloudAD help you enrich your marketing strategy. Get in touch.
