Google Analytics Certified Partners play an important role in Asia Pacific’s web analytics ecosystem. They are the Google Analytics implementation and reporting experts, and they partner closely with businesses of all sizes to help them improve and grow their online presence. This is one in a series of articles from Google Analytics Certified Partners across the region.

Adrian Tan is one of the founders of clickTRUE Pte Ltd, Southeast Asia’s first Google Analytics Certified Partner. - Ed.


I would like to share an example with you on how our team at clickTRUE use insights from Google Analytics to benefit our clients’ online marketing effectiveness. Recently, a world leading electronic security and alarm monitoring service provider approached us to optimise their reporting and analysis framework. We helped them adopt Google Analytics as a way of measuring the number of leads generated by their website. With Google Analytics we were able to react to changing conditions within days rather than months.


Problem: Non real-time analysis
The client ran several Google AdWords campaigns to drive sign-ups via their enquiry forms. These sign-ups represented the number of leads for their business and provided a forecast of their revenue for the months ahead. The client was used to consolidating the enquiry form sign-ups from their website on a monthly basis and sending it to us for analysis.

We would analyse the numbers and determine how many conversions (i.e. enquiry form sign-ups) were attributed to their AdWords campaigns. We would then suggest and implement changes for their following month’s AdWords campaign so that they could generate a higher volume of sign-ups at a lower cost. Waiting for monthly reports was less than ideal. Since we deal with the Internet, we wanted to measure the performance of our enhancements in real-time! We wanted to cut down this lag to make more timely changes and more quickly achieve the client’s target number of leads per month.


Solution: Integrating Google AdWords and Google Analytics
Being a Google Analytics Certified Partner, we knew that one of the best ways to get near real-time insights about the performance of a website is to use Google Analytics. We worked with the client to implement Google Analytics on their website, and then integrate their AdWords account, so that we could attribute conversions to AdWords clicks.

Here is how we approached the creation of the reporting and analysis framework for the client:

Step 1: Link the Google AdWords account to the Google Analytics account
We first linked the client’s Google AdWords and Google Analytics accounts.

Step 2: Define goals within Google Analytics
We defined a goal in their Google Analytics account as visitors who arrived at a “Thank You” page after submitting their contact details.

Setting up the goal was easy: we took the URL for the “Thank You” page as the goal URL.

With Goals set, we were now able to more accurately assess how each keyword in the client’s AdWords campaign was converting visitors into sign-ups (leads). Better yet, we were able to assess these on a daily basis, and didn’t have to wait for the monthly reports.


Step 3: Setting up the reporting framework
We created a set of custom reports to to address the key performance indicators that were most relevant for the client. Below is one of our custom reports that lists keywords and the associated metrics for clicks, visits, cost-per-click, impressions, clickthrough rate, bounce rate, time on site, and goal conversion rate. If we were to rely on Google Analytics’ standard reports, we would need to combine three reports to get this information. You can get a copy of this custom report here.

Step 4: Taking action by optimising keywords
With the above in place, we are better able to drill down and do optimisation on the keywords instead of just depending on traditional statistics such as clicks, cost per click and clickthrough rates.

For example, when we first ran the campaign, the keyword “CCTV” generated the most number of clicks. We needed to find out if this keyword was effective in producing qualified leads.

On closer inspection, we saw that the keyword “CCTV” was performing poorly in terms of bounce rate and conversion rate.

The bounce rate for “CCTV” was 7.32% worse than the site average. Visitors coming from this keyword left the site without signing up or even visiting any other pages. It indicated a poor visit quality – visitors did not find the content on the landing page relevant.

To help optimise the performance of this keyword, we analysed the actual search query used by visitors that contributed to goal conversions. For example, visitors who searched for “CCTV Singapore” and clicked on the client’s ads were more likely to sign-up and convert.

Such search queries were immediately added as phrase match keywords in the client’s campaign and set with a higher bid to have their ads appear more frequently . This fine-tuning allowed us to only show the ads to an audience that is looking for security solutions rather than to non-relevant searches for “China Central Television” that was also know as CCTV. We also included such non-relevant searches as negative keywords to filter out irrelevant impressions and improve clickthrough and conversion rates.

Through the use of better defined keywords, such as with approproriate keyword matching for the “CCTV” root keyword, we obtained much better conversion rates – increasing the rates from 1.55% to a range of 1.96% to 25% and a corresponding increase in ROI of at least 66%.

Actionable insights on early data results in 114% lift
The time previously spent waiting for monthly reports was now put to good use optimising based on almost real-time data. The lift in leads demonstrates the benefits of this strategy – a 114% increase after the first three weeks of the campaign. The client is now ahead of schedule in achieving their target number of leads and meeting their revenue forecast.

We strive to replicate the above process in all our engagements:

• Setting goals allows us to measure site performance and understand whether we are being successful or where we need to improve.
• Linking AdWords and Google Analytics accounts allows us to assess paid traffic performance in terms of bounce rates and conversion rates.
• Last, but not least, we cannot emphasise enough how important it is to analyse your Google Analytics data on a regular basis and take immediate actions to experience real-time gains.

Posted by Adrian Tan, Co-Founder, clickTRUE Pte. Ltd.

You may remember back in September we announced the launch of the first AdWords Train & Gain challenge. Today we’re very excited to announce our 15 finalists from around the world and the overall grand prize winner.

Train & Gain set out to help you get the most from AdWords by providing a 4-week program packed full of tips and advice. Thousands of you took up the challenge and impressed us with the fantastic results you achieved in such a short time.

We have just finished judging all of your entries and are delighted to share our overall winner with you...

Dan Hulse and Elliot Trotter, from Terra Organics in Washington, USA, have won a trip to Sydney, Australia to meet with AdWords experts in our Sydney office and attend the YouTube Symphony Orchestra at the Sydney Opera House in March 2011. Congratulations Dan and Elliot, we can’t wait to see you in Sydney!

In addition to taking the required steps each week during the competition, Terra Organics demonstrated through their case study submission (and video!) how the Train & Gain challenge impacted their AdWords account and business:

“We started using Google AdWords for our small Organic Produce Home Delivery Service about a year ago. While we saw some great gains, we knew we weren't using it to its full potential and weren't sure how best to budget our ads for the most efficiency. Google's Train & Gain helped us to refine our AdWords knowledge and get more out of our dollar. We learned how to maximize our Cost Per Click, use better (and negative) keywords and track our progress using Google Analytics.

Since starting the Train & Gain program, we've already seen dramatic improvements in the consistency of performance with our advertisements. We're able to work within our budget to get better results and turn more people onto our local farm CSA (community supported agriculture) and produce boxes. 

In order to track just how much Google's Train & Gain had impacted us, we videotaped our progress week by week and put together a YouTube video so you could gain a better understanding of who we are and how Train and Gain helped us.”

Check out the video Dan and Elliot created as part of their submission:

Huge congratulations also go to our other regional winners. Each of these finalists has won an Android phone.

Winners from Japan and Asia-Pacific:

Biplab Kumar, NK Realtors, Kolkata, India

Jason Xa, Benjamin’s Crafts, Inglewood, Australia

Rattana Areerob, Phuket Villa Rentals, Phuket, Thailand

Raymond Mellick, Temporary Tattoos Guru, Collingwood, Australia

Tapas Ranjan Behera, The Navadoya Club, Orissa, India

Winners from Americas:
Adrian Rodriguez, Fright Night Scream Park, California, USA
Elliot Trotter, Terra Organics, Washington, USA (overall winner)
Ivan Hsieh, EMlab P&K, California, USA
Judy Weiss, Valstar Printers, Minnesota, USA
Shane Dorney, Dorney Security, Texas, USA

Winners from Europe, Middle East and Africa:
David Morgan, Easy Read, Oxford, UK
Debby Appleby, SCL Water, Devon, UK
Emily Allan, Peppermint Pix, KZN, South Africa
Pierre Hun, Utility Exchange Online, Derby, UK
Ross Berntsen, Fire Personnel, Kent, UK

If you didn’t take part in Train & Gain this time around and would like to find out more about improving your AdWords account check out the AdWords Small Business Center today.

Congratulations again to all of our winners and thanks to everyone who took part in Train & Gain.

Posted by Faustina Clifford, AdWords Train & Gain team.

We’re so excited to announce the first AdWords Train & Gain challenge.

You’ve asked us for recommendations of things you should be doing with your AdWords account, so we’ve put together a series of simple steps to help you become more successful with your online advertising.

The AdWords Train & Gain challenge starts October 4th. You’re invited to participate.
Simply sign up, and you’ll receive a weekly list of simple steps for improving your AdWords account. Then, sign in to your account twice a week, and take the suggested actions on how to better manage your account. At the end of four weeks, you’ll have learned a lot of different ways that you could improve your AdWords account. And if you completed all the steps, you could win an Android Phone. Or even a free consultation with an AdWords expert in Google’s Sydney office.

Sign up for AdWords Train & Gain

Here’s a sneak peak of what you’ll be focusing on.

• Improve ad texts: Write ads that highlight your most competitive features: Low price, special services, free delivery, etc.
• Use negative keywords: Specify which search terms you don’t want your ad to appear on. This will help you keep costs down because it prevents clicks from people looking for things you don’t offer.
• Start tracking sales/leads: See where your ad spend is working best and focus your money on the efforts that are generating business.

We hope you’ll sign up for AdWords Train & Gain, so you can see for yourself: it really doesn’t take a lot of time to make a big difference for your business. Learn more.

Also, if you’re ever looking to learn more about your AdWords account, you’ll also want to check out our brand new AdWords Small Business Centre. The site is a central AdWords learning hub for small and medium businesses. It allows you to explore beginner, intermediate or advanced AdWords topics and connects you to the latest AdWords news and best practices, all easy-to-find in one place.

Posted by Jo Hainsworth, Google AdWords Team

We want to let know about the free online training modules available from Google in the AdWords Online Classroom. The modules cover a variety of topics and below we've highlighted some conversion related courses that we think will interest Conversion Room visitors.

There’s a range of 10-20 minute long courses available on demand, so you can learn from a Google expert at a time that's convenient for you!

Some of the on demand conversion related courses that may be of interest to you include:

• Maximise your advertising ROI with Conversion Optimiser
• Track your AdWords ROI using Google Analytics
• Set up your Analytics account to track ROI
• Get the most from your website with Website Optimiser

Visit the site today and bookmark the page so you can take advantage of these free trainings at any time.

James Toepfer, Google Customer Marketing Manager