Increasing Conversions in Google Ads at Different Stages of the Sales Funnel

This time, rather than focusing solely on the campaign itself, we’ll concentrate on several external factors. Optimizing these elements will directly impact your sales results. It’s important to recognize that platforms like Facebook, Google Ads, or SEO are not new forms of marketing or secret tools for generating sales. Instead, they should be viewed as additional online advertising channels. The success of a campaign depends on many factors, which we’ll attempt to frame within the well-known 4P model, or marketing mix. This concept includes the following elements:

Product: Everything you offer, including the USP (Unique Selling Proposition), technological process, brand, service, or warranty.

Price: The cost a customer must pay to acquire the product. Price directly affects demand and the conversion rate. For high-priced products, expect lower demand and a lower conversion rate.

Place (Distribution): All activities that lead to delivering the product to the customer. In the contexts we’re discussing, the primary sales channel is your website, making UX/UI efforts crucial as they directly influence the conversion rate.

Promotion: Marketing activities defined as the brand’s communication with the consumer. This includes PR efforts, promotions, and, of course, online campaigns.

The 4P theory has evolved over time, leading to variations such as the 8P model, which also includes people, processes, programs, and performance. According to the marketing mix definition, the overall success, particularly sales, is determined by all these areas. The graphic below illustrates the individual components of the modern marketing mix.

Source: author’s own

If we want to talk about a successful campaign, we need to optimize each of the areas mentioned. For large companies with a conscious approach to marketing and dedicated marketing specialists, our tasks are simplified. We typically focus on aligning the appropriate Google and Facebook tools with specific goals. In the case of small businesses, we often take on the role of marketing advisor, assisting clients in optimizing key areas of the marketing mix, such as defining unique product features, brand promotion, promotional offers, or UI/UX recommendations. This is the added value of working with Delante specialists.

You’ve likely heard promises of increasing revenue by a certain percentage right after launching a campaign. Don’t fall for it! This becomes particularly problematic for startups, which, lured by such promises, opt for this form of advertising without optimizing the other areas of the marketing mix. To achieve satisfactory results, you must work on multiple fronts, with Google/Meta Ads being just one of the channels for driving traffic or reaching audiences. Are promises of a certain percentage increase baseless? Absolutely, unless they are preceded by a thorough analysis. It’s a different story when a reliable estimation is conducted, considering factors such as previously run campaigns, other advertising efforts, and the overall marketing mix. Without such groundwork, any potential increase would be purely coincidental.

Many companies use Google Ads primarily for direct sales. While this isn’t a bad approach, it’s essential to remember that Google Search and the AdSense network offer a much broader range of capabilities that can achieve various goals, not just sales. Some clients who plan to start promoting their business through Google or Facebook Ads often focus on short-term objectives like direct sales. Although this might be the most sensible approach for certain industries, considering today’s market realities—where hyper-competition is common—it’s far from optimal. For clients who are either achieving satisfactory campaign results or just starting out, we recommend taking a broader view of the available marketing tools. When preparing your strategy, consider long-term goals that will ultimately lead to significant sales improvements. The most important short- and long-term goals include:

Short-term Goals:

• ad impressions and reach,
• website traffic,
• direct responses like sales, lead submissions, or contacting the company after visiting the site,
• subscribing to a YouTube channel, liking a Facebook page, or engaging with a post.

Long-term Goals:

• building brand awareness,
• positioning the brand in the minds of the audience,
• increasing customer loyalty,
• boosting the number of customer recommendations.

These are goals you can achieve directly using Google & Facebook Ads campaigns. Most of them can be effectively measured using tools like Google Analytics or Facebook’s dashboard.

Google has developed its own version of the customer journey, which partially aligns with the well-known sales funnel model, AIDA. The four steps of the customer journey according to Google are:

1. Show that your product exists.
2. Generate interest in the product.
3. Encourage action.
4. Ensure return visits and recommendations.

Source: author’s own

According to P.H. Kotler, contemporary marketing efforts should aim to build a base of loyal customers who will recommend their products. All your brand-related activities should ultimately achieve this goal. When building a marketing strategy, from raising awareness to purchase and referrals, ensure a strong bond between the customer and the company or brand. We want to highlight one more point mentioned by Kotler: users can migrate and change their roles in the sales funnel. A user does not necessarily have to move from awareness to a potential customer; they might become a customer directly. A user can also recommend the brand without ever being a customer.

We run campaigns in Google and Facebook Ads across four stages of the sales funnel: building brand awareness, reaching potential customers, driving sales, and fostering loyalty.

The Google Display Network (GDN) and Facebook ads can be effectively used to achieve goals at any stage of the buying journey. Remember to tailor the message to each specific goal. Different ads will be used at the brand awareness stage compared to the sales stage. It can be said that the primary goal of GDN campaigns is to reach the audience with the message before they start searching for keywords in the search engine. Search network campaigns, such as sponsored links and product ads, are best suited for achieving sales goals. We target individuals actively searching for specific products or services in real-time. Our aim is to achieve a high share of impressions and generate the highest possible CTR. This format has the highest conversion rate. If the other elements of the marketing mix are well-aligned, the likelihood of sales increases. Search network ads can also be used to reach potential customers through content strategies. For this purpose, you can use blogs discussing issues relevant to the products offered.

Ideally, you should run campaigns across each stage of the sales funnel. This approach will increase both the number of potential customers and the conversion rate. Higher levels directly impact the lower ones. By focusing on brand awareness, you’ll increase the number of potential customers who will eventually become clients and, at the final stage of the funnel, recommend your products and services. Today, customers can migrate through the stages of the funnel, changing their roles. They might become customers immediately. Impulse purchases are an example of this. A customer might convert directly from an ad by making a phone call, sending a form, or downloading an app. Additionally, users can recommend a brand without ever being a customer.

Source: author’s own

To conclude, let’s discuss how you can increase your profit. Most companies, when conducting marketing activities, aim to monetize them as quickly as possible. Given the capabilities of e-marketing and analytics, you can assess the profitability of various actions and advertising areas. It is not surprising, then, that some entrepreneurs focus solely on short-term goals. However, neglecting long-term goals limits the potential for generating profits over time.

You can increase final profit (ROI or ROAS) by either reducing costs or increasing revenue.

Reducing Costs: This can relate to the campaign itself, such as lowering CPC or pausing campaigns with the lowest ROAS. Cost reduction also includes operational and production expenses for the company.

Increasing Revenue: This improves ROI/ROAS and should translate into greater profit. This can be achieved through optimizing UX/UI, conducting in-store promotional activities, enhancing the offer (e.g., adjusting product/service costs), optimizing the conversion rate, and increasing investment in the most effective campaigns.

Raising Prices: This can improve financial results, though it might reduce sales volume. Research on Polish e-consumers shows that price is the main determinant in e-commerce decisions. A higher price may increase revenue but simultaneously decrease demand, potentially resulting in lower profit.

Number of Conversions: Can be increased by lowering prices or boosting demand.

One of the key indicators affecting the final financial result of a business is conversion. With properly implemented analytics tools, you can effectively measure user behavior and conversion rates. Based on this, you can assess the sales quality of your site. You can improve this rate by optimizing the website or testing UX/UI solutions. Detailed site analysis and A/B testing to enhance the conversion rate are crucial areas for client website work. When analyzing conversions, consider various touchpoints between the customer and the site/brand. Most users perform multiple actions before conversion. Conversion rarely happens on the first visit. While impulse purchases do occur, they are relatively few. Before making a purchase, a customer reads reviews about the product and company, compares offers on marketplaces or price comparison sites, and sometimes seeks opinions on forums or social media.

Effectively increasing conversions in Google Ads requires a strategic approach at every stage of the sales process. The first step is to understand the behaviors and needs of potential customers, and then tailor campaigns to meet their expectations. Additionally, optimizing ads for targeting, content, and calls to action not only increases the number of conversions but also builds long-term relationships with customers. Investing in each phase of the sales funnel leads to more effective campaigns and greater profits for the company.