128% higher conversion rate with RLSA for Shopping campaigns
Cruiser Customizing is a leading online destination for motorcycle riders to accessorize their motorcycles and socialize with other bikers. Since 2001, Cruiser Customizing has specialized in aftermarket motorcycle parts and accessories for Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Harley Davidson, and more. These results were highlighted in an official Google case study and featured on the Inside AdWords blog.
Isolating Valuable Visitors
Cruiser Customizing worked with Metric Theory on a Google Shopping campaign that focused exclusively on Kuryakyn, one of its top brands. To target people searching for Kuryakyn products, Metric Theory used the remarketing lists for search ads (RLSA) feature in Google AdWords. RLSA lets Cruiser Customizing show ads to users who have previously visited its website without making a purchase. Those visitors are generally more valuable to Cruiser Customizing because they’ve already interacted with the company.
“When those visitors return to Google and see the Shopping ads for Kuryakyn,” says Jeremy Brown, Chief Marketing Officer, Metric Theory, “we’re willing to pay more for that traffic because we know that they’re likely already interested and ready to purchase. And they’re more likely to convert at a better rate. It allows us to bid more aggressively and capture a higher impression share.” Bidding competitively is a key consideration. As Brown points out, “If your bid isn’t competitive enough, your ad may not stand a chance in the auction or even show up on the page.”
Metric Theory Strategy
By increasing bids, Metric Theory drove more volume and increased conversions since those previous visitors were more likely to convert. This is what produced such a strong ROAS increase for Cruiser Customizing. “This is huge because there are times and auctions when people enter in search queries and our client’s Shopping ads are not always showing up,” explains Brown. “Kuryakyn is a key brand for Cruiser Customizing. So now for those previous visitors who are much more likely to convert, we can show up more frequently with a higher impression share, and thus drive more opportunities to get a sale.”
To drive even stronger results, Metric Theory combined RLSA with time-decay remarketing, which targets people who have visited Cruiser Customizing’s site within the past three days. These more recent visitors are usually engaged in a comparison shopping cycle. “It’s valuable when someone’s been to the site before,” says Brown. “But it’s even more valuable if they’ve recently been to the site.” So Metric Theory bid even higher and more aggressively for that audience. For this three-day RLSA audience, Metric Theory saw a 167% improvement in the conversion rate and a whopping 344% higher ROAS compared to non-RLSA searchers.
Performance Improvements
66%
increase in Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
128%
increase in conversion rate
78%
increase in clickthrough rate
