Today, one of our project directors presented the initial results of a campaign that our firm worked hard on.
Hot damn, I was impressed!
But it seemed like our client missed how great it really was.
This campaign had it all: tricky engineering tasks, a comprehensive analytics setup, martech configuration, campaign creative, and agile project management throughout. We deployed what I believe was an exceptional campaign.
Note: I say “we,” but I didn’t do anything because I just started here. The team I am fortunate to have joined did the kick-ass job. Well done, esteemed colleagues.
To avoid naming the client, some of what I describe below will be a little ambiguous. But the attributes of this campaign’s success are all real—and they’re what an ideal campaign should have.
Here are the 7 key attributes that make this a model campaign.
A Benchmark for Improvement
First of all, the campaign is live, collecting data, and contributing positively to the client’s growth goals. Having a live campaign with real benchmarks is an excellent starting point and a win in my book.
Think of how many campaigns die on the vine. A campaign that actually goes live and shows data in a full funnel analytics report, from impressions all the way to revenue-based conversions, is a first step to be proud of.
Correct and Comprehensive Data Collection
As we reviewed the campaign with the client in more detail, it was clear that the data was being collected properly. Views, site and email conversions, revenue attribution, funnel drop-off, source, medium, and other valuable UTM data points were all there. We could see high-level performance data and dive deeper in multiple analytics and business intelligence tools.
Having all the data from the start makes the campaign’s validity a whole lot easier to prove and creates opportunities for immediate insights…instead of having a lot of questions and few answers.
Good data? Chiggity check.
Data Validation
Not only did the campaign have data rolling through the funnel, but every key variable also had data validation. In this campaign, I was able to view and analyze data about channel, campaign, and locations at the four most important places in the funnel:
- User sees the offer
- User accepts the offer (provides personally identifiable information)
- User clicks on the CTA in the follow-up email trigger
- User completes a transaction and converts to revenue
There was enough data in each of these conversion stages to accept data validation throughout the funnel. That’s a critical step for a successful campaign.
Winner winner, tofu dinner? Can’t remember the saying…
Improved Performance Metrics
The metrics are what first caught my attention and inspired this entire article…written the same day…on an airplane…at nine o’clock at night.
The other 6 attributes are just icing on the cake.
Another note: there was no cake, but there should have been.
Lo and behold, the conversion rate on this campaign was higher than every other campaign that ran during the same time period. I hit up the presenter and campaign manager and the conversation went something like:
Me: “well done.”
Campaign manager: “thanks.”
Me: “I’m surprised there’s not more excitement about this finding.”
Campaign manager: “I know.”
Is a campaign win still a win if nobody else sees it? Yes, yes it is.
Ability to Scale
Another successful dimension of this campaign was that we don’t have to do anything else to the workflow and it’s going to continue to produce for the life of the campaign. If the company can do nothing except increase their traffic, this campaign’s revenue will scale.
That’s huge. This company has an automated campaign with proven metrics that is beating current campaign controls and that will continue to produce more revenue as more visitors are exposed to it. If they get their Google rankings up, they’ll get more revenue from the campaign. Add in PPC or other paid traffic and scaled revenue is almost guaranteed.
This campaign nailed scale opportunity.
Caveat: Like with any traffic scale goals, the increased traffic should be of a similar make-up as the current audience that converts in order for the campaign to scale. With consistent targeting, however, that shouldn’t be a problem.
Further Testing and Optimization Opportunities
Even though we can scale just by driving more exposure, who wants to settle? This is the first iteration of the campaign (making it even more impressive).
There are conversion points up and down the funnel that can be tested, like the initial CTA copy/design and the follow-up email CTA/design. Heck, I don’t even know if there is a multi-touch email campaign or remarketing program yet.
And don’t forget the site’s transactional process itself. While that process is part of the site-wide conversion path and is having independent CRO/testing done on it, any positive impacts made there improve this highlighted campaign as well.
Having a campaign that’s already successful with plenty of room for improvement should be celebrated. Check another box and make a toast while we’re at it?
Yet another note: we already toasted to this campaign’s amazingness. Sorry you missed it.
Staying Power
Did I mention the campaign was evergreen? Maybe you could tell by this point, but it’s worth noting separately. This campaign has likely become a staple to our client that can last the lifetime of the business.
It’s pertinent and useful to the site’s audience, it drives tangible business results, and nothing about the overall offer and automated workflow could get stale. Copy and visual design may need to be refreshed, but that’s a simple fix. The campaign’s foundation is solid and long lasting.
Ultimately, what we have here is:
- a freshly launched evergreen campaign,
- with benchmarked and data validation on critical funnel metrics,
- that is beating controls (aka comparable campaigns),
- that can scale as is,
- and that has room for testing and improvement.
If that’s not a successful campaign to cheer about, I don’t know what is.
Now that you have this checklist of successful campaign attributes, you can better celebrate when you’ve launched a campaign that checks these boxes.
When you make it happen, save us some cake.
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