Tactically Increasing Qualified Leads

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Overview:

JDXpert is the industry-leading job description management solution. Their web-based solution allows customers to bring structure and efficiency to the way they construct, manage, and store job information. With a robust feature set and flexible platform, JDXpert offers an unparalleled solution that empowers effective talent management, amps up compensation, manages risk, and keeps it simple.

Challenge:

Improve Conversion Tracking

A primary challenge we faced was that there were leads being generated by ads, but only MQLs. The subsequent lead stages (offline conversions) were not being tracked, and as a result, there was little insight into what campaigns were driving more qualified leads (SQLs).

Drive down MQL cost/Reduce spam leads

Another challenge we faced was inefficiencies in their Google Ads strategy that led to a relatively high CPA. There were lead acquisition channels that were not generating relevant leads and were draining resources with little to no gains. Identifying these channels and either optimizing them or redirecting investment was important to improve overall performance metrics.

Expand Number of MQLs + Expand LinkedIn Ads MQLs

A final challenge was increasing the number of leads generated for this solution. The lead strategy had plateaued and required a thorough review, including assessing the targeted audiences/segments, leveraging data analytics to identify growth opportunities, and evaluating what lead magnets could be utilized.

LinkedIn Ads was also mainly used as a lead magnet tool, but not to secure more bottom-of-funnel demo bookings.

Platforms Leveraged:

• Google Ads
• Microsoft Ads
• LinkedIn Ads
• YouTube Ads
• HubSpot

Strategies & Execution:

Offline conversion tracking setup

- Ensuring all conversions were being tracked was our first priority to ensure that the Google Ads algorithm was getting the correct data. Inaccurate conversion data is one of the top reasons why the algorithm can regress in an account and lead to underperformance. We worked with the marketing team to identify, set up, and test all lead stages from SQL to closed customers, ensuring all were being imported back correctly into the Google Ads account. We also identified a few gaps in conversions that were not being tracked, including many form submissions and lead magnets.

After setting this up, we were able to start assigning values to each conversion action and test more robust automated bid strategies, understanding that Google’s algorithm could now assign a higher value to more qualified leads (e.g. SQL) versus less qualified leads (e.g. MQL).

MQL cost Reduction measures:

- Changed bid strategies from automated to Enhanced CPC. Due to the low volume of conversions, the automated strategy was operating inefficiently as there was not enough data for the algorithm to optimize and scale.

- Removed all broad match keywords. The search terms report identified a high volume of irrelevant clicks, and we focused on improving impression share for the highest-value keywords only.

- Removed Google Ad Display Network from all campaigns, as this channel has been known for higher levels of spam compared to others and was a significant lag in this account.

Increase Lead Volume measures:

- Expanded LinkedIn Ads strategy to include campaigns for booked demo CTAs.

- Tested various audiences, offers, and creatives within LinkedIn Ads to target JDXpert’s ideal customer profile (ICP).

- Added Bing Search to increase lead volume with high-quality leads at comparable CPAs to Google.

- Created custom audiences based on data for the ideal customer profile.

- Added Demand Gen (formerly Discovery) Campaigns, allocating budget to both demand capture (search) and high-quality demand creation campaigns (display, Demand Gen, YouTube). Using the newly created custom audiences, we built out a robust demand creation strategy to ensure efforts were not solely dependent on Google search and increased the brand's presence in the upper/middle funnel.

- Added YouTube campaigns for increased upper-funnel presence.

Results:

YoY, we saw a 116% increase in monthly SQLs while reducing our cost per MQL in search by 26%. LinkedIn Ads saw a 433% increase in MQLs as ongoing testing provided insights into highly effective creatives, offers, and audiences.

Improved conversion tracking led to improved algorithm performance on the Google Ads side. We diligently set up and captured all relevant conversions on the site by increasing from 2 to 11 tracked actions, including offline conversions (e.g., SQLs) and all lead magnet conversions.