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Many B2B SAS companies will see a dropping
conversions from PPC from time to time.

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We've talked a lot about how to diagnose
a drop in liens, but no worries.

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This scarier for a marketing team,
the one they're investing large

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portions of their budget into a
channel that suddenly stops performing.

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And because there's lots of moving
parts in paid media campaigns.

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Each ad platform, having its own
quirks, specifications and best

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practices, it can be especially
troubling for SAS marketing teams who

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are experiencing a drop in conversions.

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This episode outlines how to diagnose
a drop in paid media conversions

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and how we fix the problems we find.

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We'll dive into the following.

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How to diagnose your drop-in
conversions from paid media.

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The most common reasons
paid media conversions drop.

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And how to fix each of the major causes
of paid media conversions dropping.

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Marc: I'm Marc Thomas.

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I'm the head of growth
at powered by search.

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And today I'm going to talk you through
some of the best knowledge that we

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have on building B2B SaaS businesses.

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Now, if any of this is interesting
to you and you want to read more,

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you should go to our website.

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It's poweredbysearch.com
and check us out there.

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Before we dive into how to diagnose
the source of paid media conversions,

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dropping and have to fix each one.

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Let's take a look at this story of
one of our clients who saw a 100%

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drop in conversions from paid media.

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During a 48 hour period.

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Our client noticed a precipitous
drop in conversions from paid media.

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The first order of business
was to identify the issue.

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And this case, we found out that
the issue was not that the lead flow

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decreased because they were still
seeing new leads in their funnel.

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It was, the conversions were not being
reported within the ad platform itself.

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That led us to check if
our tracking was broken.

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It turns out that a website update
had broken that conversion tracking.

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Unfortunately, this caused a 48 hour
blackout period where no conversions

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were tracked within Google ads at all.

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This was a major issue because we were
using a target CPA bidding strategy.

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That requires frequent inputs.

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That's conversions for the
algorithm to optimize effectively.

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They went from a high volume of
conversions down to zero, which caused

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the algorithm effectively to reset.

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To solve this particular problem.

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We immediately reached out to Google
ads to request the blackout period,

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be removed from the account history,
preventing the algorithm from referencing

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that period in future auctions.

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We then offered our client two options.

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Option one.

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Maximize conversions.

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The downside of this was that
it would significantly increase

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the cost per acquisition.

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They would quickly get back to the number
of conversions that they were used to, but

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they'd have to pay between three to five
times the normal cost until the algorithm

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could complete its learning phase.

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Again.

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This was not ideal.

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Option to continue as normal.

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This meant that we could continue with
the usual bidding strategy and keep a

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stable CPA over a set recovery period.

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Eventually leveling out the conversion
rate back to our initial numbers.

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It took around six weeks to
recover for me two day gap.

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With this solution, we dealt with
the repercussions of the 48 hour

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downtime for a longer period, but
we kept the CPA low, which was a

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critical consideration for the client.

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Now that we've talked a little
bit about what could go wrong

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when there's a drop in paid media.

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Let's look at how you diagnose
your problems and remedy them.

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Identifying why you may be experiencing
a sudden drop in conversions.

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Doesn't have to be a guessing game.

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Here are a few ways to determine
what the cause could be.

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First.

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Identify if conversions
are declining at all.

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To do this review, Google analytics
to evaluate how your conversion

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rates compare across all channels.

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To check those rates, go to
acquisition, all traffic source, medium.

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And select the conversion you're
optimizing for in the dropdown.

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Now I've included in the accompany
and blog posts, screenshots showing

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you where to go and what to do.

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So if you want to check those out.

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There's a link in the show notes.

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To see where the conversions have dropped
relative to previous periods, select the

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compare to option in the date range field.

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From here, you'll be able to
see whether a drop in leads

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has impacted specific channels.

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Check the conversions
are firing correctly.

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It's important that you can identify
when this is the cause of your problem.

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And it's more common
than you might imagine.

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Load your landing page with
test UTM parameters so that you

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can identify yourself easily.

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To make this easy at use
Google campaigns, URL, builder.

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There's a link in the post.

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Take the generated URL and
load it in the browser.

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And to your information into the lead
capture form on your landing page.

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Being sure to only do that when you're on
the landing page with test UTM parameters.

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So you can identify yourself quickly.

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Determine if it's tracking correctly.

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You can do this by going to look at
the Google analytics real time report.

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So you go to real-time
and then traffic sources.

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In our screenshot, we can see that the
test is firing correctly as there's

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an active user with the medium test
and the source test on the page.

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If it's not that you'll know
that there's an issue, you may

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need to wait a few seconds.

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It's also important that you check your
conversion event is firing correctly.

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To do that.

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And you can check on the
real-time traffic sources tab

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with your page and goal selected.

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This is an important and simple way
to ensure that everything including

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gold tracking is working correctly.

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Oh, quick note.

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If you use Google tag manager
on your site, you can quickly go

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into debug mode and walk through
that landing page experience.

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At the bottom of GTM, you can
find information that shows which

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conversions fire on what pages.

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And also if you've made the
switch to Google analytics for you

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have access to similar debugging
features, right inside of analytics.

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Check the change history.

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If you see conversions have
indeed declined on all tracking

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is working correctly as it should.

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Move on to reviewing the change
history of your ad accounts.

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There's typically something sparing this
change, and it could be a simple update

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that you made recently to your campaigns.

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So now let's look at the most common
causes of paid media conversion, declines.

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Often, there's not one particular
reason that your conversions may drop.

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Rather, there can be several
contributing factors.

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So we're going to walk
through some of those.

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Now.

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Starting with conversion
tracking, being broken.

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Conversion tracking.

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Breaking is one of the most common
reasons that we see for drastic

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fluctuations in performance reporting.

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If conversions are not tracking correctly,
due to errors with tracking pixels goal

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setup or the platform specific problems.

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Your reporting will be inaccurate
and performance impacted.

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Without accurate data.

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It's exceedingly difficult to prove
the efficacy of your ad campaigns

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and provide ROI data to your team.

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You can keep an eye on performance
metrics via Google analytics.

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So to do that, you would go to
conversions goals, overview.

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Select the goal that you want to review.

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Ensuring that your date
ranges are correct.

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And then from here, crosscheck,
what actions are most recently

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counted as conversions?

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All using platform data.

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So Facebook, LinkedIn, Google ads, bang.

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They all have their own way of tracking
performance metrics, but largely

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reflect the analytic setup of showing
conversions in a table for each campaign.

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There were a few places
that tracking can fail.

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Right now you can make sure
that your tracking is set up

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correctly on the ads platform.

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So Facebook, Google, LinkedIn.

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Google analytics.

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Or on the CRM.

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So if you're using HubSpot
on my keto or whatever it is,

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Each platform also comes with
its own nuances and changes

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that affect the auction.

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They can contribute to a
decline in conversions also.

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For example, if your campaign is
limited by budget, your ads will

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not appear in all of the auctions
that they are eligible for.

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Google ads.

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We'll let you know that your
campaigns are limited by budget

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with a limited by budget label.

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And it's important to increase your
budget, to maximize your impression.

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Share.

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Another thing you may see with
Google ads is that the quality score.

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Which writes the overall user experience,
your ads and landing page provide when

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use a search for your keywords is down.

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This can make or break how
often your ad is actually shown.

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Your quality score is calculated
based on the combined performance

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of three main components, namely
expected CTR click through rate.

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That's the likelihood that your
ad will be clicked when shown.

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Ad relevance.

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How closely your ad matches the
intent behind a user search.

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If Google deems that your ad may
have loosely relevant offering

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copy or creative, you'll see
a decreased ad performance.

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And then landing page experience.

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That's how relevant and valuable your
landing pages to people who click your ad.

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Finally a new competitor entering the
auction space or an existing competitor

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bidding more aggressively on the same
keywords can impact performance too.

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It's important to monitor the auction
insights reports to understand changes

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in the competitive landscape properly.

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Uh, pool at landing page experiences next.

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Creating the perfect landing
page experience is methodical.

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We've written and talked extensively about
how to create landing pages that convert

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and the systems that we use to ensure
that SAS landing pages are performing.

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Even if a page is converting well,
technical issues can cause your

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landing page experience to suffer.

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You should review those experiences
from time to time, we recommend using

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Google's page speed insights tool for a
checklist to improve on specific pages.

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Remember to focus on the mobile
experience in particular, this is

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increasingly important and an area of
improvement from most SAS companies.

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Then work with the adapt team as
needed to make changes where necessary.

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Improving your landing page experience
can impact your quality score on

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Google, which we discussed earlier.

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Then add or offer fatigue
is another problem.

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Ad creative fatigue happens when
your audience is served your ads

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at such high frequency that they
become desensitized effectively.

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You can identify if you've reached out
fatigue by my, by monitoring frequency

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and changes in CTR week on week.

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We recommend refreshing creative every
three to four weeks on paid social and

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every two to three months on paid search

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to combat ad fatigue.

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Your audience may also
experience offer fatigue.

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If the frequency in which they've
seen your offer is too high.

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if you suspect off of fatigue,
is the culprit test anyone?

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If your offer is a case study, download,
try testing a guide or a calculator.

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You can test different types of
offers at each stage of the funnel.

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And then seasonality.

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Depending on your product, location
or business type, you might be

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subject to different buying cycles.

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The seasonality is unavoidable.

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All companies experienced
this in some form.

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Although seasonality will likely impact
your company's paid media performance.

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Don't assume that this is the reason
for your recent DEP and conversions.

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Instead back it up by digging
deep into your analytics.

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Prioritize a quick scan for any
technical problems that can be

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solved first to rule them out.

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If everything is working in
the backend, seasonality may be

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harming your conversion rates.

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As you learn, which seasons impact
your business the most and the least.

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You can prepare for these fluctuations
and accelerate your marketing activities

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in the time leading up to the drop.

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This way.

00:11:59.619 --> 00:12:03.219
You can maintain consistency and
conversions through an anticipated.

00:12:03.639 --> 00:12:05.769
And unfortunately inevitable decline.

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To identify what seasons caused
your conversions to wane.

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Examined year over year analytics
to see if these depths have a kid

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before and look for patterns to debug
this, check out our article on how to

00:12:18.612 --> 00:12:23.802
diagnose a sudden dropping leads, which
goes much deeper into seasonality.

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Let's pull this all together.

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Drops in paid conversions from
time to time are entirely normal.

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Unexpected.

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Companies that have a process to diagnose,
identify and fix the major causes

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of drops in paid media conversions.

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We'll avoid potential significant revenue,
losses, and missing quarterly targets.

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Fortunately, there are ways to solve
your conversion rate decreases.

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Bringing it back to where it was or higher
may take time, but not if you act fast.

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Uh, by debugging and following the
process that we've shared above.

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You'll be well equipped to
take on any unexpected dips and

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your paid media conversions.

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I'll see you next time.

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Marc: now, if you enjoyed that
today and you want to do something

00:13:10.772 --> 00:13:13.922
about your B2B SaaS marketing,
you should get in touch with us.

00:13:14.522 --> 00:13:18.272
You can do that by going to
poweredbysearch.com and checking

00:13:18.272 --> 00:13:19.682
out our assessment page.

00:13:20.582 --> 00:13:23.852
Or you can browse the case studies
and blogs that we have on the site.

00:13:24.782 --> 00:13:27.962
Now if you're not ready to do
that, definitely say hi anyway,

00:13:28.472 --> 00:13:29.762
you can ping me on Twitter.

00:13:30.152 --> 00:13:33.212
I'm @iammarcthomas that's Marc with a C.

00:13:34.022 --> 00:13:37.772
Or you can ping our founder and CEO,
@devbasu and connect with us there.

00:13:38.852 --> 00:13:41.582
Looking forward to seeing you
again for another episode.