Case Study: 1-800-PetMeds
Consumers often conduct research for considered purchases such as pet medications, searching for and visiting several sites before actually completing a sale. By combining search engine marketing with behavioral retargeting, 1-800-PetMeds was able to drive a high-volume of pre-qualified searchers to its site and convert those site visitors into paying customers.
While search provided the volume of traffic the advertiser desired, behavioral retargeting helped make the most of that traffic - increasing the overall efficiency of the campaign. In fact, site visitors were over four times more likely to click on a retargeted advertisement and purchase a product.
During a period of just four months, OutSearch delivered tens of thousands of online purchases - well within the advertiser's desired costs-per-sale.
Executive Summary
Americans love their pets. In fact, Americans are expected to spend about $38.4 billion this year on their four-legged friends, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. Our devotion to animals has created a huge opportunity for PetMed Express, a company that dominates a lucrative specialty - prescription animal drugs sold outside the traditional veterinarian's office channel . However, as the company's signature 1-800-PetMeds TV ads became increasingly expensive, they started to think about expanding their online marketing efforts in order to increase the efficiency of their marketing initiatives.
Testimonial
"The OutSearch team has excellent insight into the industry and their technology is second to none. We're extremely satisfied with the sales growth and ROI improvement that OutSearch has helped us achieve."
Alex Irvin, Online Program Director, 1-800-PetMeds
Products / Solutions Used
- OutSearch™ Search Engine Marketing
- Behavioral Marketing
Strategy
The OutSearch team developed an integrated online strategy employing both search engine marketing and behavioral retargeting in order to drive traffic and increase conversions on the 1-800-PetMeds website. The goal of this two-pronged strategy was to increase online sales while lowering costs per sale - and ultimately increasing overall ROI.
First, our search team evaluated all of 1-800-PetMeds.com's keywords to quantify the best starting bid price. Initially, bids were evaluated based on previous campaign performance. As we acquired more real-time data, we were able to leverage our automated bid management technology to adjust bids based on how keywords were actually performing - i.e., what terms were resulting in sales, how much each term cost, and what the overall return was for 1-800-PetMeds.com.
In addition, our creative team continually monitored listing performance through click-through rate (CTR) testing - rotating out ads that did not have a strong CTR. We also continually evaluated keyword activity against 1-800 PetMeds.com's ROI goals - adding terms that were likely to generate sales at a positive ROI.
This strategy ensured that 1-800-PetMeds.com's campaign spending was directed only toward the most lucrative terms.
While search marketing is highly effective in driving both traffic and purchases, consumers often search for and research several sites before completing an action. In order to capitalize on the traffic generated by the search campaigns, OutSearch employed its LeadBack® behavioral solutions to retarget consumers who visited 1-800-PetMeds.com but did not purchase a product. After exiting the site, consumers were targeted across Advertising.com's extensive website network with customized ads designed to drive them back to the advertiser's site to complete a purchase.