3 Simple Ways to Optimize SEM Spend

Lots of the marketers I meet are in a bind.

Budgets are shrinking as boardroom pressure mounts. Every campaign dollar needs a purpose.

And yet—try as they may—their SEM campaigns just won’t generate decent revenue.

Why?

Because they don’t get one simple truth (yet):

**Wasted SEM spend often stems from inefficiencies after the click, not before it**

Knowing and acting on this before your competitors do is a surefire way to outperform them.

Here are three ways to cut SEM costs while increasing ROI:

Search ads are easy to get right.

They’re low-hanging fruit for growing traffic (if you’ll excuse the marketing cliche).

But if users hit a wall of poor experience after clicking, they’ll disappear fast. And leave you back at the start with nada to show for your SEM investment.

So, the first fix is to reduce your landing pages’ bounce rates by improving:

For example, I clicked on a search ad for Wyndham’s rewards program and got plenty of guidance for next steps:

Whether I want to learn more about the program, explore specific deals, or just sign up (depending on where I am in my research process), I know where to go. No digging is required.

In other words, landing page optimization enable seamless customer journeys. They make converting easy.

And that’s valuable when you consider 77% of consumers deem convenience “critical” to their buying experience.

Smarter targeting means fewer irrelevant (i.e., wasted) clicks. First-party data is your secret weapon for making it happen.

You can use the following to create targeted campaigns that attract the right people:

Here’s a real example.

I’ve been looking for a personalized greeting card. VistaPrint knows I’m interested because I visited their site briefly, so they show me this Google ad:

My page visit implies I’m researching card design companies and don’t have a go-to retailer—so there’s a good chance I’ll be interested in getting “25% off” my first order.

By targeting in-market buyers (like me) with introductory offer ads, VistaPrint reduces wasted clicks from people outside this group who are much less likely to convert.

Using your own data like this sounds obvious, and I guess it is. But it’s also super effective.

BCG found companies that integrate first-party data sources for marketing purposes see double the incremental value from ad placements and a 1.5x improvement in cost efficiency.

Get comfortable with the fact that not every lead who’s destined to buy will convert immediately.

That’s why lifecycle marketing is so important.

By nurturing through a range of channels—like SMS, email, and retargeted ads—you stay connected and relevant until prospective customers are ready.

Take UF Health Center, for example. 

An automated email campaign allowed them to maintain communication with potential patients who had given contact details but not booked appointments.

Building that bridge with a little lifecycle marketing—instead of just assuming a single click would be enough—worked wonders. 

The practice is now booked up months in advance.

Reducing SEM costs doesn’t mean cutting back or cutting corners—it means cutting waste.

Optimize your landing pages. Target your ideal customers. Build strong, mutually beneficial relationships.

You’ll soon find every ad click starts to count again.

—Shamir

Smart Panda Labs helps B2C enterprise companies drive more revenue with less ad spend by planning, building and managing post-click digital experiences.

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