Adwords demographics: Adopt best practices.

The use of demographic data in Adwords allows advertisers to modify advertising offers based on the user’s stated or presumed demographics. And to get to the top of the first page of Google at a lower cost

The campaign manager’s good correlation of this data combined with search terms (keywords) can improve cost per action (CPA) by directing spend to the targeted user segments.

Which campaigns are concerned?

“Demo” data works best with keywords that aren’t the most competitive

• Campaigns with an average position (avg position) of 2nd: These are the files, the ideal candidates,. Demographics allow advertisers to raise bids for a high-value subset of traffic without significantly increasing the overall budget committed.
• Campaigns with an average position between 1 and 1.9: they are still good candidates, as they can add generic keywords to ad groups. The manager must make sure to test many generic keywords in new Adwords ad groups (Adgroups), in order to produce “granularized” reports.
• Campaigns with a low average conversion rate: They have the opportunity to isolate / identify users who have a high conversion potential with appropriate offers and messaging.

Auction

Included as a self-bidding signal in Conversion Optimizer. You can’t add demographic targeting to a Target CPA/ROAS campaign.

eCPC: The +/-30% will be calculated based on the demo, but if you have created an offer modifier, it will be applied after the eCPC modifier.

Implementation

View performance reports for each population segment chosen in the “Audiences” menu under the “Demographics” submenu of the AdWords user interface

Optimize offers for non-performance reporting segments of the population

If a segment of the population is a lower-value customer base or is not performing as well as the other segments, the recommendation is to apply a negative offer modifier (using exclusions that completely restrict traffic)

If a large portion of the traffic is set as “unknown,” check to see if users have a low CTR. If so, most likely a lot of your impressions come from the research partners. In this case, look at the click coverage or make a custom report to .com traffic.

The following implementation methods are used for the demo: AWE, AWFE, API.

Performance reports

Reports for all target population segments will appear in the “Audiences” menu in the AWFE UI and the “Demographics” tab.

This tab will provide a cumulative visual report (in the form of graphs) and linear reports (impressions, clicks, conversions), which allow you to vary the parameters of the reports by age and genre.

Automated performance reports are now available at all campaign and account levels.

Performance reports are also available to combine genders and age groups. To view combinations, select “ON” for “Show demographic combinations”

Targeting Type

Demographic targeting is applied by default to all “Adwords” campaigns.

Offer-only: Yes

Exclusions: Yes (not encouraged)

Best practice: Use a standalone offer and a discounted offer on low-value (lower-value) demographics.

Adequate conditions of use

1- Increasing or discounted offer based on the slice of the target population “who has a high probability of buying your goods/services”.

Potential Issue 1

The cost-per-click of the keyword is too low and it does not reach the best positions. à Make an upward adjustment of these keywords for segments of the “high-value” population, (with the greatest conversion potential).

Potential Problem 2

No targeting on high-traffic keywords, because of the low CVR.
Make an upside offer on high-traffic keywords on your high-probability demographics.

Successful Manages: Retail, Insurance, Travel

• Retail Specific Use Case:
  Raise or lower the bid based on the potential buyer segments of your goods regardless of CVR or basket size.
  25-44 year olds tend to buy more than 18-24 year olds or 45 years old and older. For 25-44 year olds, raise the stakes, and for 18-24 year olds, lower it to look for a better CVR combined with a lower CPC.

• Specific Use Case for Insurance:
  Make an upward offer on contract terms only available to users aged 55 and over.

• Insurance Specific Use Case:
  Make an offer up or down on the demographic for format-specific campaigns, e.g.: make an offer up for men, using a format that has a larger CVR (e.g. Call Only).

• Travel: Make an upbid on the 25-34 year olds who are most likely to buy a car lease, and lower your bids on the 18-24 year olds who are less likely to buy a car lease for reasons of cost, liability, etc

Customize the campaign for different demographics,

Identify characteristics that would be important to these groups.

Potential Issue 1

Your product’s messaging varies based on user demographics. Make a copy of your existing campaign and adjust the “ad pages” and “landing pages” into a dual campaign to talk about the benefits of most of this demographic’s interests.

Vertical Success Stories: Insurance, Travel

Travel: Different demographics have different criteria for vacations. Create separate campaigns to personalize messaging for the benefit of demographic groups (e.g. You probably need kids for the demos at Disneyland).

Insurance: You must customize the messaging system to call low-cost travel insurance for the 18-24 age group against full coverage for the 55 and over age group

Exclude groups that are unnecessary/ineligible for your product

Potential Problem 2

Ad spend pays for user clicks that are both

• ineligible for your product and
• outside of your target demo .

Add specific demographic targets like an exclusion on campaigns.

Vertical Success Stories: Financial Services

Financial Services Specific Use Case: Exclude groups that are not useful for your product such as student loans for the 35 and older age group.

These best practices were collected from audience research users across different industries and business models. We always recommend testing and monitoring the performance of any account switching, including implementing industry best practices.

Kristof SEO expert and certified Adwords Partner