Merchant Warehouse increased conversion
280 percent and reduced cost per lead
45
percent using Google AdWords.
percent using Google AdWords.
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Most people don't think twice about swiping their credit cards, except perhaps to
wince over the bill that inevitably follows. Who stops to contemplate the world of
effort behind each and every credit card transaction? Merchant Warehouse does, and it has successfully built a business around it. Since 1997, the company has specialized in merchant accounts, credit card processing services, credit card terminals, and processing software. More than 14,000 merchants a year – mostly small- and medium-sized businesses – choose the Boston-based company for their card equipment and processing needs. In a traditionally offline industry, www.MerchantWarehouse.com was one of the first web-based merchant accounts and credit card services sites. Today, the company processes a million transactions a month worth more than a billion dollars a year. Not bad for a business that specializes in something most customers never even worry about – and that's a good thing, says Brian Waldman, Vice President of Marketing and Strategy. “If consumers aren't thinking about what we're doing, it means credit card transactions are going smoothly, and that's what we want," he says. Approach In a typically low-margin industry, Merchant Warehouse's challenge is "obtaining customers as cost-efficiently as possible and retaining them through good customer service and fair pricing," according to Waldman. The Merchant Warehouse website has both an e-commerce aspect for its credit card terminals and software and a lead generation component for its merchant account services, and Waldman was looking for a cost-efficient way to promote all the various products and services. To best serve customers, he also wanted the flexibility to modify his campaign quickly and frequently in order to reflect any changes in stock. AdWords was the answer. "What's great about AdWords is it allows for easy segmentation of messages," Waldman says, noting that he has a different campaign for each of the company's three main business areas. Within each campaign, Waldman can create general Ad Groups by product type or manufacturer or he can group keywords granularly from model type down to specific product number. This enables him to write highly targeted ad copy, increasing the likelihood that a potential customer will click on his ads and convert once they reach the website. Waldman explains that AdWords drives decisions and facilitates experimentation because it gives him the flexibility to make changes effortlessly. "If I want to run a test and change all the landing pages for one type of keyword, I don't have to go searching through my account – I know exactly where they are, I can change them all at once, and it's done," he says, adding that AdWords allows for easy testing of different messages. "I can see how different ads perform in similar Ad Groups and see whether the conversion rates differ. With AdWords, you have so much control over the details of your advertising efforts." Results In eight years, the company has grown from seven to 80 employees, and it will soon increase its office space from 10,000 to 25,000 square feet. Waldman maintains that AdWords was one of the primary drivers of this growth: within one year, its conversion rate has increased 280 percent, cost per lead has decreased by 45 percent, and overall leads have jumped 41 percent. What's more, no less than 60 percent of Merchant Warehouse's leads come from AdWords. Waldman notes that AdWords presents a very large opportunity for advertisers in the financial industry. "Finance is all about lead generation," he says, observing that many financial institutions have been slow to translate successful lead generation efforts online and that many of their websites are not focused on lead generation. "Online, people are looking for mortgages, they're looking to compare rates or for 401-Ks. You're really given an opportunity to initiate future sales to customers online like you are nowhere else. We have had a tremendously high yield and return on investment online." The next frontier is to expand the campaigns across the Google content network. "The number-one opportunity for us to take the next step in AdWords is in content campaigns," Waldman says. "That's untapped right now and represents traffic we can catch at a different point in the purchasing cycle. With the ability to exclude sites, have content-only campaigns and track content independently, I feel confident about the content network." He adds that the Google content network is so extensive that "incremental traffic there may be more than complete campaigns on other networks. Whatever AdWords allows us to do, we do – it's our business, it's how we generate leads." Waldman concludes, "We have always taken advantage of every opportunity presented to us by AdWords. You can closely correlate our growth as a company with the explosion of AdWords and Google itself." About Google AdWords Google AdWords is currently used by thousands of businesses worldwide to gain new customers in a cost-effective way. AdWords use keywords to precisely target ad delivery to web users seeking information about a particular product or service. The program is based on costper- click (CPC) pricing, so advertisers only pay when an ad is clicked on. Advertisers can take advantage of an extremely broad distribution network, and choose the level of support and spending appropriate for their business. For more information on launching your own campaign or getting expert help, visit http://adwords.google.com. Would you like to share your Google AdWords success story with us? We'd love to hear from you! Return to Financial Services overview |
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