How to Optimize Your Marketing Campaigns with Programmatic Bidding

In online marketing, specifically third-party lead campaigns, the holy grail for marketers is achieving their Cost per Acquisition (CPA) targets at a positive ROI. This can be difficult to achieve and maintain, and campaigns often require constant testing and optimizations to stay on target. 

When clients start running campaigns, three key questions often arise: 

1. How can I achieve my customer acquisition goals, and how soon? 
2. How can I increase lead volume while maintaining my CPA targets? 
3. How frequently should I optimize my campaigns?

Let’s understand how, traditionally, marketers have optimized campaigns. It involves analyzing and digesting data, deciding on what the adjustments should be, implementing them, and then monitoring the impact. This process is time-consuming and prone to manual human error. Also, the delay in making these adjustments can mean missing out on optimal bidding opportunities.   

Introducing PX's Programmatic Bidding:

Recognizing the challenges and identifying the existing gap in the process to remove these inefficiencies, PX has launched “Programmatic Bidding.” Developed in-house, this feature leverages advanced algorithms incorporating historical performance data of all your lead sources and automates custom bidding recommendations aligned to your CPA or other marketing goals. Campaign bids can be updated with a single click!  

How to automate CPA targeting with programmatic bidding:

Our process begins by selecting the CPA optimization strategy. Using your CPA goals as the reference point, our programmatic bidding system suggests pricing for each source based on their historical performance in your campaigns. 

For example: 

• Campaign A, with a $250 CPA goal on (Sub) Source A, which has a 10% conversion rate, leads to a suggested bid price of $25. Prices are only increased when there is (significantly) more room to win more leads. 
• For the same CPA goal of $250 on (Sub) Source B with a 20% conversion rate, we recommend a $50 bid price. 

This happens in an automated way at scale across your lead sources and channels. This approach ensures you: 

• Pay the right price per source and subs source. 
• Avoid overpaying for underperforming leads.
• Capitalize on high-performing sources.

How to maximize lead volume with programmatic bidding:

If the objective is to increase lead volume while maintaining CPA stability, the system adjusts bids accordingly to maximize the win rate of the campaign i.e. the rate at which your bids are winning as compared to your peers/ competitors 

• For Source A, with a low win rate, we might increase the bid by 10%, raising it to $27.50. 
• For Source B, with a high win rate, we might lower the bid by 10%, setting it at $45.

Because the system operates programmatically, it eliminates the need for manual pricing updates and mitigates issues like CPA oscillation. 

The graph above compares the impact on CPA metrics in two scenarios- one with occasional, broader updates and the other with frequent, granular updates (something that Programmatic bidding can help with). As is evident, the results with the green line show a more significant and rapid decrease in CPA, attesting that infrequent adjustments fail to capitalize on opportunities for optimization and may not respond in time to market changes. 

Benefits of programmatic bidding: smarter, better, faster:

This innovative approach offers multiple advantages: 

1. Smarter pricing management: Automatically allocates your budget to the most effective sources, saving time and money. By constantly analyzing performance data, it is ensuring every dollar is an investment towards higher returns and minimizing budget wastage.  
2. Accelerated goal achievement:  Frequent, automated updates ensure campaigns stay optimized for your business objectives.  
3. Proven strategies for success:  Programmatic Bidding leverages tried-and-tested methods to deliver measurable results from day one. 

Launch and early results:

After a year of pilots, this feature is now available in general. After the pilot, the results speak for themselves - win rates are up, and CPAs are trending down. 

Client case: 18.7% increase in win rate and 11.2% reduction in CPA: 

Introduction:
At one of our larger clients, a national advertiser, we recently achieved an 18.7% increase in win rate for acquiring leads and an 11.2% reduction in Cost Per Acquisition (CPA). These results showcase the effectiveness of programmatic bidding strategies in driving measurable improvements in marketing performance. By leveraging data and maintaining consistent updates, we maximized the client’s campaign efficiency while reducing costs. 

Key strategies:

• Refined targeting: We identified high-value lead sources by analyzing past performance metrics and behavioral data. This allowed us to allocate resources to the most promising opportunities, ensuring that campaigns reached the right audience at the right time. Tailoring campaign pricing for each source further enhanced targeting precision and ROI. 
• Optimized bidding: Using conversion rate analysis for each lead source, we calculated performance-based pricing to ensure cost efficiency. By aligning bid amounts with source-specific conversion potential, we maintained a competitive edge while driving higher-quality leads. 
• Consistent updates: Weekly pricing updates were implemented to adapt to shifting market conditions and campaign performance trends. This regular adjustment process ensured that the client’s campaigns remained competitive and agile, delivering consistent results. 

Results:

Through this approach, the client experienced: 

• 18.7% increase in win rate: Improved targeting and optimized bidding led to a significant uptick in successfully acquired leads. 
• 11.2% reduction in CPA: Efficient allocation of resources and performance-based pricing reduced acquisition costs without compromising lead quality. 

Conclusion:

At PX, we are dedicated to continuously improving client outcomes. Programmatic Bidding represents our relentless pursuit of better returns. As a product, it evolves to address new challenges and integrate innovative strategies for price optimization. 

Ready to experience the benefits?
Contact your customer success manager today to explore how Programmatic Bidding can transform your campaigns.