Using display to successfully drive online acquisition to bank account signups
Goal
To drive new customers to First Direct’s 1st account within a profitable cost per acquisition rate.
Solution
Previously, First Direct’s incumbent agency had been delivering customers at a price 400% over what was profitable. TBG were so confident they could out-perform them and deliver within target that they agreed to run the campaign and guarantee a cost per application, meaning the only risk to First Direct was the conversion rate between application and signed customer.
- Planning
Using planning tools including TGI and Hitwise as well as First Direct’s internal research, TBG identified the primary target demographic and sites they were likely to visit. The audience was profiled according to their behavioural tendencies ie. ‘passive’ (not actively searching for financial services products) or ‘active’ (currently searching for financial services products, specifically bank accounts). This segmentation helped TBG to create a media plan which included detailed forecasting, used to determine the campaign’s likely cost per acquisition.
The media plan was split into ‘passive’ and ‘active’ placements to increase awareness and then conversion. Passive placements included demographically targeted portals and other lifestyle sites which matched the profile of the target customers. Ad networks (3rd party suppliers who sell inventory across a range of sites) were avoided to allow for better optimisation and lower rates. Active placements included behavioural and contextual targeting as well as other money portal placements which had proved effective for other TBG financial services clientele.
TBG also worked closely with First Direct’s lead creative agency to ensure creative was developed with placements in mind and that copy / offer routes could be tested and the most effective rolled out.
First Direct’s PPC activity was also reviewed by TBG to ensure display messaging was aligned with top performing terms and ad copy.
- Execution
Firstly, TBG recommended a series of tests, used to gather learnings and improve overall results. This ranged from multi variance testing such as email subject lines, and time of day delivery to more sophisticated post-impression or optimal frequency testing.
Once the campaign was live, TBG optimised the campaign based on best performing creative, placement and time of day/week. This resulted in a reduction of the weekly CPA by over 50% between the launch and final week as a result of optimising per placement.
Results
The campaign was run on a cost per application basis and based on the conversion rate to new customer. TBG achieved a cost per customer that was 400% less than what was being delivered by the previous agency and 30% under the agreed target CPA.
Successful campaign optimisation in the first few weeks of the campaign meant the CPA during the last 2 weeks of the campaign delivered at 72% below target. TBG’s media profiling approach also proved effective with 73% of placements on the media plan performing under the CPA target from week 1.
Customer profiling conversions from Business & Finance channels received high approval rates of over 50%. This had a positive effect on the overall cost per account and demonstrated the high quality of the leads generated.
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